STEP 12: Detailing the Sides and Ends
Continued ...
50
50: I have a homemade jig that I use for bending
wire for grab irons. The jig is made of two pieces
of .060" plain styrene were cut to 5-1/2” long by
3/4” wide. At one end I made a taper from 3/16”
(HO scale 16”) to 1/2” (HO scale 3’-10”), and
this taper is 3” long. A hole was drilled so I could
hang it on a peg at my workbench. A piece of
.020" freight car siding was cemented to one side
of the jig. I then filed the pieces to create a nice
smooth surface along the sides.
With the taper I can bend a variety of grab irons.
The car siding provides the locating marks to
ensure the proper length of the grab iron. To make
sure that I use the proper mark for each grab iron,
I put a piece of masking tape next to the desired
width. Tape was not needed on this project, since I
used the smallest grab irons.
