Album: IAIS RS36 900

Conductor's side view. There are no Smokey Valley handrail sets that are correct for these, so I bent my own. I cut the factory stanchions away, then laid them on my workbench surface and, based on a Neil Schofield tip, used a T-pin to make a pilot hole under magnification and drilled each one out. This process was actually easier than it sounds. Including the time spent to bend the new handrails (using the factory end sections as a guide), it took about two hours total, but in my opinion, the improvement in appearance is well worth it.

The hand brake chain and pulley mechanism was made by drilling holes in the front truck sideframes inboard of each brake cylinder and fashioning pins out of small guage wire, pinning Detail Associates #2210 chain material in place. Pulleys for the rear cylinders were made from parts left over from a Cannon short hood kit, drilled out for the pins.

The dynamic brake vent was opened up by sawing vertically just inside of both end walls, scribing along the bottom to remove the original cast-on vent, and making a new top plate from 0.010” styrene. The vents were added using the Scale Scenics mesh material mentioned previously.

By: Joe Atkinson

Album: IAIS-Based Layouts  Album: Joe Atkinson's Subdivision 4, Atlantic-Adair  Album: Equipment  Album: Locomotives  Album: IAIS RS36 900