Can someone tell where one can acquire brass wire described in some
freight car detailing articles??? such as size .010, .012 etc?
thanks Doug Gardner

Detail Associates has a variety of sizes including the two you
mentioned.

Jerry Glow


--- In STMFC@..., "radius158" <gard158@...> wrote:

Can someone tell where one can acquire brass wire described in some
freight car detailing articles??? such as size .010, .012 etc?
thanks Doug

Gardner

Thanks

Detail Associates wire is 12 inches long, 1 foot.
Chuck Hladik
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McMaster Carr has wire down to .02, I'm surprised they don't have anything
smaller. They have screws, drills, taps, etc, and the service in my area is
excellent. I use then whenever I can, not the cheapest but cheaper than a hobby
shop and a very good selection of materials for modeling. Todd Horton

_http://www.mcmaster.com/_ (http://www.mcmaster.com/)
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Thanks I looked at their site and it looked like they come in short lengths of 1/2 inch or
so.... In some of Ted Culotta's articles in RMC, he used long lengths to detail brake
systems ......This stuff must some in spools or long lengths....Thanks DougG

Clover House also has various sizes of brass wire, including the most common sizes used in freight car detailing. Lots of other useful stuff, as well, and Russ Clover is a good guy who runs a first rate direct-mail operation. www.cloverhouse.com

Richard Hendrickson

Greetings,

Brass wire in spools can be found craft shops as beading wire.
This is soft wire that can be straightened by stretching between
two pairs of pliers. Tichey sells phosphor bronze wire in 12" or
36" tubes. The plastic tubes are handy too. The Detail
Associates wire is hard. If it is bent at a tight right angle it
will break. The area wher it is to bent should be heated with a
butane lighter momentarily to aneal the wire first.

Michael

Precision Scale also sells brass wire in straight 12 inch lengths.
Size is .012 to .030 as I recall.
On Mar 2, 2007, at 7:29 AM, Michael Watnoski wrote:

Greetings,

Brass wire in spools can be found craft shops as beading wire.
This is soft wire that can be straightened by stretching between
two pairs of pliers. Tichey sells phosphor bronze wire in 12" or
36" tubes. The plastic tubes are handy too. The Detail
Associates wire is hard. If it is bent at a tight right angle it
will break. The area wher it is to bent should be heated with a
butane lighter momentarily to aneal the wire first.

Michael

Roger Parry
uncleroger@...

There is a company called Small Parts, Inc that sell brass and other wire in various sizes through the Amazon website. Haven't tried them myself but they seem to have a large variety.

Don Burn

Small Parts service, and shipping is excellent. Try them, you wont be disappointed.

Paul Imhoff
lurking in Baton Rouge

On Mar 2, 2007, at 6:29 AM, Michael Watnoski wrote:

The Detail
Associates wire is hard. If it is bent at a tight right angle it
will break. The area wher it is to bent should be heated with a
butane lighter momentarily to aneal the wire first.

I bend DA wire, often well past 90 degrees, without experiencing breakage and have never annealed it. I have found that I can even bend it several times before it does break. DA wire is usually my first choice because it does bend and HOLD its shape, yet is not easily bent by accident. My experience with Precision Scale wire is that it is "softer" and easier to bend by accident. After kicking around on my bench for a few months, there are no straight pieces of Precision wire!

Regards
Bruce

Bruce F. Smith
Auburn, AL
http://www.vetmed.auburn.edu/~smithbf/

"Some days you are the bug, some days you are the windshield."
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Richard notes-

Clover House also has various sizes of brass wire.... and Russ Clover is a good guy who runs a first rate direct-mail operation. www.cloverhouse.com

Richard has that exactly right. Over the years Russ has been the first to carry some of the most interesting and useful scratch-building and detailing products that railroad modelers could wish for. His fine line of dry transfers include the all time best billboard: Sudbury Brewing Co.'s "Even the Camel Cant Go" [sic.] and "This is the Beer Boys" [sic.]. I will probably bite the bullet and create this car just for the graphics.

Russ first advertised his business in MR in about 1953. With a twinkle in his eye he commented to me last year that "[his business] had been a perfectly good way to absolutely ruin a fine hobby for me!" His catalogues over the years have been beautiful.

He is looking to retirement, and we should join him in hoping that he can pass his business on to someone else with his his good humor and commitment to service.

Denny

--
Denny S. Anspach, MD
Sacramento

--- In STMFC@..., centga@... wrote:> McMaster Carr has wire
down to .02, I'm surprised they don't have anything smaller.

I bought a life time supply (1/4 lb.)spool of .014 inch soft iron wire
from McMaster; it's flat black and was great for replacing grab irons
on Intermountain SFRD reefers. .016" of the same type of wire is silver.

I tried to buy smaller diameter wire from the manufacturer but .014" is
the smallest they sell as a stock item.

I have a big box of soft copper wire scraps that I picked up off the
floor of various factories where I worked. McMaster offers many sizes.

For rigid wire I use the Tichy & DA that others have mentioned. Flat
wire too. I bought a box of .020" brass "rods" made by K&S years ago.
Occasionally I used the .015" spring wire from K&S for straight pieces.
Every hobby shop used to sell it. It's difficult to cut and near
impossible to bend. I never tired to heat it though.

I find the rigid wire is difficult to fit for brake piping. That's why
I like the soft stuff.

Anyone buy that green florist's wire that used to be included in kits?

Ed

On Mar 2, 2007, at 6:29 AM, Michael Watnoski wrote:

The Detail
Associates wire is hard. If it is bent at a tight right angle it
will break. The area wher it is to bent should be heated with a
butane lighter momentarily to aneal the wire first.

I bend DA wire, often well past 90 degrees, without experiencing
breakage and have never annealed it. I have found that I can even
bend it several times before it does break. DA wire is usually my
first choice because it does bend and HOLD its shape, yet is not
easily bent by accident. My experience with Precision Scale wire is
that it is "softer" and easier to bend by accident. After kicking
around on my bench for a few months, there are no straight pieces of
Precision wire!

Regards
Bruce

I'm with Bruce. I have a complete selection (which is much more extensive than any of these other
lines suggested) of all the sizes. Everything from .008" to .052". It works just fine, no issues
with bending, I've never seen it break.

Actually, I have:
.008
.010
.012
.015
.019
.022
.028
.033
.040
.046
.052

I have not bought any in quite some time, there may be more sizes than that.
SGL

i've had DA wire break too, but only after bending and
rebending... nowadays i mostly use CMA wire, which is more
flexible (and comes in protective plastic tubes). i use
.015 steel (piano) wire too where i want strength and
rigidity (a vertical brake rod for example).

Tim O'Connor