Someone on this forum helped me find and buy a Concor (Atlas?) SD35 by providing a link to an eBay auction of one, quite awhile back. (I’d yet to buy anything on eBay…I’ve since gone INSANE there)
In any event, I finally got to where I was able to decorate the “UNDEC” version I got, lettered for my Ferrago & Aquandary Railway. So far so good…until NOW:
I was about to attach the painted shell back to the mainframe, when I noticed it would probably be wise to install the COUPLERS first. The unit came with old hornhooks…I reached for some new types I got from Walthers…but all that is provided to put them on the frame, is a small, thin, oblong hole leading to pretty well NOTHING.
There IS another little hole, NOT tapped for a screw, and also not positioned so it does any good. I’ve never come across a situation where a Kadee 5 or other such item, wouldn’t just plunk right into what the manufacturer provided.
I bet one of you folks have mastered this dilemma already…anyone in the mood to coax on a newbie?
Ever wonder why there are so many products in the Kadee coupler line? Now you know. Many older locos won’t just take a #5. Kadee has mountains of information on their web site as far as what fits what, often, as shown in the links above, with illustations showing you what to do.
Ay Chihuahua! I was really hoping for a simpler solution! This one means finding that #37 Kadee coupler item, which is the easy part…but then, buying some sort of ruler that indicates measurements such as .050 somethings; finding a screw I’ve never seen anything like before; and finding and using a tapping device to widen and make the useless hole provided, have grooves to hold the screw.
Whatever money I may have saved by buying this item on eBay, is now totally gone.
I also wanted to simulate the usual m.u. hoses hanging alongside the couplers–and tried to google my way to something someone may have written as to how to do that…the alternative being to buy a version for $7.50 for each end of the SD35.
There’s gotta be some kind of really skinny plastic tubing one can use, to scratchbuild a passable representation, right?
I have done a few of these, including the SD35. Its pretty easy once you have the couplers, I did not need to measure anything. As for the hole/screw, just use a self tapping screw that fits, or use the original press pins that held the hornhooks in place.
Using No.5 or the like will only end up as a real project, as the entire coupler mounting area is too low, so I would not bother trying that route unless you want to rebuild the pilot. You may also run into clearance issues at the back of the coupler and the power truck (happens on their FP7, can’t remember about the SD).
Anyway, use the right coupler and its very simple. Don’t go looking to make it harder unless you like the challenge!
Pardon the iPhone photo, but here are photos of my 1976 Atlas SD35 with K-Ds. Aside from enlargening the opening, I used a self-tapping screw into the original hole in the body. I think the projection is too much, but no one makes a shorter shank coupler and there is no room on the inside (towards the truck) for set back.
As mentioned before, it is even tighter with the Atlas FP7. There I used an A-line (I believe) dummy coupler and gained some room.
That photo with the engine upside down sure shows exactly what I’m up against, alright…I called the local hobby dealer, to hear he does NOT stock Kadee 37’s, of course.
What I’ll do now, is yank open ALL the stacked up boxes of untouched engines I have, to see if the others require something special as well, and order in enough to do them all. I’ll also research getting some better looking DUMMY couplers for the FRONT of some engines. Its a bit of a shame that the easiest way to spot a well done model from the real thing is to zero in on the couplers.
In the pic showing the (rightside up) front, I see some dandy looking m.u. hoses tacked on…sometimes the model COMES that way, I’m told (on another message topic, recently). Has anyone been successful MAKING them, from scratch?
What you are lookig for are MU hoses. Both Detail Associates and Details West (plus others) make them. I have used the DA and DW ones and they are fine.
Search Walthers for “MU hoses” for an idea of what is available.
If i recall correctly, Kadee #7s are the ones to use for the Atlas SD24 and SD35 - the stock friction-fit mounting pins will hold them in place. It’s a very easy conversion job. This picture doesn’t show the coupler installation, but I did a couple of regular cab versions, and two each with scratchbuilt “safety” cabs.
When I was still running diesels, I used the Detail Associates mu cables:
The mu hoses on the engine on the turntable look great…I assume those are commercially purchased versions, as the posting above indicates.
I was both being CHEAP as well as wanting to be “inventive,” by thinking in terms of creating some from scratch…next time I’m in some kind of craft store like Michaels, I’ll be snooping the aisles looking for a really thin pliable tubing of some sort.
I will also by then have found a coupler to install, and weathered this beast, so I can post a photo.
I understand both the “cheap” and the “inventive” parts of your thinking, but you’ll not likely find anything that will give you detail equivalent to that of the Detail Associates mu hoses. If your prototype doesn’t use the full 16 hoses that come in each pack, there could be enough to do two locos. The hoses are cast in flexible plastic (almost unbreakable, too), with pipe coupling detail at their tops and gladhands on the bottoms - a little silver paint before weathering will “pop” these details nicely.
They’re only $2.50 for a pack of 16, DA part# 1508. Get your hobby shop to order some. When I first started detailing locos (40 years ago) I used telephone wire for MU cables, but once I found the DA’s I replaced them all.
Or if you LHS tends to not stock anythign but #5 couplers and RTR cars and locos, try one of the online places like MB Klein (modeltrainstuff.com), they tend to have stock of many of the detil parts and extra stuff that your typical LHS will have to always order from Walthers. They also have an accurate inventory system, so if it says they have at least one when you place your order you will get it, not a “sorry, this item is backordered” notice. Being not all that far from their location (outside Baltimore MD) I get my stuff ina c ouple of days, if you live elsewhere a more local place might result in quicker receipt of your order - West of the Mississippi try Caboose Hobbies. In both cases these are highly reputable dealers who also have a brick and mortar presence.
Yeah, you guys are probably right: while there’s a certain satisfaction from playing “McGuyver” and whippin’ up a decent homegrown version of stuff like trees, weeds, and so forth, you just can’t expect to get the right realism in tiny details* like these hoses, I concede.
Plus, I will probably only have them on the FRONT end, of locos that have an obvious front…so can stretch a pkg. of 16 even further.
Ironically, I am also thinking of using great looking, but DUMMY couplers on the front, in hopes I never have to do anything more than just “push” a car forward using the nose.
(the * is to mention that I was quite proud of how well I jimmied the guts of a ballpoint pen, into becoming the missing diesel smokestack for an ancient ULRICH truck/trailer kit – I just saw a photo of the REAL version, and I like mine better!)
Also avilabe in 4 hose sets.
