i need to make some hand rails , as the loco i bought came with none. It is a gp40-2. Should i just buy the handrail kit, or make them? I have acces to wire, .0020, .0032, and .0041 inch. thanks, ROCK
I found wire down to .0041" diameter, but not below that diameter. Can you email me your source for the finer sizes? When I went out and measured the hand rails on an engine awhile back, they were 1.25" diameter and another was 1.375" diameter. Divide one scale foot by 12 to find the decimal for one scale inch, then divide one of those by 4 to get the 1/4th inch, and add to the one inch to obtain the 1-1/4" diameter in your scale. For instance in "N" scale it would be .0078125" and in HO it is .014652708" You can round off if you like to the nearest available wire size. I suggest using Music Wire to prevent having a softer wire be come easily bent from handeling. It is not easily soldered though. You might find a hard drawn brass wire that can be soldered, but you must use care in making the bends and allow one and a half to two times the diameter as the inside radius for bending it to prevent cracking the outer diameter of this wire. If you are in "N" scale, contact BLMA (one of the link buttons at the very bottom of this page) and ask Craig what he feels is best since he makes "N" scale wire grab irons etc. for sale. JNJ is another who makes fine detail parts, also listed below. [ 22. December 2002, 06:45: Message edited by: watash ]
well, i am in the air force. I use various different size wires, to secure nuts and bolts, from vibrating off on the jets. The sizes above are made of stainless, and I also use a .0020, copper wire for small jobs. I know you can buy safety wire pliers from home depot, or other hardware stores. Also i would look into HARBOR FRIEGHT.
I am familiar with "safety wires", having used many spools of it. That is a very soft wire and will be easily bent, and will not solder well. The copper wires is even softer yet, but will solder very well. I have worked with wire down as small as .0010" diameter on the chips on the PC boards we made for NASA. The problem with such fine wire, is that it can not be seen very well by most people. It is probably only useful for close up photography for a super detailed museum piece that will never he handeled. This is just my personal opinion of course.
Rock, are you sure you're not inadvertently adding an extra 'zero' to your sizes ? ( Like .0041 should maybe really be .041 diameter...which may be expressed as forty-one thousandths ) I doubt you could measure anything to that fourth decimal place, without micrometers set with gauge blocks, and in a temp.-control setting, or on an optical comparator. The rule is, three decimal places=thousandths, and four decimal places=ten-thousandths. We did some stainless lock-wiring on helicopter joystick parts back in the late 60's, and used .020" (twenty-thou.) wires through the nuts. 002" (two-thousandths) wire would have virtually no strength at all, and I wouldn't have wanted to drill the holes for them, either. Merry Christmas & best regards / Mike
Watash, I have a source for .015" music wire! This is all I use for handrailing in HO scale, and in cases were I couldn't get the .015" music wire I bought .020" music wire. a slight difference but it worked! Let me know ole buddy. I got a full 3 foot vial of them in 3 foot lengths! around 100 plus pieces so....
Heres a comparison of the original plastic hand railing on a Athearn SD-70M to it having the brittle plastic hand railing taken off and .015" hand railing custom fitted for the locomotive... This is the original plastic hand railing... And this is the new custom fitted .015" metal hand railing I custom bent for the locomotive...The loco itself isn't mine, its owned by a close friend who is also a TrainBoard member of the forums here.... The way I tell the difference from the plastic to metal handrailing is.... I had painted the step ends of the railing yellow where the plastic was all gray and never had the yellow railing ends applied.... [ 23. December 2002, 19:14: Message edited by: 7600EM_1 ]
RockIsland, if you are making HO hand rails you will want .0148 (.015)" diameter wire, NOT .041" wire! It is available in straightened lengths from one foot long to three foot lengths at most Hobby Shops, and can be had in rolls of 100 feet for very little more. Keep in mind if you paint it, the diameter will get larger by the thickness of paint you apply, so an air brush used very lightly to "just" color it would be much better than using a bristle brush. Note the difference in John's photos above. See how crisp and clean his professionally made wire railings appear, than the heavier molded plastic (and painted) hand rails look? That is how .015" wire looks on an HO engine.
RockIsland, You want .015 to .020 dia music wire! .041 is WAYYYY to thick for HO scale hand railing! Its a piece of solid rod in N scale which is even worse then using it in HO scale! DO NOT size the hand railing from the old plastic railing as its not what your looking for.. Most of that plastic stuff wasn't scaled out in 1:87th so.. To replace it with finer wire will make it a better looking "scale" job then any! Not to mention enhance the looks of the entire loco as well by using a finer wire... I'd go as far as using .010 if I could find it being as Watash has said, adding paint adds to the dia of it and makes it wider then the actual .015, or .020! And look sharp if it were painted .010 dia music wire!
John; You can get 009" and 010" plain guitar strings , and many other sizes, at most medium to large music stores, in singles or packs of 10... [ see my other post on music wire ] Merry Christmas & regards / Mike
Mike, Thats the trouble! Their is no music stores local to me.... Or I would have had some by now! I'm not even sure where the closest one is! Their used to be one here in Meyersdale, but it long went out of business when I was 3 or 4 years old so.... Go figure! But I've been making a go at the metal hand railing with .015" music wire.... Which looks really good... even after painting it.... But .010" would look even better after painting!
