I have a number of Proto2K SW9/1200 locos that I bought back in the early 2000’s and I got them and all of them are suffering from “wavy” handrails? Has anybody else had that problem? I’m assuming its because they were stored in an environment that had some temperature gradients (U-storeIt kind of place) and the plastic softened & hardened over the years.
What to do about it? Obviously replace them with something-- what? Wire? What thickness would be good? How do I go about doing that? (I can guess the obvious stuff- are there any fine points to consider or know about??)
The curse of the rubber handrails strikes again. I would use Athearn SW7 handrail set number 41029 or use .015 stainless steel wire and Athearn stanchions and bend handrails using the rubber ones as a pattern.
The rubber handrails are just plain junk. I use them as a pattern and toss them in the trash.
JWhitten - another option might be to contact Walthers and see what a set of replacement handrails would run. I think Walthers does still have them (if the price is tolerable), and they might even be the right color without any painting/fitting. I got a set a while back, soon after Walthers took over Proto’s operations.
A possibility. Of course, if you have the wire or Athearn sets already, that’d be cheaper.
Actually I like the idea of the wire rails. The plastic ones have always seemed limp and wimpy. Probably wire ones would have issues with bending, I suppose there’s a downside to those too.
I don’t know where to get 0.015 size wire-- I’m assuming I’m looking for something like a steel wire (“piano” wire or something-- when they say “piano” wire-- what do they mean-- piano STRING wire?
I’ve had problems with some early P2K handrails. The first runs of the SD7, GP18 and some GP9 apparently used a different composition in the engineering plastics. I was able to obtain replacements for most of these, noting that the replacements had much better flexibility.
Even though replacement should have been a simple task, quite a few “mounting pins” broke off in the body requiring drilling for reassembly.
Many times due to mishandling or improper shipping/ storage rails can be mishappen. I found that applying a heat gun and careful shaping can bring these rails back. Celeron, Delrin and other plastics due have a memory of sorts and this can be done for other items as well.
If you have no luck w/ replacements and need new rails, may I suggest using a quality, prototypical approach. Those Athearn rails look hideous. I have replaced many of the BB rails w/ Smokey Valley. Try Smokey Valley stanchions and bend your .015 brass wire to match. Use the factory rails or pictures of your prototype. The stanchion/ rail can be soldered if your good or use CA. The solder works the best, CA joints are brittle and any abuse will separate the bond.