Peter's Model Railroading | The Equipment | Box Cars | SP A-50-6
Construction: Grab Irons

I started off by installing the grab irons on the right-hand side first. I am very glad that the kit's grab irons are pre-formed, as that is a big time-saver and yields better results than having to hand-form each one separately. I inserted the grab irons, and then inserted a strip of styrene, to give them all a uniform distance from the body.

I then placed a metal weight on the grab irons, held that in place, while applying superglue to the part of the grab iron that sticks out into the inside of the body shell. When that dried, the grab irons won't move any more, so I could then apply a very tiny amount of superglue to the spot where the other end of the grab iron goes into the body at the far right (this can't be reached from the inside as that end goes into the end panel of the car's body). For the sake of consistency and speed, I did the exact same thing to the other side of the car body for those same grab irons (that way you can just repeat what you just did on the first side).

Next were the two door handles, installed in a similar manner. The body's thickness is thicker than the length of the wires' legs, so I carefully applied superglue to the drilled holes from the front. By applying the glue, which then fills the holes I drilled, when the body is later painted, the holes will not be as visible as they are now.

There is one lone grab iron on the left-hand side of the sides of the car. This one is the same size as the many used on the right-hand side.

And there is another one of the same size on the right-hand side of the ends of the car.

The rest of the grab irons on the ends are of the smaller size, including the one in the bottom right-hand corner. I installed these in the same manner as I did the large collection on the sides. This completes all the grab irons, 42 in total; 84 holes drilled!