Martin, the AC4400 is very difficult, but I've done my entire fleet of them. Will show you how in pics soon- I use screws for all my conversions so in the event I want to remove the shell for whatever reason, all you do is remove them, and the pilot will swin upwards out of the way with the handrails attached. I've done it like this for a reason for sure.
Bob, good job on the FM. One thing you can do is add a 4mm piece of Plastruct styrene on each side (front and back) of pilot and super glue to the pilot. Then screw the same screws into the same holes and attach the upgraded pilot and you've added the extra space nbeeded to give the "step" look.
The more I look at those handrails, the more I see how easy they would be to extend by removing them completely and replacing with brass wiring the proper length. The K-Line FM uses "loops" for the post ends so basically all you'd do is bend the wire a bvit straight and thread it out, then thread the new on in and shape to proper shape...
