JTC NSC 17-post well car coupler & etch issues

[peteski]

Thanks for the thorough explanation of the problem, and for working out a solution.  It is good to see manufacturers getting directly involved with their customer base.  Internet (forums, and other social media) have greatly aided in this kind of interaction. Even more important is that you listen to the input provided by the customers and take appropriate actions.

Unfortunately manufacturer and the distributors have no control of what happen during shipping, and we all hear horror stories about the way shippers handle packages.   I've been thinking whether using EVA foam nests (like Kato and some other manufacturers use in packaging some of their models) would have prevented this kind of damage?  But I suspect that die-cut EVA foam is probably more expensive than vacu-formed PET nests.

[Bob]

Thanks so much Steve!  I sent you an email last week, as did John, so no need to respond individually as your post shows you are on top of the problem.  I will likely see if I can get some replacement walkways from you, but first I will wait for my uncure to show up and try to fix the cars without ruining the end-walks.  Flipping the screw to the bottom on future runs will make such repairs a snap in the future.  I think this is a great example of how N scale modelers can work together to identify problems and suggest solutions.  Happy New Year everyone!

[turbowhiz]

This car was on my top-5 list for a long time.  Now that I know how to replace the couplers, I'm happy as a clam.     BTW, the first test run of the new LEZ pocket went very well.  I had the car near the head of a 35-car train with 90% LEZ couplers and there were no issues at all.  Still a few tweaks to make to the pocket lid and ride height, but the path forward is much clearer today than it was yesterday.   Thanks @turbowhiz!

All I can say @GaryHinshaw is thank you! Your work has been my inspiration, and I'm so thankful you published your Kato Maxi IV parts. Not sure how many have replicated them, but I got my first set together this weekend..

And to @JaxTerminal, glad to see that you're on this. They are fantastic cars, and I'm glad to see that you're considering modifying the coupler screw arrangement. I can't wait to see what new stuff you come up with! (contemporary CN generator containers? nudge nudge...)

[GaryHinshaw]

Cool!  Nice to see them out in the wild, @turbowhiz.    Two questions for you:

1. What couplers and air lines are you using?  They look like TSC, but kind of hard to tell.  (If so, how do you like them?)
2. What paint recipe are you using to match the NSC well cars?  That's a really good match.

-gfh

[turbowhiz]

@GaryHinshaw ,

Correct, TSC couplers and airlines.

I’m finding it really hard to decent photographs of my N scale models. The iphone13 pro macro is sort of helpful, but I find often the details get all distorted and over compressed (things like the platform holes fill in in the photo even though they’re not filled in in real life! Ugghh)

The paint is actually your suggestion at some point in the past!!  Its straight up vallejo model air yellow ochre. Matched super well as you can tell. Should be be applied with the airbrush, I tried brush painting one since its such a small area and I was too lazy to mask and pull out the airbrush, and yeah, its worth the effort just to mask the platform top and airbrush them.

I think that collectively we need to come up with a "Vallejo for model railroaders" cross reference/mixing chart. Its the best acrylic I've used, by a long shot. Its great stuff. And generally easier to come up with then the MRR specific stuff.

[peteski]

@GaryHinshaw ,
I’m finding it really hard to decent photographs of my N scale models. The iphone13 pro macro is sort of helpful, but I find often the details get all distorted and over compressed (things like the platform holes fill in in the photo even though they’re not filled in in real life! Ugghh)

I have been also noticing that for few years. Smart phones seem to use some sort of JPG compression algorithms which, when you magnify the image, make it look like one of the paint-by-numbers painting.  But then I thought that iPhone 13 had an excellent camera and photo taking capabilities.  Maybe it is some setting you need to change? Or maybe the optics and image sensor are good, but when saved as JPG, the quality tanks?

I didn't own a smart hone  until about a month ago (had to get rid of my trusty 3G flip phone). Mine also has theat "paint-by-numbers" compression.

[GaryHinshaw]

The paint is actually your suggestion at some point in the past!!  Its straight up vallejo model air yellow ochre.

Hmm, I don't recall that being in reference to the JTC cars, but I just tried it and indeed straight Yellow Ochre is an excellent match.

I think that collectively we need to come up with a "Vallejo for model railroaders" cross reference/mixing chart. Its the best acrylic I've used, by a long shot. Its great stuff. And generally easier to come up with then the MRR specific stuff.

