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 Posted - January 11 2010 : 3:35:15 PM
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Hey guys:
Has anyone drilled then filed out the solid stirrup steps on their Tyco rolling stock? What other inexpensive things have you done to make them less toylike and more oerational on a layout.
Draft boxses on the frame is another obvious step, but what else....?
-Gareth
"A is A"
-Aristotle
Law of Identification
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 Posted - January 11 2010 : 4:40:02 PM
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I tried the drill-and-file method once... it was more difficult than anticipated and not worth the hassle, especially when you have about an 80% chance of breaking it in the process. For all that trouble and risk it's far quicker and easier to just break them outright and replace with wire stirrups (make your own, it's easy). Or use a black sharpie (or paint, but sharpies are quicker-cheap-fix) and just color the filled-in area... most of the time this will look fairly passable depending on your viewing angle.
Beyond better wheels/axles and couplers, there's not much else to do, really, if you just want to run them... which means you accept the goofy paint schemes and tooling oddities on the others ;)
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Posted - January 11 2010 : 5:52:50 PM
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Hey Tony:
My thinking was improvements without having to buy something, but I have a couple of quetions:
1) drilling into the underSIDE of the cars shell, theres not much meat there to create a hole to glue the wire ste into. If the old step is broken off, could it be used as a bolster behind?
2) Making your own from wire presents the problem of "repeatability" where you can produce a consistent output for uniformities sake? How would you do that, jig?
3) do you have an example of one you have done?
Thanks,
G.
"A is A"
-Aristotle
Law of Identification
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Posted - January 12 2010 : 12:31:17 AM
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The first thing I always use on my Tyco and other "toy" rolling stock (about 75% of my collection, really) is my "Lick of Paint" rule...all it takes is a little paint in the right places to make even an outlandish Tyco car blend in with Athearn, Accurail, and the like.
Take this comparison shot of two Bachmann trainset-type Santa Fe cabeese, for example:
All I did was paint the roof black and weather the sides a little, and add knuckle couplers in the original pockets, but it's obvious which one a rivet counter might not notice at the end of a string of Athearns and such...
--Rio Grande--Thru the Rockies
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Posted - January 17 2010 : 4:23:28 PM
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quote:
1) drilling into the underSIDE of the cars shell, theres not much meat there to create a hole to glue the wire ste into. If the old step is broken off, could it be used as a bolster behind?
2) Making your own from wire presents the problem of "repeatability" where you can produce a consistent output for uniformities sake? How would you do that, jig?
3) do you have an example of one you have done?
Thanks,
Originally posted by romcat-January 11 2010: 5:52:50 PM
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1) The thickness of the car walls and side sills is thicker than you might suspect... plenty enough to use up to a #68 drill and possibly larger - easily the appropriate size for suitable-appearing wire.
2) You could make a basic jig using push pins or tack nails in a piece of scrap wood. But you'd be impressed what you can repeat with needlenose pliers when you only need to do a few at a time. I wouldn't build a jig just for a single car or two's worth of stirrups.
The trick is to use pliable wire. Get some florist's wire, or the thin stuff by the spool at the hardware store. A paper clip would be too thick, and piano wire gets too pricey.
3) Not a Tyco, but same concept applies:
Found that car with all 4 steps broken, and replaced them all then painted to match. One of them may be a "pre-made" detail part, a spare I had lying around and probably used as a template to clone the rest.
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