Drop Grabs for the Branchline Berwick and Athearn Sieco Boxcars
-Mike Rose


The  issue for me was the grab irons.  To my eye there is a big
visual difference between straight grabs and drop grabs, so if you are
interested in having the drop variety for your prototype, here’s a fairly easy
way of doing it. 

If you have to build one of something, just build it.  If you have to build many
of something, by all means build a jig!  Then you can mass-produce them
and not go crazy doing it.  While at first glance it may seem easy to make a
drop grab, getting consistent-appearing ones is another matter entirely. 

The above shows the tools you'll need, along with the jig.

 


The first thing I did was to determine the correct spacing.  As it turns out,
the correct width of the grabs for a Branchline Berwick is 30".  I know of no
commercially available part for this dimension.  So the first task is to make
a piece of plastic to use as a bending jig as shown above.  I used a 
piece of .030 styrene about an inch and a quarter long.  The length is not
critical, just something long enough to hold easily will suffice.  I raided my
scrapbox for most of the pieces of this jig.  I made the jig a bit wider than
needed, then tapered the last half inch of it so that at its’ narrowest point, it
was less than the width I was looking for.  Therefore, it was a simple matter
to find the proper point on the taper, and cement a cross piece as shown at
that point, slightly longer than the width of the strip.  This serves as the
bending point.  

 
 



 

The jig being used to bend .010 wire to form the basic grab iron. Note the small clamp to help hold the grab in place while bending.

 


The jig being used to bend .010 wire to form the basic grab iron. Note the small clamp to help hold the grab in place while bending.  Other side being bent.  (Note: For the Sieco car, the correct 24" width grabs are available from
Tichy, so you can skip the above step when making grabs for the Sieco
car) 

 
 
 


The basic grab being placed into the bending jig.

 
 


Once the basic grab is formed, the next step is to form the drop portion of
the grab.  The trick is to do this accurately so they all match, not as easy as
it sounds.  When I tried doing this just with needle nose pliers, they were off
enough that they didn’t look right.  Time for another jig! 

I took another piece of .040 plastic out of the scrap bin as a base,
approximately 1-3/4" by 2-1/4", but again the dimensions are not critical. 
What is critical is that the thickness of the next two pieces equal the amount
of the drop you wish to create.  I based mine on the Details Associates
SY-2202 drop grab.  I judged this dimension to be .080, so I cut two pieces
of this material, sized to fit on the jig base.  I spaced these on the base just
slightly wider than the wire I was using, not measuring, just using a couple of
the DA grabs to get the right spacing.  I found it easier to glue down one
piece securely with Pro Weld liquid cement, then glue the other one in place
with Testor’s to get some “wiggle time” and get it exactly where I wanted it. 

Once the jig has set up, preferably overnight, it’s ready for use.  Meanwhile
take the time to make up a total of 17 grabs with the bending jig.  The car
only needs 16, but I can almost guarantee that if you make only 16, one will
fly out of your hands never to be seen again!  As shown in the next photo
series, place the already made 30" grab all the way down into the slot in the
jig.  

 


Use a scrap of 24" wide .010 plastic to hold the grab firmly into the
bottom of the jig, then take a small jeweler’s screwdriver or similar
implement and fold each leg flat with the jig.  This produces the drop grab,
ready to trim.  If you do not hold the grab flat in the jig, what happens is that
it tends to try to climb out of the slot while bending, destroying consistency,
so the hold down piece is critical. 

 
 


The grab being removed from the bending jig.

 
 


Now that you have a nicely formed drop grab, it’s also important to trim it to
length.  Often you can just drill holes in the side of the car and mount an
un-trimmed grab in place, gluing from the inside.  However, on the Berwick
and the Sieco cars, the corner post protrudes beyond the end of the car,
precluding this.  Therefore you need the grab iron to be trimmed to the
exact length you need, as this determines how far it extends from the car
side. 

To do this I made, what else, another jig!  Actually I just added this onto the
existing jig so it wouldn’t get lost.  It’s simply a strip of .060 styrene, width
unimportant, with a pair of holes drilled 30" apart on it.  The grab is inserted
flush to the bend, held in place with fingers, then trimmed flush with
rail nippers as shown in the photos.  This produces a very consistent drop
grab, but you can judge for yourself from the completed model photos. 

 


Another view of trimming the grabs.

 
 


Applying Cyanopoxy (what else!) to the grab after checking dry fit on the car.

 
 
 


Using needle nose pliers to attach the grab to the car, in this case a pre-decorated example.

 
 
 

The completed Undec car with grabs.

For the Sieco car, I  will add another “leg” to the bending jig, this one with
holes spaced 24" apart.  The drop is the same, so I was able to use the
same drop bending technique for the Tichy Grab, then trim it the same way I
trimmed the grabs for the Berwick car.  Once you’ve made a half a dozen
of them you’ll find it goes pretty fast.  If anyone has an easier way to do this
I’m all ears!   

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This page last edited by Mike Rose 7/26/2002