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

[GaryHinshaw]

It depends on one's idea of 'snuff'.... 

Well, trucks & couplers at least, just like N scale. 

Here's a car that has been in my Unfinished Projects box for longer than I care to admit: an Intermountain 60' flat car that someone carelessly left out on the main line:



(Sorry about the distracting backdrop artifacts.)  These cars are slightly high riders out of the box (and the couplers are too high - go figure), but they are easy to lower with BLMA trucks and LEZ couplers:





The etched pockets work really well in this conversion.  (The weathering is really only intended to satisfy the 1-2' rule, not the 4" rule, like that last shot...  )

[tom mann]

That’s really great looking Gary.  I wouldn’t have expected that car to get that low.

Did you print the background on adding machine tape?

[ednadolski]

That lowered car looks fantastic! 

Ed

[Smike]

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That never gets old...

So is the latest run of IM flats a re-run?  They look really nice.

[GaryHinshaw]

Thanks guys.

Smike, the weathered OTTX car is from an early run of the flats, the HTTX is from the latest run.  Sadly the new run has some assembly issues: the sides are overlays glued to the metal deck and 2 of the 3 I received have some sags in the corners.  You can see that in the HTTX car in this shot (before I weathered the OTTX car):



I might have to break a glue joint to fix it.  I would recommend inspecting before purchase, if at all possible.

Did you print the background on adding machine tape?

I know, right?    Just a really old test print from my struggling inkjet.  To be replaced, eventually.

[Smike]

Thanks Gary, a little disappointing on the current run, its hard to get motivated to purchase higher end rolling stock that needs fixing.  Great work on the weathering.

[Peter Amling]

@GaryHinshaw I love the weathering you're doing to these models, particularly on the wheels. Are you painting the inside of the wheels brown? Do you have a method for doing so? And what color of paint do you use? I assume you're using BLMA or FVM wheels?

[GaryHinshaw]

Thank you Peter.  You ask an excellent question regarding colour: I couldn't remember and I thought I had written it down, but obviously not in this thread.  I found a Weekend Update post from last year though where I described the process:

https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=45252.msg586422#msg586422

Hope this helps,
Gary

[Mark5]

Crap, now I know these ride a little high.

[BCR 570]

I am very late to this party but after experiencing continued issues with Micro-Trains couplers, I wanted to give this a try.  Gary kindly provided me with half a dozen sets of couplers and etchings to experiment with:




De-fretting and cleaning up the parts was straight forward:




Folding the etched parts also went well, and they fit together well:




Soldering the lids on was more of a challenge, in particular trying to limit the heat build-up, hold the pocket still, and limit the amount of solder.  I settled on a method of holding the parts in a heat sink and used as little flux and solder as possible.  my 35 watt iron may be too big a weapon for this and a smaller 12 watt iron might be more appropriate.  After filing away the excess solder, this is what I have:




The couplers seem to fit in alright:




I made a styrene jig for establishing a standard mounting height:




This told me that for the Atlas Hart ballast cars, I needed a .020" shim.  One problem I encountered was that the etched box was too long and had to be trimmed short to clear the bolster; specifically the tab and slot extending off the rear.  At this point I realized that my etched parts were longer than the assembled sample Gary gave me, so I guess there are different versions of the etching.  Trimming the tab and slot was actually a benefit as once the slot was open at the rear end, the screw could be mounted onto the car, the coupler box slid underneath the head, and the screw then tightened to secure the coupler.  Here is the coupler underneath the car:




This top view shows that the coupler is too far out from the end of the car, as I used an existing hole:




This photograph shows a car on the left with my original MT 905 fit, and the car with my first FT fit on the right:




I selected these cars because the MT 905s do not stay coupled and have been a source of frustration.  My next step is to equip all five ballast cars with the FTs and undertake some road tests, including my next op sessions to obtain some feedback from operators.


Tim

[peteski]

I selected these cars because the MT 905s do not stay coupled and have been a source of frustration.  My next step is to equip all five ballast cars with the FTs and undertake some road tests, including my next op sessions to obtain some feedback from operators.

The car with MTL 905 looks pretty good to me.  Have you tried to figure out why they don't stay coupled, but didn't arrive at any meaningful fix?

[BCR 570]

The 905s look good and were a solution for cars where it was not possible to mount a full size coupler at the correct height.  Unfortunately they have been very unreliable in operation, frequently letting go during switching back and forth.  I have not been able to determine the cause; they do need to be centered exactly or they won't work at all.

Tim

[Iain]

@GaryHinshaw Do your etched pockets work for MT Truescale couplers?

[ednadolski]

Unfortunately they have been very unreliable in operation, frequently letting go during switching back and forth.  I have not been able to determine the cause ...

It's not a bug, it's a feature: your switching moves are emulating the way the couplers were designed to work in automatic  "hands free" operation:

Time: 59 seconds:

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Time: 6m 53s:

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By design, the couplers can separate whenever the they are not directly in line and the slack runs. You don't need a magnet if the cars are on a curve.  I've had those unwanted separations occur often (and quite repeatably) under the right conditions (downgrade on a curve, in a slow moving train).

Ed

[ednadolski]

Do your etched pockets work for MT Truescale couplers?

No, they do not fit.

Ed