fixing beading

[Alan GeeParticipant]

What is the best material to use for the beading on locomotives and what is the best way to fix it to brass.
kind regards
Alan Gee

[Paul WillisParticipant]

@Alan Gee said:
What is the best material to use for the beading on locomotives and what is the best way to fix it to brass.
kind regards
Alan Gee  

Hi Alan,

Brass or nickel silver, and solder.

To elaborate further, is this half-round beading or flat? For half-round, I would use something like this:

https://www.eileensemporium.com/materials-for-modellers/product/brass-half-round-1-0mm-x-0-5mm-x-500mm/category_pathway-1078

Or you can make your own (in a hair-shirt way) by clamping both ends of a piece of brass wire down and draw-filing along the length.

For flat strip, there are an assortment of widths and thicknesses available from suppliers. I’ve also taken to adding a few extra strips of random sizes to the spare edges of etch designs that I do.

HTH
Paul Willis

[Alan GeeParticipant]

Thanks Mark,
I am using half round brass beading at present ,but I do find it difficult to bend to the correct cab profile and even after tinning have difficulty soldering it on to cleaned brass using phosphoric acid flux and 146 solder. I may do a trial with half round plastic strip and super glue to try and get a neater result. I have tried fuse wire in he past that was promising.
Kind regards
Alan

[Stuart FirthParticipant]

I use brass wire, formed to shape around drill shanks etc. Then when it fits its location perfectly, tinned, laid in position with plenty of flux and the iron touched to the beading rather than the loco.

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