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The slinky effect of that many MTs in a long train would be a deal-breaker for me. I would rather change over the couplers even if it means having way less than 1000 cars.... to each his own of course
Up until factory body mounted couplers there were three options to designing a car. Make it ride high to clear the truck mounted couplers, notch the ends of the car to clear the coupler so the car could ride the correct height (thus making the ends unprototypical and impossible to fix), compromise the height of the car.Of those, I'll take a car riding too high every time. It has surprised me that no one has ever offered some sort of exchange service for MTL floors.
Yow that thing could have kept Noah safe. It just blows my mind some times to think that in this day & age and considering what some models cost, that modelers still have to replace trucks, change wheelsets, file bolsters, convert couplers, etc. just to obtain a model that looks more like a representation of its prototype and less like a caricature. It's not as if there aren't plenty of other interesting modeling tasks to do. Thankfully, in some cases at least, things are moving in the right direction.Ed
It has surprised me that no one has ever offered some sort of exchange service for MTL floors.Jason
BLMA's ASF A-3 friction-bearing 70-ton trucks and Atlas' Barber S-2A friction-bearing 50-ton trucks will lower MTL cars appropriately.
That assumes you have a MTL car that's worth the trouble. Their 40' and 50' PS-1's are inferior to the Atlas
Yeah, there is a compromise with everything I guess. The advantage with BLMA trucks is you can lower your MT cars without filing the metal frame. Doing this puts the frame at a height that allows for a Z scale coupler to be mounted without modifications. But currently, you need the 100 ton truck to get the 3 visible spring option.This is one that I did: Maybe @Craig Martyn can chime in here and let us know when a 70 ton version will be available.
Actually, the whole metal wheel/ride height/coupler/truck issue with N scale is what got me into HO. I could pick up some HO clearance items at MBK for ~$15 and they were awesome right out of the gate.
Actually, the whole metal wheel/ride height/coupler/truck issue with N scale is what got me into HO.
I'll probably end up picking up some HO stuff eventually just because its cool out of the gate.
For me it was the slinky couplers that nearly drove me out of N (actually it did for a time). It would be too frustrating, to put hours of effort into lowering, painting, detailing, and weathering models only to put them on the layout and watch them bounce back & forth disconcertingly like toys. Thankfully, Gary found out about the LEZ (a.k.a. Full Throttle) couplers. Even tho it still takes work to convert couplers, N scale has enough other benefits to make it worth the effort.Ed
Why can't we get a better coupler option for N scale?