In a message dated 10/16/2009 11:23:16 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
timboconnor@... writes:





On a prefab underframe found in most plastic kits (where the
crossbearers are part of the casting) if I really want to run
an airline I just flip it over and cut U-shape chunks out of the
crossbearers and place the airline through those. This is actually
done for you on a couple of brands of freight car kits, so it's
not an original idea. Once you flip the underframe over and
attach it to the freight car floor, you really can't tell (from
a casual glance) that the airline is not threaded through holes.
And it's a heck of a lot easier than trying to drill a bunch of
holes in a perfectly straight line through a bunch of crossbearers.

Tim O'Connor

At 10/16/2009 10:15 AM Friday, you wrote:

Chuck,

No right angle drills needed. Just long drill bits ( 4 1/2 inches long )

made out of .020" music ( piano ) wire or larger. The music wire is
sharpened via grinding at one end creating a point or flat surface to do the
drilling. ( old woodwooding working trick ) Chuck the music wire bit in a
variable speed Dremel and on the lowest speed possible drill the holes needed. I
drill all holes for the train line with this type of homemade drill bit.
SAFETY CAUTION --- You need to hold the music wire flat ( keep the wire bit
straight ) when first starting the Dremel tool or the wire will bend at the
collet and will spin in large circle causing possible damage to your hand
or model.

Lester Breuer