Model Railroad Hobbyist compiled a chart like this, but it now seems to be available only to subscribers:

https://forum.mrhmag.com/post/awesome-freebie-12204105
http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/subscribers-only/painting/acrylics

It's a decent resource, but now I just get the Vallejo colour chart out and find the closest matches to the model I want to match.  I'll pick the closest 2 or 3 colours and get a bottle of each.  If one of them isn't close enough out of the bottle, a mix of 2 will inevitably be ok. 

The Vallejo paint is excellent!  The fact that it's primarily for gamers and military modellers means it might stick around for a while, and be more generally available.  A bonus.

[turbowhiz]

Hmm, I don't recall that being in reference to the JTC cars, but I just tried it and indeed straight Yellow Ochre is an excellent match.

True not in reference to the JTC cars but in reference to the Kato well ends if I recall correctly.

In any case its my go to for a TTX yellow base color now. I've used it with good success other places too, sometimes fading/weathering over it accordingly.

I've used colors from the game air and the model air line for MRR use, as although there are overlaps there are unique colors too. The only thing is that I've not found both lines retailed at the place ever, at least around here.

I also have found the Vallejo matt varnish to be very good replacement to good ol testors dullcote, or its krylon branded ilk of today. I prefer the matt varnish personally. I do thin it a lot with water though before airbrushing it, don't even think of using it straight from the bottle.

[mu26aeh]

Stopped by the LHS where I work this morning.  We had 4 cars on the shelf.  2 had couplers broke, 1 just one end, other had both broke.  Other 2 were fine. 

[GaryHinshaw]

Here's a quick addendum to this topic.  A few of my cars had brake wheel stands that were canted outward by ~10 degrees or so.  I found that if I applied a steady, firm pressure to it with the tip of a semi-hefty soldering iron for ~20-30 seconds, I could coax it back to vertical without causing any damage, save for a very minor bit of paint scarring.  (Of course the plastic brake wheel must be removed first.)  In the before & after shots below, the car on the right had the same cant as the car on the left to start with.

In the process of trying this on a spare car (that had other damage) I realized that I could also free up the outer walkway etch by heating the tabs that are glued into the frame (in case you don't have any CA de-bonder).  This also did not produce any paint damage.

I've now begun the process of replacing couplers and straightening out any wonky bits on these cars, and they're quickly becoming my favourite intermodal cars:




Two things I decided to punt on so far are: 1) painting the cross bar above the end walkway, until I can figure out how to get a clean mask line at the walkway, 2) replacing the molded end grabs with wire ones. The prospect if drilling ~100 #80 holes into hard metal (to convert the whole fleet) was just too much to bear...  The MTL brake wheel is a place-holder until I can source some yellow ones from them.  If I can't, I'll paint it.  All that remains is to weather it.

In addition to the revised nest, we are working to have the coupler screw install from the bottom on the 11-post versions...

BTW, does someone here know the prototype for the 11-post version?  I'm not familiar with them.

[up__1995]

@GaryHinshaw there are some 11 post cars in this series: https://www.railcarphotos.com/Search.php?SxSeriesID=2500

[GaryHinshaw]

Interesting.  I've been staring at photos of NWF13A's for a while and never even noticed that some had extra posts near the ends.   

Thx!

[amato1969]

Wow @GaryHinshaw those look great.  I agree with leaving the cast end grabs alone.  Replacing those definitely feels like high effort/low reward!

  Frank

[tehachapifan]

I know this is an older thread, but I recently acquired 4 of the 17 post cars (the damaged/discounted ones) and noticed that they all have this uncoupling issue. Aside from Gary Hinshaw's complete coupler replacement approach, which might be the best way to go, has anyone found a reliable solution for this problem? I'm puzzled by this as the couplers do appear to be MTL, but some of mine have the more open hand look described earlier and some don't. Not sure how that came to be as they don't appear to be damaged or bent (note, I did have to replace a broken coupler on each car as that's why they were discounted). That said, even the ones with the normal appearance still uncouple frequently and with ease. I can't help but wonder if the (non MTL?) coupler box is the culprit, as it has more open sides than a typical MTL box and maybe it's allowing the coupler to open too much or with too little resistance?

[Bob]

I have exactly the same issue - for the most part my cars are unusable as a result.  It is a shame that they were so poorly designed - Gary H. and some others have been able to remove the walkways to get at the screw needed to replace the couplers, but I have not been able to figure this out - I have ruined several walkways in attempts to replace the couplers.  I think they have a second run coming out and they will have exactly the same problem so I certainly won't be buying any. Why on earth would you design a car in such a way that you cannot access the coupler screw?