I really like the look of Atlas and LL handrails, so much thinner then the Kato made handrails but....... There so flipping delicate that I feel like I am constantly touching them up. The Kato made ones are sturdier and hold up better and Kato sells them as colored handrails verse's the black or gray that Atlas sells which is nice so you do not have to paint them. Ok I feel better now. Kevin
I've got a dozen of IM's tunnel motors, and the handrails are too thin, too. I've broken maybe half of them so far, and it's hard to superglue them back together. I'd rather have thicker handrails, dangit.
Ahhhhhhhhh...but EVERYONE wants finer, better, more prototypical details. I am sure you have heard....right? STILL...:tb-smile:'in .
I have heard that, I guess I am not everyone. I also don't want cut levers and grabiorns on my diesels. Mabey I am just weird. Kevin
I don't have a problem with the Atlas or IM hand rails. I have hundreds of locos, and not a broken rail yet! Larger hand rails makes the locos look more toy like, instead of like real models!
I like the look of the thinner handrails. If it is sitting on my layout it is not a problem. If you start handling them back and forth to shows, then you just need to be a little more careful. I rather be careful around details than have no details. I don't want manufacturers to start making new engines that look like the toys I started with 20 years ago...
I find it interesting in this case that someone actually considers Life-Like handrails to be too thin! Although I have to agree about being somewhat annoyed by handrails (and ladder steps) that break off and disappear! :tb-confused:
My LL GP38 is what I was referring to. Nice looking handrails. What I was really getting at here is when you kitbash or custom paint something and you need to paint the handails a different color it gets to be a pain. My BN B30-7AB is one of my favorite loco's but if I look at it wrong the paint chips on those nice looking but thin handrails. If Atlas sold colored handrails like Kato does it would not be a problem. I also do not think the thicker handrails on a Kato unit look toylike. Kevin
On one hand I understand and respect the feelings of those who want thinner hand rails. On the other hand using the 3' rule, (for me 18"), be serious. On the 3rd hand I it only shows up in photographs and to folks under 50, ( ) < insert bemused grin > So, yes, I can see the arguments for thinner handrails. Soooooooooooo: By all means I encourage supporters to push manufactures to produce them. I also encourage those who don't care to remain silent, well, if you want to . As for those who tend to break their handrails? um, er, well either be more careful or push manufactures to produce handrails that won't break. Me? I just want my girlfriend to move in soon. This posting is meant to be light heartted with not so subtle hint.
I have been traveling on the weekends a lot lately and have been taking a Kato oval with me to run trains. I got all my cheaper Bachmann cars together so that when I travel I have "tuff" cars. They have metal wheels, the screws hold the trucks in, and I don't have small details to worry about. If I carry delicate locos or cars I have to take more time to box them carefully, or I break off parts:tb-sad:.
Way back in the old dark ages, I used to scrape-down the ultra thick handrails on the diesels made back then. Then along comes the RS3 by Atlas/Kato, and soon others followed, and Model Railroader in their reviews said the handrails were still way too thick on a scale basis even for those improved handrails. Geesshhh. But they were OK to me, and I never scraped any handrails again. I had a friend and mentor sort of who was a tried and true pioneer in N and purist to the Nth degree, who died a couple of years ago in his late eighties. He was an amazing guy, a true layout builder, scratchbuilder and master kitbasher. Plus he made resin molds of anything that didn't exist. He ran live catenary and modeled Milwaukee Road. When he died, his widow told me to come by as he wanted to give me a bunch of his trains. Among them was a big Milwaukee UBoat with phosphor bronze handrails. Phosphor bronze wire was his favorite on his live overhead wire as it was stiff and didn't stretch, and he applied it to replace the oversize handrails. It was much closer to scale radius pipe, but almost invisible. I compared this loco to some photos of the prototype unit, and on the real unit the handrails were prominent. That is when I learned that exacting scale is not always on target, sometimes you have to "give in" a little to make the loco look more realistic. Just my opinion...... Ken "FloridaBoy" Willaman
Following this thread and waiting, until FloridaBoy came along and said the obvious. Metal as in wire. For years there have been metal stanchions and piano wire, brass wire, then phosphor-bronze wire. So for the absolute, I have to have it to scale purist, there is the option out there to have the thinner rails. Just a lot of work in the process. And if you think that some of the plastic is too delicate, try some of those stanchions and wires. Some of the newer stuff have delrin plastic rails and those can bend out of shape too. Fortunately with a little care they can be bent back without breaking. I have had my share of the older diesels with the bulky handrails and a number of steamers with cast on rails. Now I like the newer stuff with its smaller profile and the wire rails on the new steamers. However there is a limit to how far one can go and maintain a resonable appearance. Far as my 2 cents worth goes what they are doing today is just fine by me with my ten thumbs.
The handrails today are great. The only problem is that they make the diesels of yesterday look bad. To give an example, look at the BN GP38 from Atlas compared to the older BN GP40. Those old black handrails have got to go! As Kevin noted, painting them is troublesome at best, as the paint either chips off with handling or looks too thick. It would be fantastic if Atlas would make handrails available in the correct colors (already noted by another member) and sold them for this purpose. Now I am not espousing that they make special runs, but for example, the latest run of Atlas GP7/9s had a BN unit in the mix. If they would make handrails from that run available in color, I know I would sure buy them to fix up my older units. Are we spoiled or what? LOL!
Last I checked, Atlas uses colored handrails too. Depends on the paint scheme. My Soo line Geeps all have maroon handrails. Same as the body color.
I think the key word here is "uses". The difference is that Kato sells them. If you order replacements from Atlas online, the only choice is black. With that said, I did call a while back to get a replacement handrail for a BN GP38, and actually got them in green. Kudos to Atlas' part department. I guess if you call instead of relying on online ordering you may get better results.
It can be done better -very fine handrails, which are painted and unbreakable- use etched metall handrails. Mehano (aka Model Power worsest) did make a very fine model of the Blue Tiger, GE's answer to EMD's extremly popluar ( in Europe) Class 66. And the handrails.... WOW!!! I was realy impressed when I got my loco: http://666kb.com/i/aq0rp8diyu0bkb194.jpg (-not my picture ) Good, fine and sturdy handrails can be done rolleyes: Stephan P.S. -thinking about it -I'm looking for handrails for my to be detailed SP 12-44 any suggestions ?
