10-07-2010, 03:34 PM
Russ, unfortunately the Detail Associates (my mistake in my original post) bracketed grabs are Delrin castings. While they're nicely-done, it's difficult to remove any flash that may be present, and they're mounted to the car with pins on the top part of the brackets - the bottom of the bracket is meant to simply sit against the car's side (Delrin can be cemented, but only with expensive cyano-epoxy.) As you can see in the 3/4 view of the Milwaukee car, they don't always sit so well. 
A quick search showed these from Kaslo Shops, which appear to be identical to the Detail Associates version.
I'm not aware of any brass versions, but it's possible to alter cast styrene bracketed grabs. First, using solvent-type cement for styrene, cement the plastic grabs in place. After the joint has completely hardened (at least 24 hours), use a sharp blade to cut-away the grab from between the brackets (which are usually solid stepped blocks representing open brackets). Next, trim away any remnants of the grabiron from the brackets' tops - a #17 chisel blade works well for this - then mark that area for drilling. I used a #79 bit (I break #80s merely by looking at them, but can get decent use from #79s
) to drill through each solid "bracket" and then on through the car's side. Install a straight wire grab iron into the holes, bending over the ends on the car's interior, then securing them with an application of ca, also from the interior of the car. While close inspection shows the solid brackets, they look presentable when on the layout:
![[Image: X-29boxcars018.jpg]](http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b399/doctorwayne/X-29%20boxcars/X-29boxcars018.jpg)
![[Image: X-29boxcars069.jpg]](http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b399/doctorwayne/X-29%20boxcars/X-29boxcars069.jpg)
Wayne
A quick search showed these from Kaslo Shops, which appear to be identical to the Detail Associates version.
I'm not aware of any brass versions, but it's possible to alter cast styrene bracketed grabs. First, using solvent-type cement for styrene, cement the plastic grabs in place. After the joint has completely hardened (at least 24 hours), use a sharp blade to cut-away the grab from between the brackets (which are usually solid stepped blocks representing open brackets). Next, trim away any remnants of the grabiron from the brackets' tops - a #17 chisel blade works well for this - then mark that area for drilling. I used a #79 bit (I break #80s merely by looking at them, but can get decent use from #79s
) to drill through each solid "bracket" and then on through the car's side. Install a straight wire grab iron into the holes, bending over the ends on the car's interior, then securing them with an application of ca, also from the interior of the car. While close inspection shows the solid brackets, they look presentable when on the layout:Wayne