Building the S-160 from etched brass and pewter requires a few tools beyond those normally found on the train modelers bench. Below are listed some of the items I find most helpful in doing a good job. They will be referenced often as the series continues. Most of these items will be found in your local hobby shop or crafters store, or you can go to Walthers or Micro Mark.
Bench Vice - A tool with at least two inch smooth jaws such as the one pictured here. Mine came in from my drill press, because it has enough mass to stay in place when used to hold etched brass parts for bending and soldering.
Smooth Faced Hammer - This is handy for working out the rough edges of of stamped brass parts, and punching out headlight lenses.
Modelers Files - A variety of round, oval and flat files to finish, polish and adjust edges of photo etched and stamped parts.
6" Flat File - A fine tooth file for square working edges of pewter parts and trimming lead weights.
Sanding Boards - A stock of finger nail "emery boards" sanding boards from the drug store. Designed for finishing artificial nails they come with a variety of grits from about 120 to 1200 for polishing. Get those with the foam core and multiple grits. Discard them when they get worn and dull. You will use these to polish working surfaces like the sides of gears, frames, journal boxes and truck bolsters.
Pin Vice Punch - Use pin vices to hold sewing machine needles (hardened steel) and large darning needles (mild steel). Use it as an awl and center punch to locate holes before drilling. Also handy for picking up and placing ACC cement right where you want it.
HSS Twist Drill Set - Wire Gauge Drills from #61 to #80 plus a half dozen extra #72 and #76. Avoid breaking these when drilling into pewter by using repeated short plunges and cleaning the bit between plunges. Nothing is nastier than a drill broken off in soft material. Fortunately the sub miniature chucks that are hand tightened usually will spin free before the drill breaks. To remove a stuck drill from pewter, just grip it with pliers on the end of the exposed bit and pull straight out. When drills are dull, discard them.
Dremel or Foredam Tool - I find the most productive power accessory to be the Dremel MiniMITE battery operated hand drill. With no cord in the way it is very forgiving.
Pin Vices - A variety of pin vices to hold the commonly used drills and taps. This will save lots of time and aggravation. On the pewter items, I drill small holes with the Dremel at the dimpled locations and then enlarge them to final size with a drill in the Hand Pin Vice.
Hand tools are pretty standard array as seen here.¨But you will want to add some special tools for cutting the etched brass parts from the sheets.
Reamer Set - Expanding holes in etched brass is best done with reamers rather than drills.
Hand Vice - Drilling, filing and grinding operations can result in sore and bloodied fingers, not to mention spoiled parts until you start using a hand vice to clamp up the little stuff.
Sharp Scissors - A sharp pair of disposable scissors will cut the brass sheet in the kit, but you will swear by the Xuron brand tools designed for the job once you employ them.
Photo Etch Shear - Xuron to be used ONLY on cutting parts from the photo etched sheets. NO wire cuts.
High Durability Scissors - Xuron to be used Only for cutting sheet brass, aluminum and styrene. NO wire cuts.
Adjustable Wire Strippers - Xuron for stripping very small gauge wire for decoders, lights and motors.
Small side cutters - Cut wire and "pipe" with these not the Xuron tools.
NMRA Standards Gauge - A must for assembly of the wheel sets. Back to back is important measure 14.5mm
Caliper Metric and English - An inexpensive plastic caliper with depth gauge included will be handy.
Caliper HO Scale - General offers one that measures down to the inch in HO. Handy for pipe selections and converting standard drawings and sketches to HO scale.
