Best Of Notes on body-mount couplers (work-in-progress)

[GaryHinshaw]

A little more progress on this topic.  I received a set of American Z Lines trucks/couplers to try out, and here's what I decided to do with the first set.  [Unfortunately, like the Full Throttle (FT) couplers, these are only available with trucks, but they are less expensive than FT.]  Here's what one looks like when the truck is cut off and the assembly is flipped over, like I did with the FT couplers above:



The shape of the coupler is not nearly as graceful as the FT, but it's not hideous. The whole assembly is substantially stiffer than the FT, and also somewhat longer owing to the different centering spring design.  Another difference is that the bolster ring is at the same level as the top (formerly bottom) of the coupler pocket, which makes it somewhat easier to work with.  This seemed like a good candidate for cars with extended coupler pockets, so I pulled out a Red Caboose beer boxcar and tried the simplest thing possible, just drill and tap a 1-72 hole and screw it in the floor:



To my delight, this gave a perfect coupler height when paired with the BLMA 100T trucks, so this is about as easy as it gets.  Here are a few side views:







In the last shot, you can see how much lower the car rides on the BLMA trucks than the stock MT trucks; in particular, there is no gap between the side frames and the skirting.  There is a slightly annoying tendency for the AZL coupler pockets to angle up from the floor, but this actually helps achieve the proper coupler height and saves me from having to mill out the floor a bit, so I'm sticking with it.

Now that I have made the plunge, I needed to come up with a robust way to add air hoses and cut levers to these cars.  The BLMA cut levers come with a nice etched bracket for attaching the handle end of the lever, but nothing for attaching to the coupler (pocket).  Same with the air hoses; so I tried making some attachment points using HO lift rings (Detail Associates #1101), and this turned out really well (i.e. decent looking and sturdy).  I drilled one #76 hole on the side of the box, and one in the middle of the bottom (see 2nd picture), and I used ACC to attach them. I glued the air hose into the side ring with ACC and liquid plastic cement (the lift rings I'm using are plastic).  For the cut lever, I glued the handle end to the bracket, but I just inserted the other end into the bottom lift ring without glue. This way I can still remove the coupler if it needs servicing.

Now, if you look from the right angle, you can almost imagine the air hoses are connected:



Unfortunately, they really miss by a mile:



though you could probably bend them a bit more to make it closer .  In the last two shots, the Atlas tanker has FT couplers that I tried mounting in a new way.  I'll post some notes on that when I get some better pictures taken.

Cheers,
Gary

[GaryHinshaw]

Here's another approach to mounting the Full Throttle couplers that seems pretty versatile and reliable.  It's a variant on a scheme that David K. Smith showed in another thread: namely, attach the roof of the coupler box directly to the floor of the car.  DKS used a countersunk flathead screw to good effect:

http://therailwire.net/forum/index.php/topic,21926.msg206178.html#msg206178

I tried a variant that I thought would be a little easier for cars like the Ortner hopper where the coupler is mounted to a thin end platform: I used a short piece of .040 styrene rod as a pin:





A #60 drill bit gives a good press-fit hole, and it's easy to trim both ends of the rod to the necessary length.  I attached the roof with Goo for a semi-permanent bond.  These FT couplers look right at home on the Ortner:



and in combination with the BLMA trucks, the overall effect is much more believable:



[Still needs corner handrails and a trip to the weathering center though.]  I used the same method on the Atlas 17K tank car:



Here you can see where the styrene rod is trimmed flush with the end platform (not very neatly...).  You can probably also make out the lift ring holding the air hose in place.  Some painting & weathering still to come.

-gfh

[chessie system fan]

For mounting the air hoses, try drilling a hole that fits the hose pin in the end of some .040" square rod and mount the rod.  It's worked well for me.

[DrifterNL]

This is the best coupler thread ever!
Thanks for sharing your work, its giving me a few things to think about and try.

[GaryHinshaw]

Good tip chessiefan, I'll give that a try too.

Thanks for the feedback DrifterNL [blush].  Unfortunately, cost is still a big issue with these couplers since they're only available with trucks.  I really think something like the Full Throttle design with a more universal style coupler box (with attachment points for hose & cut levers) is just the ticket for N.

