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Details On The Road
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Seems I get more modeling done in hotel rooms than at home. One of the easiest projects on the road is adding small details, with a few parts and minimal tools. The new door handles on this BLI NYC boxcar are a perfect example, with the molded handles replaced with flattened .008 brass rod. It's a trifle "fiddley" as the flattened brass is quite delicate, but it makes for a lovely detail. I did not use phosphor bronze as the harder wire was more resistant to being "squashed."
Michael Gross Pasadena, CA |
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Ralph W. Brown
Hi Michael,
Nice work! I have to give it a try.
Pax,
Ralph
Brown
Portland, Maine PRRT&HS No. 3966 NMRA No. L2532 rbrown51[at]maine[dot]rr[dot]com From: Michael Gross
Sent: Thursday, April 25, 2019 7:03 PM
To: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io
Subject: [RealSTMFC] Details On The Road Seems
I get more modeling done in hotel rooms than at home. One of the easiest
projects on the road is adding small details, with a few parts and minimal
tools. The new door handles on this BLI NYC boxcar are a perfect example,
with the molded handles replaced with flattened .008 brass rod. It's a
trifle "fiddley" as the flattened brass is quite delicate, but it makes for a
lovely detail. I did not use phosphor bronze as the harder wire was more
resistant to being "squashed." Michael Gross Pasadena, CA |
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Nice idea! What brand of .008 brass wire did you use? I didn't even know it was possible to do that. Those look great! I can think of a number of uses for flattened brass wire of that size. :-) Tim O'Connor On 4/25/2019 7:03 PM, Michael Gross
wrote:
Seems I get more modeling done in hotel rooms than at home. One of the easiest projects on the road is adding small details, with a few parts and minimal tools. The new door handles on this BLI NYC boxcar are a perfect example, with the molded handles replaced with flattened .008 brass rod. It's a trifle "fiddley" as the flattened brass is quite delicate, but it makes for a lovely detail. I did not use phosphor bronze as the harder wire was more resistant to being "squashed." --
Tim O'Connor Sterling, Massachusetts |
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Nelson Moyer
Very nice door handles, Michael. Hope to see you in Collinsville.
Nelson Moyer
From: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io [mailto:main@RealSTMFC.groups.io]
On Behalf Of Michael Gross
Sent: Thursday, April 25, 2019 6:03 PM To: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io Subject: [RealSTMFC] Details On The Road
Seems I get more modeling done in hotel rooms than at home. One of the easiest projects on the road is adding small details, with a few parts and minimal tools. The new door handles on this BLI NYC boxcar are a perfect example, with the
molded handles replaced with flattened .008 brass rod. It's a trifle "fiddley" as the flattened brass is quite delicate, but it makes for a lovely detail. I did not use phosphor bronze as the harder wire was more resistant to being "squashed." |
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Gary Ray
Great use of time. Looks great. Gary Ray Magalia, CA
From: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io [mailto:main@RealSTMFC.groups.io] On Behalf Of Michael Gross
Seems I get more modeling done in hotel rooms than at home. One of the easiest projects on the road is adding small details, with a few parts and minimal tools. The new door handles on this BLI NYC boxcar are a perfect example, with the molded handles replaced with flattened .008 brass rod. It's a trifle "fiddley" as the flattened brass is quite delicate, but it makes for a lovely detail. I did not use phosphor bronze as the harder wire was more resistant to being "squashed." |
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Kemal Mumcu
How do you flatten the wire? Hammer? Pliers?
Colin Meikle |
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Scott
Wow that looks great! Going to have to use that idea!
Scott McDonald |
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Thanks for your comments, but this is an idea I recall seeing demonstrated by Bill Welch, George Toman, or some other fine modeler. I used Details Associates WR 2502 .008 brass wire, and flattened it using a combination of the two pliers pictured here: a Sears Craftsman flat needle-nose plier, and the other a 'Bead Landing' round-nosed plier I found among the bead making tools at Michael's craft store. It's a bit tedious to work one's way along the wire, flattening it as you go, but these were the only tools I took on the road. It would be interesting to see if the wire could could be flattened more quickly with one blow of a hammer, and I intend to give that a try when I return home. (Be advised, the flattened brass wire is extremely delicate and breakable, and I must have tried this eight or ten times to get four workable pieces.)
Michael Gross Pasadena, CA |
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James Lackner
I have long forgotten the reason for doing it, but I recall "annealing" brass wire in the past. This made it easier to work with, by heating it with a match or lighter, then letting it cool.
Maybe someone remembers the specifics of this method better than I am. Jim Lackner |
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frograbbit602
Very nice.
Lester Breuer |
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A good thought, Jim, and in future I might experiment with annealing the brass wire before or after it is flattened. My suspicion is that the delicacy of the flattened wire has more to do with its extremely thin cross section, and that annealing may not help much. Bear in mind that the process of hardening and annealing brass is exactly the reverse of that used with steel: brass is hardened when it is heated and allowed to cool slowly; it is softened or annealed when heated and cooled suddenly.
