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Sorry, my dog bit me this morning. My comment is geared toward function AND appearance. Intermountain's don't look like prototype wheels and MTL's are, well, plastic.
You want a prototype wheel, look to BLMA, the only company to make a wheel using the correct AAR CJ-33 and CH-36 profiles on the front of the wheel (and back too)... of course, I'm biased
If you're anything close to a prototype modeler than you will realize how significant the FVM whellsets are.
To state the obvious - Mr Smith is conspicuous by his absence.
If the BLMA wheels run flawlessly on an assemblage of trackage...
Other FAQs. Yes, it's all for real. The design (three years in development) and the patent (one and a half years to draft and file it) are very real. (For what it's worth, my patent attorney is also one of the best in the country; he's literally prosecuted hundreds of thousands of technology patents, including most of the patents involved in xerography.) The coupler is actually the reason I formed my company, NZT. Although I make and sell detail items, structure kits and so forth, it's all been done so as to establish a presence in the market, so that the coupler didn't appear out of nowhere by some nobody. With growing visibility and credibility, the coupler ought to gain a bit more attention and veracity.
I know of one other coupler, with metal spring, that is also patent applied for... but it has been rejected by at least one Chinese manufacturer. Do you have a manufacturer in line for your coupler already? Is it in the states?
Or, it could be a less notorious example of an "Atlas C55 / MTL pizza cutters" scenario. I feel tighter tolerances are of benefit to all. If the BLMA wheels run flawlessly on an assemblage of trackage, there should be no operational issues with any in-gauge equipment. We can't say we want prototypical perfection with the body detail of a model and not extend that standard to the wheels and trucks.
If only they did Bryan. Maybe the revamped slightly larger tread slightly deeper flanges solve the problems of the earlier ones? Now, maybe there are other issues with the BLMA rolling stock regarding bolsters or pins or other articulating parts... But BLMA rolling stock does not like our trackwork at all. And we're 90% Atlas Cd55 laid in the past 5 years. Members have run full trains of spine cars and TrinCools and they just fall off the track at inconsistant locations. Maybe I need to try running a string of ESM X-58's on the layout. If they work, then maybe it isn't the wheelsets.