Page 22 - March April 2000

However, faced with improving quite a large number of hoppers, I decided to simplify the replacement jobs down to putting on new (D.A.) steps, new bracing bars where especially visible on sides and ends, and in some cars replacing the single grabs found on the end beams, either side of the draft gear box.
The actual procedure varies according to the style of car. On some, the main horizontal side brace is at the same level as the end bracing rod. For these, after removing the plastic details, I drilled just one hole in the end angle iron and used a single piece of brass wire, bent to 90 degrees, to form the two braces (see sketch Fig. 2 & 3). On other cars the side and end
rod are at different heights so of course are replaced by two separate straight pieces of wire (except for the small bends at the hopper end of the side brace, which enter the hole drilled there.)
The small upper side braces were fitted just as per ordinary wire grabs. Again, some are dead straight, others have a 90 degree bend just below the fixing hole on the hopper side.
Steps can cause a problem - again there are a few types but I used D.A. 6413 for all the jobs. Most hoppers have a bracing angle plate against the outer vertical edge of each step. For those I carefully ran a razor saw up the original step to leave the bracing plate in place. The new step is
fitted up against this as far as possible.
It is always a bit of a bind drilling the numerous very small holes. The small “numbered” drill bits are fragile (which makes them dearer than they seem!) and slow when used in a pin vice.
Luckily I have access to very small dental drills! The best for this job is a type called latch
grip rose-head steel burs, size 1/2. This means you get a minute round head on an even slimmer “neck”, which allows reasonable penetration (say about 3mm). The shaft is roughly 3/32” and about an inch long over-all. Any dental supplier will obtain these, usually 6 in a plastic box. You can get the same head and neck on a longer shaft as well. (These would be called “for straight hand piece.) For other jobs there are, of course, many sizes above 1/2.
Using these burs in a pin vice I make a quick indentation at each spot needed for a stirrup step pin or a wire piece. This marking is only about the depth of the rose-head. Then I use the bur in a power tool, e.g. a Dremel, and run the holes in deeper. I found that trying to use the Dremel without the initial drilled dimple, it often ran off centre in the thin lower framing I was trying to drill for the steps.
All the new parts are fixed with Loctite Super ACC gel. I found this even gives a reasonable fixing on Delrin. When set, the new parts were touched in with the “car colour” i.e. black or tuscan, then a little grimy black and rust added here and there. (These cars had long ago been “finished”, so were already weathered and dull- coated, but an new overspray of flat finish blends everything in again.)
With their new rodding and fine steps, the cars instantly lose that “Athearn out of the box” look, and fit in much better with the various improved locos and cabooses around the layout.
It’s Spring...time to get weeding
Don’t weed the flowerbeds, start on your bookshelves!
Stanley Fish & Co always need books about American railroads. They can help you find the book you always wanted too.
Just send a list of books you want to sell to:
26 Grosvenor Park, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN1 2BD or e-mail stanlyfish@aol.com
To order direct visit Stanley Fish & Co’s website: www.stanlyfish.com
STANLEY FISH & CO.
26 Grosvenor Park, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN1 2BD.
Tel/Fax: 01892 527537 E-mail: stanlyfish@aol.com ALTERNATIVELY YOU CAN VISIT OUR WEBSITE TO ORDER DIRECT: http://www.kentnet.co.uk/fsf ish/index.htm
STANLEY FISH & CO HAS BOOKSTALLS AT...
Amadeus Antiques, 32 Mount Ephraim, Tunbridge Wells Words Etc, 2 Cornhill, Dorchester, Dorset
and at The Book Cellar, Wigtown, Galloway
22 ROUNDHOUSE