After finally deciding on the type of trucks to put under the Con-Co passenger cars I am detailing I ordered a pair of Micro-Trains “Buckeye” trucks for the baggage car. I saw that they came with Short, Medium, or Long couplers and being a greenhorn newbee I thought it was a matter of choice. I ordered a pair of the medium length with some scenery supplies and of course they hardly even clear the end of the car. Other than the fact that the couplers are unusable as they are the trucks look good.
I know that in HO the Kadee couplers are body mounted but unless I missed something body mount couplers are not available N scale. The observation car I am working on has a body mount coupler on the rear but I think it may have been a dummy, there was no coupler when I got them.
Has anyone put body mount couplers on N scale rolling stock? If so could you point me to supplies and some how to information?
Oh and just to add to my day the Micro-Trains plastic wheels clatter across my Atlas Code 55 track.
M-T (Micro-Trains) does make a body mount coupler. iirc it’s # 2004 (or 2004-1 for pre-assembled in the draft gear), but I’m not sure. Your LHS should know and have them.
I haven’t, but I know (virtually speaking) several guys on N scale specific forums who have done so. I’d suggest that you try logging in on the Atlas N Scale forum ( http://forum.atlasrr.com/ ) and either posting a question regarding body mounting, or use their search function to look for old posts on the subject.
“Oh and just to add to my day the Micro-Trains plastic wheels clatter across my Atlas Code 55 track.”
I guess they would if you are using the large “Pizza cutter” wheels!!!
That’s why they make low profile wheel sets.
My Intermountain metal wheels work just fine on Atlas Code 55 track…
I’ve noticed that the new M-T cars come with the ‘pizza cutter’ wheel installed, but with low profile wheels included in the box in case you prefer to trade them out.
Yes those are the Commonwealth 4 and 6 wheel trucks. They are what I am going to put under the heavyweight coach and the dome cars and if I had noticed they were adjustable I might have ordered one of those first. I went with the Buckeye truck because it matches a PARR baggage car pictured on the fallen flags site.
I knew that Micro-Trains used plastic wheels and I expected that someday I would want to upgrade to metal wheel sets but I expected they would be compatible with the Code 55 track. I looked closely at the package to see if it had been sitting around the LHS forever. It looked brand new. I buy the trucks to improve the looks and functionality of my rolling stock. Why wouldn’t a company that is aware of the problem make the simple effort to remedy it by using the wheel sets with the smaller flanges? It is.t a big deal but it was an annoying surprise.
I checked out the intermountain wheels. They do look good and I can get them 36 scale inch. Thanks for the tip.
I spent most of last night on the Atlas site and picked up a few hints. I think I will try to body mount the couplers, what the hay, I used to rebuild carburetors.
I’m an N-scaler, and body mount adapters and couplers are available for most types of N-scale rolling stock. I’ve put body-mounted Microtrains couplers on Atlas 90-ton coal cars, and have also used the Microtrains truck-mounted couplers. I’d have to say that to these 50-year-old eyes it doesn’t make that much difference in the appearance. I’ve kind of come to the conclusion that in N-scale it’s faster and easier to just use the truck-mounted couplers. In your case, however, body-mounting the couples might at least let you use the trucks you’ve already purchased. Good Luck.