-gfh

[DKS]

You're really doing some marvelous, ground-breaking work, Gary. My hats off to you for thinking of leaving the bolster intact for mounting. Brilliant move.

[James Costello]

Some great work there Gary. I think you should have a crack a replacing the molded on grabs on the ends of these cars too. There's not a lot of above deck details on these cars and I think some free standing grabs would really make these cars pop!

I did some body mounting work on the weekend too - photos later of some work on an RC autorack and the Trainworks quad hopper.

[James Costello]

Ok, I've got a bunch of Trainworx 100T 4 bay open hoppers to body mount, thankfully these cars come with a body mount tab built into the underframe with a pre-drilled hole. I'm still deciding on on a "standard" for the fleet, but he's Sunday's experiment with a MTL 1015, MTL Barber Rolling Bearing truck, FVM 36" wheels:





I'm pretty happy with the end result and ride height looks good too. There wasn't enough clearance for the BLMA truck to swing - the offset bolster on the MTL truck helps here. The pad and hole seems perfect for the MTL Z scale coupler if you wanted to take that route....

 

[GaryHinshaw]

That looks great James.  Does that mount point put the coupler at the correct height?  Getting that right is the biggest down side of body-mounting in my book.  Just out of curiosity, where does the BLMA truck snag?  Against the hopper chute?  (Believe it or not, the Ortner in the above post is the only open hopper in my entire fleet.)  I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with the auto-racks; I've never been a big fan of the MT 1019s.

Point well taken about the Ortner hand grabs, but it is a slippery slope my friend.  On the other hand, I'm probably headed down that slope already, so why stop now? 

-gfh

P.S. Thank you David. [blush²]

[bicknell]

Clearly we need rubber air hoses with small magnets in the end so they will hook together and look right but easily pull apart.

Craig, oh Craig!   ;D

[GaryHinshaw]

Great idea Leo!!  (Getting the polarity to match would be a trick though...)

This whole thread is really just a thinly-veiled wish list for Craig's development team.  If Craig hooked up with "Full Throttle" Will, they could take the world by storm.  At least our corner of the world.  

-gfh

[James Costello]

That looks great James.  Does that mount point put the coupler at the correct height?  Getting that right is the biggest down side of body-mounting in my book.  Just out of curiosity, where does the BLMA truck snag?  Against the hopper chute?  (Believe it or not, the Ortner in the above post is the only open hopper in my entire fleet.)  I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with the auto-racks; I've never been a big fan of the MT 1019s.

Thanks Gary. The pad does put the coupler at the correct height for this set up - but you will obviously have a small amount of variability based on what truck and wheel size option you use. My process was to find a truck and wheel set that worked and looked acceptable (ride height) and then lined it up against the MTL coupler height gauge.... and chose the coupler type from there. The 1015s and 1025s have the same mounting height, but the 1025 have a longer coupler pocket and did not fit on the Trainworx pad. I did have to use a countersunk 00-90 screw on the 1015 to clear the axle on the FVM wheel.

The BLMA truck snagged against the hopper chute yes.

On the RC autorack I used a 2003 (?? the short-shank underslung one anyway) but have yet to test it operationally. I did take a quick photo, but will need to take a couple more (ie, you don't need to see my crooked decal work).

J.

PS - you are well down that slope....

[bbussey]

On the RC autorack I used a 2003 (?? the short-shank underslung one anyway) but have yet to test it operationally. I did take a quick photo, but will need to take a couple more (ie, you don't need to see my crooked decal work).

Don't know about the 2003 ... but I do know that the 2004 body-mounted after the MTL auto rack is lowered will put the knuckle at the correct height.

[unittrain]

So just by putting the BLMA trucks on the Beer car and the orntner car will lower the car correctly? I would love not to have to file bolsters!!! I got a few Chessie orntners to lower and 3 or so Red Caboose Beer cars. This post came at just the right time I just had my Chessie ornters out wondering just how I would proceed at lowering them!

[GaryHinshaw]

Unittratin, the RC beer cars don't need to be filed, just plug & play.  But the Ortner pad needs to be filed, and some material needed to be carved out to clear the wheels.  Here's the link to an earlier post with some pictures:

http://therailwire.net/forum/index.php/topic,21980.msg207130.html#msg207130

It's pretty straightforward and definitely worth it because they ride way too high out of the box.

-Gary