Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Tuesday Tip: Installing A-Line #29000 Stirrup, er, SILL Steps


A-Line makes great metal stirrup sill steps which are bullet-proof when installed. Proof is that I used them exclusively on the resin boxcars I built some time back and they've never even thought of breaking. In fact, during my build I often forgot and rested the entire car on just the stirrups steps. No problem.

I need to install the #29000 type (seen in the pic above) on the 1-1/2 door boxcar I'm building and needed to figure out what size drill to use to drill the mounting holes and how far apart to drill such holes.

Since I figured it out, you don't have to. So put this in your toolbox - or even better put a little note in with the stirrups steps wherever you store them:
  • Drill two mounting holes per stirrup step using a #75 (.021") drill (I confess I later reamed out these holes with a #74 - .225" - bit to make installation easier)
  • Drill the holes .064" apart (as you see in the pic above)
  • Place a drop of gap-filling ACC in a cap and dip the stirrups steps into it before inserting them in the holes. Alternatively, you could either rely on a press fit or just apply thin ACC after inserting them.
Once I decide whether this is going to be a CN or a GTW car, I'll finish it up and it'll be ready for the paint & lettering shop!

5 comments:

  1. Please write on the chalk board, 100 times, "sill steps, sill steps, sill steps...."

    Cheers,
    Ted

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    Replies
    1. Ugh! Sorry - should remember that stirrups belong on horse saddles.

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    2. I did the blog post equivalent to the chalk board punishment. All corrected now 😜

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  2. Good on ya mate! They are a staple for building freight cars, particularly ones that are handled.

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    Replies
    1. Heh - "staple" - I see what ya did there.... The A-Line steps DO resemble the staples I have in my staple gun after all....

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