Hi All,

After hardwiring to DCC my latest loco Kato RS2 in Chicago Great Western paint and fitting Kaddes i was looking forward to adding the irons and rails, after detaching a front iron from the carrier sprue it seems they are too short to fit around the front body of the loco and holding them in tweezers i'm not happy at the thought of the carpet monster eating them should they deided to launch off into space.
How do these fit better and have any of you guys fitted them successfully, or are there better iron kits out there for it ?




Here is a good shot of the grab irons and how they fit around the front of the loco.

Looks like only one goes around the radius of the short hood(third one down). The rest look like the standard size. Check the parts sprue. There maybe one thats a little longer than the rest.

Also, did your model come with a piece of wire, about two or three inches long?
This is used to open up the holes for the grabs. If not, a #80, or #79 drill willl work.
And also help.

It looks like you only need one long grab iron on the front. Could you possibly make one out of brass wire? Or, are the parts plastic? If they are, you can carefully heat one of the grabs slightly in the center and stretch it to fit. That might make it look a little thinner in the center though.

Loren

I have come to the conclusion after installing plastic grab irons on freight cars and having a bunch of broken grabs at the bottom of my rolling stock cases at the shows, that I will never install another plastic grab again. If the grabs are metal, you should be able to stretch or bend them slightly to fit. If they are plastic, in my opinion you are wasting your time to even try installing them. Pick up some fine wire .015" if I remember correctly and make your own grab irons.

Nick - you can get a grab-iron bending jig from Bill Bedford here in UK - It is only a couple of quid or so, and well worth getting

Or, you can make your own, too: Getting a grip on grabirons...

Wayne

Hi Guys,

Many thanks for your replies ....

*** 88 *** all four irons go around the hood the third one down as you say longer ....... there wasnt a length of wire in the kit but another loco did have to dig it out to open up the holes.

*** Russ/Nomad*** think it will be better to make my own from brass just need to get the drop of the iron correct in brass wire.

*** shortliner *** i found Bill Bedford models on a google search hope the jigs are dimensionally correct for 1/87 as they are listed as 4MM

*** Wayne *** cant get the link to work you posted thank you though.

upnick Wrote:*** Wayne *** cant get the link to work you posted thank you though.

Hmmm! :? Very strange. The link is to a thread in our Tips & Tricks Forum, under the same name, and outlines how to make your own grabirons.

Wayne

doctorwayne Wrote:

upnick Wrote:*** Wayne *** cant get the link to work you posted thank you though.

Hmmm! :? Very strange. The link is to a thread in our Tips & Tricks Forum, under the same name, and outlines how to make your own grabirons.

Wayne

Thanks Wayne i go have a'll look