As stated in previous posts, I am new to MR. I’ve bought several boxes of used equipment and now checking/making compatability.
I am installing Kadee (Micro Train) 1025 couplers on all equipment. I know that there is various (I think three) lengths of draft. At this stage I have been re-mounting all couplers on the trucks but ultimately want to frame mount. Can anyone tell me the minimum recommended distance from the knuckle to the frame and any other recommendations?
I have also been installing metal wheel sets on all rolling stock (about half were done). I detected that there are two sizes, 33" & 36". I found one box car with half of each. Because I have most of the rolling stock as 33" I want to keep it all that way. Comments?
As per a good friend of mine who has been in N Scale for a lot of years you don’t need to bother with “body mounting” the couplers, truck mounting works just fine if not better in some instances, unlike doing the same in HO.
Plus if you do that you can do them all with 33" wheelsets.
There is no problem with truck mounted couplers as long as you are going forward. Problem arise when you are pushing back to do switching, particulalry around curves, across turnouts and similar situations. The push back may offset the the trucks and cause derailments.
Listen to what the experienced N scale modelers have to say about this; I am in HO scale so do not know the real answer for N.
Can’t emphasize enough what GPAINE said about talking to N Scale modelers about body mounting your couplers. While it is true that in HO it doesn’t work very well it’s a different deal in N Scale so of course HO modelers will have a different opinion of this.
Again, I refer to the N Scale modelers “I” have talked to and they all agree that truck mounted couplers work just fine but you need to hear it from them.
Interesting view point. HOn3, which is barely bigger than modern era N, would not tolerate truck mounted couplers because they aren’t prototypical. Some HOn3 guys use the MT 1015/1016 couplers because they are closer to scale for their prototype than the Kadee #714 “standard”.
3 rail O has no choice but to use truck mounted couplers. Nothing else will go around the very sharp curves used in the scale/gauge. 3 rail O typically uses curves that are less than 2 times longest car length.
As said before truck mounted MicroTrains couplers work fine when pulling cars. They also work pushing short cuts of cars. Long cuts may cause problems, but may not.
When body mounting getting the couplers in proper alignment, both vertical and horizontal, is critical, If not mounted properly, they will not work as well as truck mounts.
While body mounting is easy on some cars, most take great patience and practice/skill to do properly…
Many who body mount in N scale use MicroTrains Z scale couplers for better appearance (they are closer to scale since N scale couplers are actually too large) . They work with MicroTrains N scale couplers so it is not necessary to convert all cars and locomotives to the Z scale couplers.
Jeff , One thing you need is a Micro trains #1055 coupler height gauge.
When you body mount couplers, you might have to use shims so that the height matches up with the coupler height gauge.
As for how far a coupler sticks out from the end of the car , it depends on the prototype car.
Some cars like tank cars,are not easily fitted with body mounts without having the mounting screw sticking up through a walkway. This is where I use truck mounted couplers. I also use them on hoppers where there isn’t any material to mount to. Some people will add styrene to these cars so they have a mounting location.
I use the shortest shank couplers as possible to bring the cars closer together.