I’m building a GP9B for a friend. Cab removal and body & paint are done, but now I’m looking at the handrails. Without a cab, the P2K handrails are useless for the sides, even though they still work on the ends.
Aftermarket stanchions so far are,
Athearn, easy to work with, look horrible
Smokey Valley. Far too fragile & soft
Precision Scale. Just opened a package, (pn 39066) 3mm too long, and wow, it shows![:O] Especially when you park the B units with a Proto , Atlas or Athearn geep![:O]
Get some .020 brass wire. Flatten the end with a small hammer. Make it long-ish. Then wrap the flattened end around another piece of .020 brass wire to form a loop. Cut the stanchion to the desired length and remove from the second brass wire. After you make all the stanchions, you can make the main handrail, add the stanchions, then solder them to the handrail.
I have used Smokey Valley stanchions and handrails on a number of locos, and like them a lot. The stanchions are cast brass with a lot of detail. I used a wire brush in a Dermel at low speed to clean them up. The handrails are brass wire and are bendable, but are quite secure when installed. I started installing them with CA, but the adhesive bond broke too often during handling. I ended up soldering the wire (handrail) to the stanchions and have had no further trouble. I had to do soldering on a few completed / detailed models. I laid the model on its side, and put a damp paper towel between the body and stanchions just in case there was a solder drip.
Why not use the stanchions from the original handrails? (You’ll probably need to find an extra handrail somewhere to provide stanchions for the area formerly occupied by the cab.)
Cut the plastic railing from between the stanchions and discard it, then drill the stanchions to accept a new handrail formed from .015" music wire. It’s probably a good idea to form the metal handrails using the plastic ones as patterns before hacking them up. [swg]
Thread the drilled-out stanchions onto the new wire handrails, then install them on your loco, roughly straightening the stanchions as you work, then, when all are installed, go back and adjust each stanchion so that it’s vertical. Apply a minute amount of ca to the handrail on both sides of each stanchion - the ca won’t stick to the plastic stanchion, but it will stick to the metal handrail, helping to prevent the stanchions from sliding on the railing. I find an old X-Acto blade to be a good applicator for the ca - place a small puddle of ca on a non-porous surface, then dip the edge of the blade’s tip into it. A touch to the railing/stanchion interface will put enough ca in place to do the trick.
Here’s an old Atlas RS-1 which I did for a friend:
The combination of plastic stanchions and the springy music wire makes a flexible yet sturdy railing which will stand up to handling.
You can find many types of stanchions in the parts section of a Walthers catalog. I like Athearn metal stanchions because of their ease of assembly and durability. They don’t quite look prototypical, but they are close enough. I superglued mine in place, soldering may be a better option. Several sizes (heights) are available.
Wayne, do you have some “trick” to drilling out that engineering plastic stanchion? I have tried this a couple times, to repair the fragile rails on SD7s. Even chucking/ holding the stanchion into a grooved piece of soft pine, centering the hole by spinning a #11 blade and trying desperately to drill out w/o the drill walking out the side. Gave up. Did however find a factory replacement.
I like your idea a lot, looks really good.[tup] Only 1 problem, this unit didn’t come to me with side handrails, just the stock P2K ones on the ends. Besides, I need extra stanchions for where the cab used to be.
So back to the Walthers book I went. (thanks S&S) And there, in the Super Detailing parts section, on the very last page of the section, was a small listing for a company I had never heard from called Scale Scenics, a division of Circuitron. They have brass stanchions cored for .015 wire to fit GP7 - SD24’s, 28 to a pack. So I just sent an email to my bookie LHS to order me a set. Yes, I checked on line and Walthers, for once, has them in stock![:O]
Thanks to everyone for their thoughts, I hope no one lost any sleep over this, other than me!
I’d guess that it helped that this was an older Atlas diesel, with thicker handrails and stanchions than what’s now available. I should help if you use a sharp blade to remove the handrail sections and keep it aligned so that the cut is perpendicular on the stanchion-side of the blade (rotate the knife’s handle away from the stanchion. I use the point of a drawing compass to “centre-punch” for the drill bit - hold the stanchion between your fingertips, and you’ll soon learn to find the centre point of the stanchion…otherwise, the point of the compass will find your finger. [(-D]
Make the initial hole with a smaller drill than that required for the handrail material, then enlarge it with the proper-size bit. If you need it, use magnification - I wear prescription glasses, but always use my Optivisor when doing such work, and for really fine work, a jeweller’s loupe.
Will do! [:D]I should have them later this week, and have them installed hopefully by this weekend, providing the honey-do list doesn’t get in my way![%-)]
