Car handling
There is no question that highly detailed cars are fragile. Parts will
break or fall off if they are roughly handled. The best strategy is to
avoid touching them at all – put them on the layout and leave them
there. Move them in trains with locomotives like the real thing. Of
course there are times when they must be removed from the lay-
out for various reasons, but keeping handling to a minimum will cut
down on repairs.
If you must handle a car – any car – pay close attention to where
you grab it. Roof edges are a good spot (for HO scale), as they gen-
erally are pretty sturdy and don’t have detail in the edge. Grabbing
the car in the center of the body is likely to leave fingerprints, and
picking it up anywhere along the bottom edge or ends will break off
details. Tank cars and other stock may require different strategies.
Rolling stock should be kept upright at all times to avoid breaking
small details. When working on a car, use caution when laying it on
its side, as this can trash the details. If the trucks must come off,
support the car across an open
model box as shown in the
photos. The box will support
the car without fouling the end
or center stirrups. A piece of
foam on the workbench can be
23: This boxcar is being
handled by the roof edge.
While there are no ideal
spots, this one seems to
cause the least damage
to the grabirons, ladders
and stirrups
23
Batch-building freight cars - 14
