A couple of questions here...Does someone make replacement handrails for Kato locomotives? The stock ones look a little large. Also, the instructions say you do not need glue to mount the stock detail parts. Do you guys glue them? Will I need to glue the aftermarket handrails (if someone makes them)? Thanks.
Pete I know some folks who have trimmed the handrails at the stanchions and then drilled out the top of the stanchions and installed .012 brass wire to create their own, better looking handrails. BTW, the handrails are, in my opinion, the one big drawback to Kato engine. Of course, another is their screwed up paint schemes. Regards, Denis F. Blake Columbus, OH TTHOTS
I agree with Denis on cutting off the plastic railings and drilling out the stanchions for wire railings that you bend yourself. The alternative would be getting a set of Smokey Valley handrails and stanchions, but I personally feel that would be a step backward compared to the above solution. As far as Kato paint schemes go, they have botched far more paint jobs on their models than they have gotten right over the years. Chris Toth
Are the Smokey Valley handrails out of scale too? And when you say "botched", does that mean inaccurate, or poor quality?
Not really out of scale, but the stanchions are not nearly as crisply replicated as the Kato plastic stanchions. Also, the Smokey Valley stanchions are not cored for brass wire, but instead have an open back which makes assembly all the more difficult. Both. Some had poor paint, improper shades of a particular color, inaccurate lettering, etc. Chris Toth
