04-27-2010, 10:44 AM
...for more drillin'. That's right: this has nothing to do with a trip to the dentist. 
Instead, it re-visits an old trick from the days of cast metal locomotive kits. In those prehistoric years, modellers wishing to add brass details to cast zinc and zamac locos had to use either the less-than-ideal glues of the day, or resort to soldering (a more widely-used skill at that time). Unfortunately, the metal used to make those locos was not a solder-able material. The solution was to drill and tap a hole where one wished to add the detail part, then insert a brass screw of appropriate size. The screw head was then removed, leaving a brass plug to which the brass detail could be easily and securely affixed.
I've used a similar technique to add rudimentary brake rigging to some Proto1000 boxcars with cast metal floors. Using small drills (#79 in this case) to drill metal can be difficult - even with the #47 drill used for this method, the task was not that easy. I chose a #47 drill (.0785") because it's slightly smaller than the .080" styrene rod which I used for the filler plugs. By coating the end of the rod with lacquer thinner or other suitable solvent, it can be pressed into the holes for a tight fit. To be doubly sure, I also added ca where the rods protrude above the car's floor.
Here is a couple of floors, one showing the drilled holes, with one filler plug inserted, the other with all four plugs installled and trimmed flush with the main frame members:
Since the brake detail is merely to suggest a more fully-modelled system, it's much simplified. I used a #79 bit in my pin vise to drill into the soft styrene plugs, then bent .012" brass wire to represent the brake actuating rods. The levers are Tichy parts:
While this overly-bright photo shows a little too much of the ruse, :oops: once the car is painted and weathered it should look convincing enough in service on the layout.
The floors of these otherwise well-detailed cars are a bit of a letdown due to the lack of detail. I had previously bought six car bodies, with no floors or trucks, and added scratchbuilt floors. The ones currently under construction needed some improvement, in my opinion, as I replaced all of the cast plastic grabirons with custom-bent ones of .012" brass, and also replaced the roofwalks, which were about 6" too short on both ends. Here's one of the earlier cars after reworking. The lettering is from C-D-S:
Wayne
Instead, it re-visits an old trick from the days of cast metal locomotive kits. In those prehistoric years, modellers wishing to add brass details to cast zinc and zamac locos had to use either the less-than-ideal glues of the day, or resort to soldering (a more widely-used skill at that time). Unfortunately, the metal used to make those locos was not a solder-able material. The solution was to drill and tap a hole where one wished to add the detail part, then insert a brass screw of appropriate size. The screw head was then removed, leaving a brass plug to which the brass detail could be easily and securely affixed.
I've used a similar technique to add rudimentary brake rigging to some Proto1000 boxcars with cast metal floors. Using small drills (#79 in this case) to drill metal can be difficult - even with the #47 drill used for this method, the task was not that easy. I chose a #47 drill (.0785") because it's slightly smaller than the .080" styrene rod which I used for the filler plugs. By coating the end of the rod with lacquer thinner or other suitable solvent, it can be pressed into the holes for a tight fit. To be doubly sure, I also added ca where the rods protrude above the car's floor.
Here is a couple of floors, one showing the drilled holes, with one filler plug inserted, the other with all four plugs installled and trimmed flush with the main frame members:
Since the brake detail is merely to suggest a more fully-modelled system, it's much simplified. I used a #79 bit in my pin vise to drill into the soft styrene plugs, then bent .012" brass wire to represent the brake actuating rods. The levers are Tichy parts:
While this overly-bright photo shows a little too much of the ruse, :oops: once the car is painted and weathered it should look convincing enough in service on the layout.
The floors of these otherwise well-detailed cars are a bit of a letdown due to the lack of detail. I had previously bought six car bodies, with no floors or trucks, and added scratchbuilt floors. The ones currently under construction needed some improvement, in my opinion, as I replaced all of the cast plastic grabirons with custom-bent ones of .012" brass, and also replaced the roofwalks, which were about 6" too short on both ends. Here's one of the earlier cars after reworking. The lettering is from C-D-S:
Wayne