When assembling my new Proto flat car I broke all the grab bars trying to install them. (Tiny plastic) Any chance someone could suggest some good metal replacements???
I believe A-line has them, but I’d have to check, I do have stirip steps from them, very fine metal steps in two styles.
Make 'em yourself: .010" brass wire, a small flat-faced pliers, and a Xuron wire cutter, and you’ll have all you need.
[#ditto] I’m doing the same thing on a McKean box car right now.
While I appreciate your faith in my abilities…I find it difficult to create anything. I mostly just destroy things. 
I haven’t put in my big list of items yet. (Xurons are on the list.)
Bending the grabs can be made very easy. Look at it as a way to hone those skills needed for future projects. To make the bends exact to the existing hole, lay the edge of some card stock against the model and mark the holes w/ a sharp pencil or fine pen. Use this as a template to bend .010 or .012" brass wire. Good flat jaw, not serrated needle nose will make the bends. Just use the template to find the exact place to hold the wire for the second one. If the returned bends are slightly wrong choke up at the bend and adjust for fit. The method I use is to make one bend, place the grab, then position the pliers just a hair before the 2nd hole, hold lif off the model and bend the wire sighting to bend paralel to the other end, cut off and install.Tweezers make positioning much easier than using the pliers. When happy with the fit, CA in place. Use only a drop w/ toothpick or scrap wire then wick excess w/ strip of paper towel. When accessable glue from the inside of the shell, less chance of damaging the paint or seeing the shine from the CA.
Bob K.
yes A line has them so does Details West and Detail Associates.
I too have trouble making my own grabs.
tom
Local Milwaukee modeler *** Cecil (the older guy in the World’s Greatest Hobby video) gave me a tip just last night when making your own grab irons (and MicroMark offers a neat jig for this task): make one “leg” just a little longer than the other
It is a lot easier to get one end in a hole and then the other one than to get both in at exactly the same time. That is what I find so frustrating (and which breaks so many plastic grabs) about LifeLike kits.
If buying them, consider whether you want the kind that comes straight out or bends down. I keep a supply of both kinds on hand. They are not all that expensive but they are exactly the sort of thing that relatively few hobby shops keep in stock.
At one time Walthers used to sell a bag of staples of various sizes for this purpose. They are rather course in size but from time to time I still find a use for them, such as replacing steps that have broken off Athearn cars.
Dave Nelson