SW1200RS Project: End of the Wire

Having completed the front handrails on 8152 this evening, all of the handrails on both of my SW1200RS units are now installed.  This marks the end of all the wire bending for this project.

 

In my previous post, I mentioned that the step, or riser, on which the front drop step is mounted was not included in the kit.  I had to build those out of bits of styrene.  I started by  measuring the height of the step on the rear walkway with a digital caliper’s depth gauge. I then cut a strip out of a sheet of .010″ styrene that matched the height.  I cut four pieces of styrene HO scale 4″x4″ stock and attached them across the strip with plastic cement. The spacing was determined by the etched piece for the two stanchions that are fastened to the riser.  Here’s what it looked like:

I chopped the excess 4×4 from the top and bottom of the strip and trued the edges with medium and fine sanding sticks, using a precision square to check my progress.

 

Once I had the top and bottom trued, I cut a piece of .010″x.080″ styrene strip the same width as the space between the inside edges of the middle stanchions.  I used the precision square to hold everything together while the cement dried.

Once the cement was dry, I chopped off the extra length of .010″ styrene strip to free the work piece.  The extra styrene made handling such a small piece much easier during the fabrication process.

With the extra plastic trimmed away, I sanded the workpiece on all faces to smooth out the seams.  I scraped away some paint on the front walkway and used CA to attach the piece.

Once the riser was in place, I was able to proceed with the rest of the handrails, starting with the centre stanchions.

I think I’ll turn my attention to window glazing next.  Stay tuned.

 

SW1200RS Project – Still More Handrails

Wednesday evening is our weekly work night at the WRMRC.  I couldn’t make it out to the club tonight, and I haven’t been there for a few weeks in a row now, because of other commitments.  However, I was able to make more progress on the SW1200RS project this evening.

Predictably, 8152 now has rear handrails.  I also bent the wire parts for the front, but I didn’t get around to installing them.  I’m one step closer to putting these units on the rails.

SW1200RS Project – 8159 has handrails

I finished the handrails on the front of 8159, which completes all of the handrails on this model.  Here are a couple of photos to show off all the wire bending I’ve done over the past week.

 

 

 

These locomotives have a step in the middle of the rear walkway upon which the drop set is mounted.  The drop step on the front of the locomotive had to be raised to an equal height in order for them to line up at the same height on m.u.’ed locomotives.  The kit has a part for this step on the rear platform, but the step for the front platform was not included. I scratch built these out of some pretty small pieces of styrene shapes.

There are some very small details that I still need to add, but I think I’ll do the end handrails on 8152 next.