HELP!!! Step wells from prototype plans; scratch, etch, or cut?

[Packer]

I recently acquired a detailed plan for the step wells on the GN/BN GP7 thru GP20s. They came from the BN and the drawing is dated 1974.

Anyways, I'm thinking of using the plans to do the step wells on most of my P2K GPs. I'm curious as to which method would really be best to do this:
 
1. See: http://dieseldetailer.proboards.com/thread/11120/4-step-conversion-p2k-gps. My initial plan is to make a master out of steel and cut .01" styrene individually using it. Other than the master being slightly different from the one linked too, it's essentially the same idea.

2. Using the dimensions I have figured out for the jig, have someone with a vinyl cutter print a sheet of them out of .01" styrene (or vinyl). Then just glue the steps to the cut pieces.

3. Have the jig etched from one sheet of brass or stainless, then glue or solder the steps to it.

4. Have the step wells etched as a folding assembly, like railflyer's step wells

I personally like #2, as it'd probably be the cheapest. But I'm not sure how accurate those vinyl cuttters are. #3 and #4 seem like they'd be pretty pricy, and #4 would take a while to figure out. #1 I might be able to do, but it might not be as accurate as #2.

Anyone else's thoughts? If someone has a vinyl printer that they would mind using to draw up several of step jigs, that'd be great.

[Packer]

BUMP

I'm wondering how accurate thos vinyl cutters would be on .01 styrene. Does anyone know and if they are accurate, could I comission someone to print out some of the parts I need?

[Dave Schneider]

Vincent,

If you lay out the cuts, I will do them for you at no charge. Download the Silhouette software and use it to create the lines you need.
http://www.silhouetteamerica.com/software.aspx

I used it to cut the window mullions on this scale house (as well as all the other parts), so it can cut a very fine line at high accuracy.



Best wishes, Dave

Edit:  I just took a look at your link. Looks like a piece of cake. Just send me the dimensions and I will cut some for you.

[pnolan48]

They are pretty darn accurate. I'm not sure of the scale here, as I work in N and Z, and usually with .020 styrene because I'm cutting big parts for ships, which often require two plys, or a total of .040 thickness. The side frames, as Dave pointed out, are a snap. But I am not sure the smaller cutters would be able to cut the circular holes in the treads--but a fine drill would clean that up.

I've found that the user experience with these cutters varies greatly, depending on techniques--many of which are being invented on the fly.

[Packer]

Dave, Thanks for the help. Looks like those things are pretty percise, which is gtreat since I can eliminate some material for more realism. I already have them drawn on paper. I just have to take a measurement of the P2K GP's deck thickness above the step well and subtract that from the height of the first riser to the top (which butts against the bottom of the deck and flush with the edge), scale down some measurements (still in real inches), and measure the thickness of the photoetched steps (for the bottom step, so the bottom of the step assembly is flush with the bottom of the steps).

Should be able to knock it out sometime tomorrow morning.

Pete, .01 is easier to hide the assembly when painted, but IDK how well anything thinner would work. I'm using Cannon and Co. steps for these. The guy in the link I posted was using the A-line steps. These things could be rescaled to N to help out the N-scale BN and GN modelers.

[Packer]

Thanks to Dave I got this down:







Some modifications to the inside of the step well were needed to support the inboard bracket. The pilot had to be modified to support the other bracket. The modifcations were done with scrap pieces of styrene. 2 pieces of .03 square rod glued together make up the pilot piece, and 2 scrap pieces of .02 sheet were glued back to back to makethe inboard supports for the brackets. Later release P2K geeps will need pilot modifications.

1 down, 3 more for this GP7. Then comes the other 14 or so locos and at about 5 bucks a loco for etched steps (and I screwed some up), this could get pricy....