Model Railroading > Athearn 250-ton Brownhoist crane questions

Does anyone have the recent Athearn 250-ton Brownhoist crane? If so, can anyone tell what Athearn used for the hook cables? I have the similar, older Bachmann 250-ton crane that I got from Ebay, and the seller used thread for the cables. It has been several years now and the thread is starting to fray, so I want to replace it with perhaps fishing line, or maybe even very thin wire. Need something that will conform and be pliable on the crane boom.

Also, has anyone spotted the NS Brownhoist crane still sitting in a hobby shop somewhere lately?

Thanks for the help/thoughts.

My friend got a Chessie B&O one and I was checking it out Monday and it looked like black thread to me.

Bruce

Yea, that's what I was afraid of. I wonder if I could use really thin solder for the cabling? We use .015 solder for traction motor cabling; there has to be even smaller solder that would be acceptable. Or fishing line, or really thin wire.

You can get mono fishing line in black but it still might be shiny... The nice thing about fishing line is that you can get it in differnet tests that translate to differnet thicknesses.

Incidentally, is it possible to still get the Athearn blue box steam crane?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/03/10 09:06 by wabash2800.

Yea, that's what I'm talking about. Get really light weight fishing line (would be thin) and perhaps some dullcote would take the shine off, but would probably paint the line a steel color.


wabash2800 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You can get mono fishing line in black but it
> still might be shiny... The nice thing about
> fishing line is that you can get it in differnet
> test that translates ot differnet thicknesses.

It can be hard to get the loops and curves out of fishing line. Beeswax will cover up the fuzz on thread, but most thread is too thick for HO-scale cable.

Hello;

You may want to consider the thread that ship modelers use to do rigging with. Micromark sells this stuff. It does not have a fuzz" to it.

Jere Ingram

http://www.micromark.com/BLACK-MODEL-SHIP-RIGGING-THREAD-105-FEET,7926.html

That's the ship rigging thread from Micro Mark.

Paul Liddiard
Spanish Fork, UT



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/10 04:20 by lizzard_45.

Beaders use a thin thread called Silamide that might work for you. I'd try Michael's or a similar store.

Winston Hill

If you are going to try fishing line, try a product called Spider Wire. It has a metallic sheen to it and may be available in 4 lb test, probably the weight you'd need.

Just did a Google search on this, and it looks promising. Great ideas guys, thanks.


winstonhill Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Beaders use a thin thread called Silamide that
> might work for you. I'd try Michael's or a similar
> store.
>
> Winston Hill