Yesterday evening, I impressed myself by forming and installing all the grab irons and steps on the coal car bodies. Repetitive tasks like this allow lots of time to think and improve the process. By the time I had finished the ladders on two cars, it was pretty dialed in.
The steps and half the handholds were the same length, which happened to be exactly the same width as a piece of fret I had in my junk bowl. Now, there are some lovely commercial tools to make grab irons, and I’m sure they work great, but a piece of metal secured in the vise, and lifted clear of the jaws works well too. To use it, I bend one leg of the handhold, and hold it down with the tip of my finger while I pull the other end of the wire to 90 degrees with a pair of pliers. This of course bends the far end of the wire, but once you’ve cut off the handhold, swap ends and that newly-formed bend becomes the first bend of the next one. You get a bend for free!
Speaking of cutting the wire, it’s tempting to try to make both legs the same length. That is actually counter-productive as having one leg longer than the other means you only have to get one end in a hole at once. I also cut the ends at an angle to make them easier to get into the holes.
Finally, once all the steps or handholds are in place, slip a piece of styrene between the car side and the handhold. .040” is about right for HO. The piece of styrene should be a little narrower than the handholds, and tapered at the end to help lift the wires clear of the car side.
I then hold all the grabs against the piece of styrene and hit the backs with tiny dots of CA. I leave the plastic in until the adhesive sets. I drilled the holes with the aid of the grab iron ends, which are printed onto the car, but even so, a couple are off a hair. When this happens I grab the grab iron and tweak it until it is vertical or horizontal; that matters more than being perpendicular to the car side.
Pembroke:87 