Broken rear stirrup on Kato E8A

[MK]

That looks very good Jason.  Question on those two "tangs".  I'm assuming they go into the thickness of a shell?  Wouldn't that be kind of hard to drill a tiny hole into the center thickness of a Kato shell?

What about making then at the end to bend up and take on to the back side of the shell?  Something like a "Z":

  |  (back of shell, the two "tangs" or could be a horizontally connected piece between the two tangs)
 -   (spans the thickness of your shell like your design so the stirrups can be flush)
|    (stiirrups flush with outside of the both)
|

[randgust]

This shot shows them really well.

http://www.railpictures.net/photo/627422/

To which, yes, they should be flush with the outside of the shell, but yes, the plastic ones are also way, way too thick.

I used a pin as a center punch after scratching the plastic with the etched edges, probably drilled about .015, secured with ACC.

[wcfn100]

That looks very good Jason.  Question on those two "tangs".  I'm assuming they go into the thickness of a shell?  Wouldn't that be kind of hard to drill a tiny hole into the center thickness of a Kato shell?

Actually the way it worked out it's not that bad.  The stock steps are used as a guide.  Use something as a center punch just against the outside of the stock step and drill the hole at the same angle as the stock step.  Then remove the stock step.

The biggest issue with the current design is how fine the little whiskers (tangs) are and the fact they are half etched.  Too much bending and they will break off.  If you bend everything in the right order, it's not an issue, but I did beef these up a little in the new drawing.  I may even try a version without the half etch.

Jason

[x600]

Jason's design is very clever!

BINGO!

[Mark5]

If you can wait a bit, I may have a better solution.

I personally don't like the GMM stirrups.  They are too thin, but mostly they don't sit flush to the car side like the prototype.

Here's my solution.  It's doubled over for thickness and is flush to the side but still allows for the mounting holes to be in the centered depth-wise on the shell.



<snip>
Jason

Hot. 

[GhengisKong]

If you can wait a bit, I may have a better solution.







Unfortunately my first try ended up a bit long. Either my measurements are off, or the space between the truck springs and the side sill are shorter on the Kato model than the prototype.



Jason

Some roads had the longer stirrups for the B-units, so you could consider doing both long and short versions. Check out this F7B on Texas & Pacific. I'll try to find more Bs with the long stirrups to see if anyone besides the T&P/MP had longer ones.