I bought a (sort of) assembled Roundhouse boxcar kit (Old Dutch Cleanser) on eBbay, only to discover that the coupler box covers and screws were missing. This boxcar has a metal underbody. The Kadee covers I have don’t fit well, and I have no screws to hold them.
Does anyone have any suggestions about where to get replacement parts for this car?
MDC/Roundhouse is now owned by Horizon, the same company that owns Athearn. The website for them is http://www.roundhousetrains.com (Copy and paste into your browser, as I can’t get it to become an active link.)
On their home page is a “contact us” tab in upper Rt corner above the Roundhouse banner. You could send them an e-mail asking for assistance. OR
Cut new covers out of styrene, and drill out the cover screw holes for a self tapping 2-56 screw and 1/4" long, or tap for 2-56 screw and use one that is 1/4" long.
The only difference, is you would want to use a #12-56 screw since your original screw is missing. This is the same size screw that is used to mount trucks in a RR car.
IIRC Kadee sells packaged taps with the correct size drill…drill the hole through the floor with a pin vise (yes, it takes time), and tap it 2-56. Trim the Kadee coupler box lid and use it for the draft gear cover.
This is a rather quick fix, one note: when tapping the threads into that die cast coupler “nub” do go slow and add oil. If you force the tap the casting will crack. I have done this even installing the supplied screw. The Kadee Delrin 2-56 screws work great here. They can be cut to any length easily w/ an Xacto blade. The delrin screw threads into the cast better than steel. It’s always good to have these on hand, I find they come in handy for all sorts of projects where screw length can be a real pain. (flats, bulkheads, gons and hoppers)