What is the easiest way to replace the molded on grabs on Athern & Stewart hopper cars. I’ve tried using .010 stryene with some success but not real happy with the time spent & results. Metal grabs look the best, but drilling the holes in perfect position seems almost impossible. Would really like to purchase a fleet of the new Kadee 55 tonners but dont want to take out a home equity loan right now.
you got the best way, there’s an article in RMC a month or so back doing the same thing, I;ve put all metal in one hopper and it;s a chore, the plastic rod at least eliminates some drilling. after touching up paint and some weathering, you’ll like the results. It’s the price we pay for added realism. Also check out accurails new triple hopper, their grabs are a lot nicer and the cars reasonably priced.
I saw that article & it along with the price of the new kadee 55 tonners was my inspiration for this project. Can’t seem to locate a good applicator…either too much sotvent or not enough. Also it seems to dry before I can locate the grabs. I found that Plastistruct seems to be the slowest. Also have better luck if they are cut to size & not trimmed after drying. Still don’t look like real drop grabs but they don’t cost $44 either. I think Kadee droped the ball on this one, not that it doesn’t look great But you have to have so many for a believable coal drag. How many of us can afford 20 @ $44?..Guess there aren’t any easy ways . If anyone else has any ideas pass them along. Thanks. Jerry
I’ve replaced the moulded grabirons on some Accurail USRA twin hoppers. It is a rather fiddly job, but there were two things I did that made it a little easier. I made a drilling template or jig out of sheet brass to align the holes, and I drilled the holes before fully cutting away the moulded grabs. I used flush cutting nippers to trim away the projecting part of the grab from the stile, while leaving the remainder in place to prevent the stiles from deforming or breaking when being drilled. Once the holes are drilled, the remaining portion of the grabs can be cut away and the stiles cleaned up. If you do this carefully, the existing moulded rivet detail will be undamaged.
Another method is to cut away the whole stile and grab moulding, and replace with either brass sections and wire grabs, or ladder mouldings - some hoppers did have them instead of grabs…
All the best,
Mark.
The drilling template that Mark mentions should make drilling those parallel holes a reasonably easy task (if you try to freehand it they can look pretty bad). An old “kink” in MR from decades ago showed how to use brass ladder stock, bent 90 degrees at the bottom, for the same purpose. But I guess brass ladder stock has probably gone the way of the Dodo …
Dave Nelson