I have 4 or 5 old-time Mantua cars. They all have the coupler on the truck. The Kaydee site gives a recomendation that doesn’t make sense. They act like the coupler is on the chasis.
Has anyone done it? What did you do?
Yeah, I saw the same recommendation and came to the same conclusion. I bought a bunch of #5’s, and an envelope full of draft gear boxes (part #232, sitting right next to my computer.) At some point, I also bought a Dremel tool, because I thought it would be useful, and because I always wanted one. Sure comes in handy.
Anyway, the next step was to pull off the trucks and cut off the metal extension with the coupler box. That’s a piece of cake for the Dremel cutting wheel. It’s also really cool to watch the sparks fly while you do this. Wear eye protection.
The couplers can then be body-mounted, which is the way to go anyway. On plastic models, you can glue the whole thing together, and then glue it on the car. With maintenance in mind, though, I drilled and tapped a 2-56 hole in the car body and mounted the draft gear box with a screw, no glue at all. This also works for metal bodies. Oddly, I had to order the screws online (Ocean State Electronics has them - you want 1/4 inch) because the hardware store only sold them in ones and twos for a quarter each.
On some cars, I found I had to cut the little “ears” off of the sides of the draft gear boxes. These are little outside screw mounts, but they sometimes interfere with the wheels on tight turns.
I used the same mounting technique for a number of old low-budget Crown cars I’ve got. They have body-mount horn-hooks installed, but they are spot-glued shut, and have too small a mounting pin inside. After pulling off the trucks and the plastic undercarriage assembly, I just sliced off the old coupler box.
Kaydee’s are the best solution, but there is also a simpler solution. McHenry has a drop in replacement for these cars. I think it is this one http://www.mchenrycouplers.com/mch056.htm
e-mail them to check. Make sure if you go the McHenry route to get the ones with the metal springs not the plastic filament springs on the knuckle. I use Kaydee out of preference, but have found the McHenry’s to be fine in certain applications.
There are several articles on the NMRA web site that may help you decide exactly what you want to do.
Let’s improve the rolling stock
- Knuckle Couplers
- Wheels, metal or plastic?
4a. More on metal or plastic wheels - Weathering
- Retrucking old r-t-r cars - 1/12/05
If interested, take a look at http://www.nmra.org/beginner/
Thanks, I read that site back when I first started. Maybe it’s time for a refresher course.
There’s no riddle to Kadees, Chip. Actually, the solution is always pretty easy for me: standardize on ONLY using the KAdee #5 or #58 in the Kadee box, and then figure out how to modify the piece of rolling stock to make it work. Usually, the Kadee box fits right onto the car (I glue the boxes together, but screw the box to the car with 2-56 panhead machine screws). If the coupler isn’t at the correct height, it’s usually too high. In that case I just start gluing scrap plastic pads to the car’s underframe until it’s at the correct height, and then add the coupler box. If the coupler is too low, I’ll either add a washer to the truck bolsters (not usually a good fix, as that makes the car sit too high and occasionally wobble), or I’ll work on the underframe to get the box to the proper height.
Standardization of parts is usually the best answer. Yes, Kadee makes all sorts of couplers to meet all sorts of funky mounting problems, but then you run into the problem of not having the right coupler when you need it!
[tup] [#ditto]
Chip; I agree with all of the above,I don’t have a car one that has the couplers on the trucks. Kedee#5 & 58 are the best !!Some of my old cars with snap in trucks have been changed to screws.[^]
JIM