My only diesel is an Athearn GP50 purchased in 1988. I'm returning to the hobby and am relearning everything. My feeling is that if a $37 unit came with metal railings then, why shouldn't the $300 units have the same today? I see so many YouTubes of brand new high end units with bowed plastic railings straight out of the box. Do the mfg offer metal railing kits to upgrade from plastic, and if so, why aren't they using metal in the first place?is older Athearn,
No they do not offer it...for the reasons i explained. Making metal handrails is not really possible with automation, at least not yet. Don't believe me, try it. If you want metal, either Athearn blue box series or scratchbuilding is the way to go.My only diesel is an Athearn GP50 purchased in 1988. I'm returning to the hobby and am relearning everything. My feeling is that if a $37 unit came with metal railings then, why shouldn't the $300 units have the same today? I see so many YouTubes of brand new high end units with bowed plastic railings straight out of the box. Do the mfg offer metal railing kits to upgrade from plastic, and if so, why aren't they using metal in the first place?
Making metal handrails is not really possible with automation, at least not yet.
Bending a wire is one thing.
How bout even a hybrid of plastic stanchions with metal rails even then?Bending a wire is one thing. View attachment 185782
But try making horizontal and vertical pieces into one. Like i said, it is time consuming and no manufacturer which is trying to sell in large numbers will go for that. Such work is reserved for small runs because of labor involved.View attachment 185783
Look at the cross section on vertical stanchions of that GP30; they're actually "C" beams. To make sections like that in metal it would reguire special and expensive machinery, that's why for those who don't care about how flimsy plastic is, but want pure realism, these are done in plastic.
How would you connect them?How bout even a hybrid of plastic stanchions with metal rails even then?
Try to make something like that and see how it works.Well provided the stanchions are self-supporting, and the railings are affixed to the loco at each end, they wouldn't need to be physically bonded to each other. The rail could just feed through a hole in each stanchion.
MTH did that in HO scale, and was vilified for how clunky and toylike they looked.Well provided the stanchions are self-supporting, and the railings are affixed to the loco at each end, they wouldn't need to be physically bonded to each other. The rail could just feed through a hole in each stanchion.