Coach Grabrails and First Etch Attempt

Four little four-wheeler carriages seem to require a lot of grab handles. It took most of an evening just bending and cutting these. I have drilled the coach sides for the lower end to fit into, but the top end will be above the window line, and the door surround is too narrow to drill. Fitting them will be interesting.

I have also, with advice from Andy (2mmSA) and Simon (Merg), completed some artwork for creating an etch. This includes window frames for Freshwater signal box and magazine stand, and solebar overlays and steps for the LBSCR 4 wheelers. I struggled with Draftsight, but eventually produced the front and rear layouts. Then I used the huge piece of AutoCad software called TruView to create the final PDF files. This only runs on 64-bit Windows computers. Both these pieces of software are free. Much to my surprise, PPD accepted the files first time, and reckon they should etch OK. We will see in a week or so. I hope to have them in time so I can complete the signal box and magazine stand for the exhibitions in April (Redhill and Epsom).

I was a bit extravagent in filling the minimum etch size, and created several spare copies of everything in case things went wrong. Next time, I might try to be more efficient.

This is just the front view, so the half etched bits look a little odd.