I was tinkering around ealier on one of my projects, and I noticed that my ten wheeler didn’t look quite right. Don’t get me wrong IMHO the weathering looks good, but something seemed out of place, and then I realized what it was. There’s no way for my engineer inside the cab to blow the whistle or ring his bell. What is the best way, and best product to use to add some rope to the bells and whistles of my steam loco’s?
Hi Greg Bowser annd Labelle both make chain and fine wire which you could use or I’m sure if you go to walthers and check out Cal-scale or Precision-scale that they would make some appropriate detail parts. One other thought is that if you have a hooby shop in your area which sells alot of model ship kits and parts you may find some cable or other goodies that you could use.I know I find a nifty HO scale cannon which I will mount in a park on my layout so sometimes no rail hobby shops can get you the stuff you need. Rob
Add sme brass wire
I have used stranded,copper lamp cord wire.I first run it through a piece of fine steel wool then dull it with Blacken it. You can then put a small loop or hook on the end and attach it with ACC.The stranded lamp cord wire may come in different thickness so you may have to hunt a little.When you find the right guage wire,a couple of feet will last a life time
More modern steam engines use air/steam operated bells, and don’t require cords to ring them.
Bob Boudreau
I used .006 in.dia. brass wire from Detail Associates as bell and whistle lanyards on my Bachmann 2-8-0’s. Using tweezers I wrapped the wire around the lever on the bell and inserted the other end into a hole drilled in the cab front on the fireman’s side. I secured both ends with a tiny dab of Testors cement, and painted the wire with Humbrol grey primer, which takes to brass. I made sure that the wire had a natural drape to it rather than being taut and avoided kinking it.
I did the same thing with the whistle on the engineer’s side.