Are these worth it?

[nscalesteve]

then installing them with just the right amount of glue...

Lee, glue from the inside and you can use as mutch glue as you like...
...and you can adjust the grabs by pulling them lightly out and press them back in and the gap between the grabs and the hole will be filled with glue as well - do not mess with glue from the outside.

[tom mann]

...and use a thin CA to fill around the grabs.

[Sokramiketes]

Ok, I've got it.

These won't have air under them, but atleast then can be done cleanly, and the raised detail is the important part. 

1) Mark the locations
2) Use a saw with a kerf wide enough to give you the width of these parts, and cut a notch into the body along that upper radius.
3) Glue chunks of styrene strip into these slots
4)Sand and otherwise carve the now securly mounted styrene pieces into angular brackets.

The saw cut keeps you from having to match the radius with tiny styrene pieces.  And it helps mount them securely for later carving.  The shape will be much easier to square off after the pieces of styrene are in place, rather than trying to make them uniform from the on set.

 

[wm3798]

The issue for me isn't technique, it's volume.  Allowing for a reasonable margin of error, I'd mess up at least one part of the process on each locomotive.  I already have 6 A-units, which translates to over 40 grabs, and over 80 holes.  I plan to add another 6-8 units to the fleet, multiplying the project exponentially.

I'll probably end up doing one as a photo model, and leave the rest for a soul more patient than myself.

Lee

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Just a follow out to confirm, I have indeed chickened out here, and will be posting photos of the model in the next few days.

[Sokramiketes]

Just a follow out to confirm, I have indeed chickened out here, and will be posting photos of the model in the next few days.

Boo...

[3rdrail]

From the Fall 2007, Vol. 40, No. 8, issue of the Keystone, page 31, which contains the caption for the centerspread photo of GP 30 No. 2224:

"....The only major change in the fleet came in 1967 when radios replaced trainphones. The antennas were removed but some retained mounting brackets...."

So, Ed, you're modeling one on which the mounting brackets were not retained, right?

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Yeah, but at least now I know that some lost them, so I don't feel AS bad. This reminds me, I need to photo that puppy now that it's entered service.