Michael Gross Pasadena, CA |
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Tony Thompson
Michael Gross wrote: Bear in mind that the process of hardening and annealing brass is exactly the reverse of that used with steel: brass is hardened when it is heated and allowed to cool slowly; it is softened or annealed when heated and cooled suddenly. Speaking as a metallurgist, this is certainly not true of everyday or common brass, 30 percent zinc in copper (yellow brass). Heating rate won't matter, and cooling rate will matter little either, with slower cooling making for either no change, or softer brass. Of course there are lots of alloys commonly called "brass" (maybe even some that can harden on slow cooling), and to make a general comment about "steel" is even worse. From the mild steel you buy at the hardware store, to high strength technical alloys, is a galaxy of difference. Heating brass to red heat and setting down to cool in air is what I would do to soften it, if it's yellow brass. And I wouldn't even do that if it isn't very hard to begin with. Small diameter brass wire normally is cold finished and hard enough to benefit from annealing, but it may already be partly or completely softened in processing before you get it. Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA 2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705 www.signaturepress.com (510) 540-6538; e-mail, tony@... Publishers of books on railroad history |
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Very well done Michael, sometimes being on the road is not all bad!! Fenton On Thu, Apr 25, 2019 at 7:03 PM Michael Gross <ActorMichaelGross@...> wrote: Seems I get more modeling done in hotel rooms than at home. One of the easiest projects on the road is adding small details, with a few parts and minimal tools. The new door handles on this BLI NYC boxcar are a perfect example, with the molded handles replaced with flattened .008 brass rod. It's a trifle "fiddley" as the flattened brass is quite delicate, but it makes for a lovely detail. I did not use phosphor bronze as the harder wire was more resistant to being "squashed." --
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gtws00
Nicely Done Michael. Those look great.
I use a pair of Xuron Short Nose Pliers 475C to flatten my wire. Others as well but really like these. I find I get a lot of force with these. As noted here by Jim and Tony on annealing I also find in my flatting when I have also used a match or lighter to heat and flatten, that when it cools that it is often much too soft. Attracted are a couple photos of the 475C and flattened brass in a couple sizes. Note the 475C has no rust. The shiny parts of the pliers were picking up a reflection making them look rusty George Toman |
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jerryglow2
I used to use a piece of keystock to flatten wire in a vice (or a good smack)
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WILLIAM PARDIE
Michael does an excellent job on all of his models and this is another example of his fine and creative work. As an alternative I have achieved a similar effect by bending the handle in .010 or .012 brass wire, inserting the legs in the door and securing it with glue from the Bach and then filing the face of the handle flat. This could eliminagte much of the breakage.
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Bill Pardie
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Bill Welch
I use .010 brass wire and DO NOT anneal it. I use "Chain" nose pliers to create flat areas and regular needle to level it out the six-eight scale inches handle portion. I think the Chain nose may be same as Michael's 'Bead Landing.' Think I will try the pliers George Toman refers to. While somewhat tedious, I find wire bending kind of meditative too.
Bill Welch |
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On modeling a boxcar door handle in HO. I’m curious to know.
What is the actual/typical prototype dimensions of the door handle Michael and others have modeled?
George Corral La Grange, KY |
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Ralph W. Brown
Hi George.
After studying a number of PRR boxcar photos from Class X29 to Class X40B,
my best guess is about 10 inches between bolt of rivet head centers, and the
grip, if that’s the term, appears to be about eight inches long, give or take,
with a diameter roughly half again that of a grab iron or ladder rung, so maybe
an inch to an inch and a quarter. In any event, if you’re replacing cast
on detail, the length will pretty much be determined by the dimensions of the
detail being replaced.
Hope that helps.
Pax,
Ralph
Brown
Portland, Maine PRRT&HS No. 3966 NMRA No. L2532 rbrown51[at]maine[dot]rr[dot]com From: George
Corral
Sent: Friday, April 26, 2019 8:54 PM
To: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io
Subject: Re: [RealSTMFC] Details On The Road On modeling a boxcar door handle in HO. I’m curious to know.
What is the actual/typical prototype dimensions of the door handle Michael and others have modeled?
George Corral La Grange, KY |
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WILLIAM PARDIE
In most instances the width if the handle it dictated by the molded on anchors (just the handle is carved off in the cast doors). I'm sure that someone has an accurate dimension that you could use.. Bill Pardie Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone -------- Original message -------- From: George Corral <aileron44@...> Date: 4/26/19 2:54 PM (GMT-10:00) To: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io Subject: Re: [RealSTMFC] Details On The Road On modeling a boxcar door handle in HO. I’m curious to know.
What is the actual/typical prototype dimensions of the door handle Michael and others have modeled?
George Corral La Grange, KY |
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