I finally got caught up enough to take a hobby break by adding details that come with an Athearn SW7 kit.
The kit comes with wire handrails. I measure them to be about 0.023 inch in diameter. The front handrail has two stanchions, so it has four holes to go into the body.
The main handrail would fit into one hole but not the other until I drilled the hole with an 0.022 inch diameter drill, the closest I have. The stanchions fit tightly but the main handrail that was too tight now is too loose and I fear it falling off someday into the void where such things go, never to be found again.
Do any of you have advise as to whether to glue the metal handrails or leave them alone?
If gluing, glue with CA or with plastic glue to the body?
Glue from the front or take off the shell and try to glue the ends of the wires from inside?
Is it best to glue the stanchions to the wire handrails with CA? I can solder but I fear melting the plastic.
If gluing from the front, how do you keep from messing up the finish?
I have had more problems with there RTR SD 50 engines than Blue Box kits. I did use super glue on some FP 45’s and used a tooth pick. Just have to be careful and don’t glue your figures together. [:D] I added the glue to the rails, not from the inside.
I start by assembling the stantions and handrails and press fitting them into place. I put a piece of cardboard between the handrails and body to avoid getting glue spatters on the body. Then line up each stantion for vertical trueness and add CA to the eyelet and repeat until the eyelet is full, use a paper towel to wipe off any excess (quickly). I pour a few drops of CA in a bottle cap and use a piece of wire (about the same size as the handrail) to bring a drop of glue to the joint. It may take a couple/few applications to get enough glue in the joint. Let the glue fully dry (a few hours). You shouldn’t have to glue the stantions to the body once the handrails are secured to the stantions. If you do find that the stantions are still too loose you can use the same method to glue the stantion to the body, just use less glue.
Don’t use plastic cement as it is only intended for plastic-to-plastic type joins, not metal.
For the stanchions, It’s like pressing a “square peg into a round hole”. Many times I have found that the factory 90 bend on the stanchion is rounded and won’t allow the stanchion to set tight to the walkway. I will grab w/ good needle nose and tighten the bend to a clean 90. After setting the stanchions as mentioned )CAing in place), I will check the fit of the rails. Many times rebending to a more prototypical shape and then fit to the shell. Careful cripping of the stanchil to rail w/ some pliers will hold them fairly tight, however, I still do as mentioed and place a drop of CA to the joint. The CA will slightly fill the gaps and the rails tend to look better after painting. Only excessive abuse would cause any failure of the CA joint. Some oversizing may be nec, but rarely have had to do this. The bent rail sometimes may need to be trimmed as not bottom out or protrude through the step sides. (just looks bad). Many of my BB engines have received Smokey Valley stanchions and continuous brass .015 wire. Unfortunately these are out of production these days, shame they looked like rails on quality brass.
I am probably in the minority where I prefer the plastic handrails over the metal one. All I use is Plastruct plastic weld glue and a micro brush. I some time clearance the holes with a small drill and a pin vise cleaning out excess flash etc. If you desire you can glue form the back side but not really a necessity. I ALWAYS! use my lighted magnifying glass and place the loco in a foam cradle. The steadier things are the better and the better you see things also the better.