Two jigs in just over a week !
After forming the tumble home in the coach side using a set of rollers and then fitting the inner windows (the bits in real life that would slide up and down), I started the job of fitting grab rails.
On a 4mm coach, the grab rails would be supplied as etched parts but in 7mm these need to be formed from wire to have the correct shape. Using the holes in the side as a guide I bent up some brass wire into a U shape. Getting the right angle bend in constantly on all the rails was more of a challenge. After a couple of false starts I hit upon scribing a line on the inner jaw of my square ended pliers and using this as a guide.
The soldering jig in the photo is made from an old business card folded in two and notched to fit around the grab handle. It's held in place with a hair pin and the handle is held with a lolly stick so I could solder the back without burning my fingers.
The results aren't perfect but are pretty good. If I were to do a lot more then perhaps a better jib for bending would be required as I can see some inconsistency in sizes - although I'm probably more critical than most. At least I hope so !
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