I found a Canadian Pacific maroon and grey Kato GP35 new in the box for $25.00. WOO HOO! Anyway I need to know what size of mini drill bit should be used to open the holes in the body for the hand grabs. Kato sells a hole opener tool (piece of wire) for $1.00 on thier website, but I would rather not have to order one. Can anyone help me?
You got one great deal on that loco. Those GP35s run quite well. Kato's tooling is rather precise. To facilitate installation of those parts I perfer to use an Xacto #11 blade. Just a light spin will slightly open and taper the hole. Makes locating and installing the part much easier. Drilling them out can cause a poor fit and items such as handrails can come loose and then you will have to glue. I also found that a very good pair of needle nose helps to start the detail, some pieces will need to be pushed in with a blunt non marking tool.
Usual I didn't need to open the holes at Kato engines. Handrails fitted. I don't remember but I measured with a caliper the end of the handrails. Wolfgang
If you have that measurement, the diameter of the handrail (cm or inch, either one), that can be converted into a drill size. Here is a chart that does that conversion.
