Does anybody make a kit, or have any experience producing a prototypical looking gap between Athearn F7 A & B? I tried the Kadee conversion, and it appears to be about 10 scale feet apart. [?]
I doubt they are 10’ apart, that’s like 1.5 inches in HO scale and they are closer than that with factory couplers. Kadee 23, 33, and 43 are the shortest Kadee make as far I know. Are you using 2 of these? You could make a drawbar for permant close coupling. If you get them too close they will bind and derail in curves. You could also check Kadee’s new pivioting couplers that get longer in turns.
I think American Limited makes a close coupling and diaphragm kit for Athearn
F7s. You could also try the short-shank Kadees as flee suggests.
Gary
I have used the American Limited close couple kit. With this kit you must cut a part of the frame to fit the coupler boxes that snap in place. I used a hack saw because at the time i didn’t have a Dremel tool. The whole process took about an hour to do. I looks gerat!
Terry
Does anybody make a kit, or have any experience producing a prototypical looking gap between Athearn F7 A & B? I tried the Kadee conversion, and it appears to be about 10 scale feet apart. [?]
I doubt they are 10’ apart, that’s like 1.5 inches in HO scale and they are closer than that with factory couplers. Kadee 23, 33, and 43 are the shortest Kadee make as far I know. Are you using 2 of these? You could make a drawbar for permant close coupling. If you get them too close they will bind and derail in curves. You could also check Kadee’s new pivioting couplers that get longer in turns.
I think American Limited makes a close coupling and diaphragm kit for Athearn
F7s. You could also try the short-shank Kadees as flee suggests.
Gary
I have used the American Limited close couple kit. With this kit you must cut a part of the frame to fit the coupler boxes that snap in place. I used a hack saw because at the time i didn’t have a Dremel tool. The whole process took about an hour to do. I looks gerat!
Terry