Greetings all, hope you are having a good weekend. I’m putting the hand grabs on my Milw Rd Skytop lounge. Everything is going fine, but as always one the holes gets screwed up or some glue gets on my finger and I smudge the paint (usually around beer number 3 [:)]). My question is, of the people out there that go through the trouble of doing this, do some of you take the car apart to install the hand grabs? Thanks.
Mike Kingsbury
Mike–
After going through a gross of #80 drills and ruining my eyesight, I figured that my Walthers passenger cars can survive scrutiny WITHOUT those bleeping hand-grabs. I think several other modelers on this forum have discovered the same thing, LOL!
Tom [banghead]
Mike,
I just finished up painting and detailing four Walther passenger cars this summer. Yes it took a while and it was fustraighting at times but in the end I glad I went through the trouble. They look great and I always appreciate the attention to detail.
Just take your time…
Peter
I don’t have any of those Walthers passenger cars, but I do add wire grabs to all of my passenger equipment and most of my freight cars, too, and always with the car disassembled I put a suitable spacer between the installed grab and the car body, then use a small screwdriver or knife blade to bend-over the ends which protrude into the car. After removing the spacer, I then apply ca on the inside of the car in the area of the bent-over wires.
Wayne
Wayne, since you don’t buy those Walthers passenger cars, what do you use? I was thinking the same thing about bending the grab irons over and glueing them from the inside. Some of the ones I’ve done have fallen out because I didn’t put enough glue on them. By the way very nice looking layout. One day I hope to have room to build something nice to run trains.
Mike
I don’t know what the Skytop lounge car has, but I made the mistake of “volunteering” to install some grabs on some Walthers sleepers that the club I belong to bought. As I recall, all the various length grabs came in the same package. I could tell from the instructions that there were different lengths to be used in different places, but some of the packaged grabs were so close in length that I couldn’t tell them apart. The little dimples on the cars where you were supposed to drill were filled with paint, so the drill bit wanted to wander.
Anyway, I worked my way through that until I got to the ends. If I remember correctly there was one grab over the door and one on each side. But after struggling with the first car I realized that these grabs would be hidden within the diaphragm and couldn’t be seen even with the car uncoupled. So I decided that I had better things to do and went down into the basement and proceeded to whack my fingers with a hammer. That was a much more pleasureable experience.
Tom, I kinda agree with you about not putting them on, but since I started one I figured I might as well do them all. Did learn the hard way about buying extra #80 bits. Had to wait 2 weeks before I made it to the LHS to buy more.
Peter, yes they do look good with them on. Even though mine are not always on straight and are not painted to match the cars. The hard part for me is taking my time. I usually have a small window of time to do a car. My 2 and half year old will always grab items from the table when I’m working on them. He even took my beer one time!!! Usually work on the models when he has nap time.
MIKE
Maxman, the skytop lounge was actually one of the easier ones to do. I use a needle and small pliers to make a starter hole to help in drilling. I hear ya about the ones hidden in the diaphram. What’s the point if you’ll never see it.
Mike
Thanks for the kind words, Mike. [:D]
Most of my passenger cars are modified Rivarossi cars, like the solarium/lounge Tuscarora, which was a 12-1 Pullman, and the diner Magnetawan. The Canadian National Express Horse Car started life as a Rivarossi steel coach, while the free-lanced Grand Valley express car was formerly an Athearn heavyweight Pullman. For the passenger cars, I used Detail Associates .012" brass or stainless steel wire to make my own grabirons to whatever size is required, while most of the freight equipment is done using Westerfield or Tichy pre-formed grabs. If I need grabs of an unusual size, they’re easy to make from wire.
Wayne
Someone in an earlyer thread some months back suggest using a slightly larger drill bit. Maybe a 79 or 78.
Paul: Agree with you about using a #79 or even a #78 for holes for grab irons. The #80 is just a pain. Also I have encountered a few times when the formed handrails don’t always have the correct number in the bag or they are hard to get into the holes. Especially, when I have done them, the smooth side UP cars have a very small dimension at the ends and you should probably remove the diaphram end so that you don’t miss drill the hole and come out onto the end of the car (don’t ask how I know). Otherwise many of the above comments are valid such as not putting hand grabs etc on the ends of cars that will be coupled together. Some hand rails are fine but many can’t even be seen when you are three feet back. Dick Foster Reno NV
I did one car a while back, and for as little as it adds to the car for me, I opted not to do anymore. Most of my Amtrak cars are the Walthers Budd (11) and Amfleet cars (12), and trying to to do 22 more cars is just too much hassle for me.
Kevin
Wayne, all I can say is WOW!!! (I’m practically speechless otherwise.) Excellent modeling—and those heavyweight passenger cars make my mouth water. I find it interesting that you lavish the same sort of detail on your freight cars, too.
I’m in O scale and am scratchbuilding almost everything , these days, but when I was in HO, Mike, I sometimes used the expedient of making cast-on grabs stand out by painti
After trying to install grabs on an assembled Budd diner, I soon grew tired of either breaking bits, or dropping things. For me, it was simply easier to drill the holes with the car in pieces. Oh, and I removed the diaphragms as well–a few of the holes are impossible to drill with them in place. Oddly enough, the B60b baggage was the easiest car to add grabs for some reason…even with the eyebolts! One other thing I did, was to use a pin vise, with a tiny amount of drill bit visible. Less chance of breakage that way.
My bit breakage is a function of the quality of the drill bit. I found a hobby a shop (Now out of business - sound familiar?) That sold a dozen for the same price as Walthers twopack and they last about a car and a half. When I install the handrail I put a drop of CA on a surface and dip the ends of the handrail in it while holding the middle with a pair of needlenose pliars. 66% of the time I can insert them before the glue dries. The rest I just redip them and then get them in place.