Hi Guys,
I’ve been weathering several of my freight cars and just began weathering my Kadee couplers. I first painted the couplers and actuating pins charcoal gray and then started applying weathering chalk to the couplers to get them to look a little rusty. Then, I wondered what to do about the actuating pin…you know…that little piece of metal wire that hangs down from the Kadee couplers and is attracted to the Kadee uncoupling magnets. I recall reading in some literature that we can “pretend” that the wire or actuating pin is really the airbrake hose from the prototype. If that’s acceptable, then I wonder if I should paint it black and not apply rust-colored chalk to it…obviously because an air hose wouldn’t rust, right?
Any comments would be appreciated. I wouldn’t want to get shot by the prototype police for making my “air hoses” look rusty.
Now, I know some guys who are purists cut off the actuating pin because they don’t think it looks like an air hose. Trust me, I’m not going to cut them off so please don’t bother to tell me to do that.
I have seen some folks that paint the trip pin black and paint the tips rust or silver to represent a glad hand. It is a good idea not to trim the things off for freight equipment, especially if you do prototype operations. I model passenger trains, so the trip pin is one of the first things that I get rid of. I have seen rules on some club layouts that you cannot roll any equipment on their layout unless al your cars have knuckle couplers with trip pins at the correct height. And for the “prototype police”, scr** 'em, they are your trains.
Any sort of filthy disgusting black/grey colour would work. Check your local rail yard for ideas.
Be careful, however, when weathering the knuckles – especially the surface that slides. They need to be able to slide past each other, so any filing should be horizontal and you might restrict weathering to graphite powder or lead pencil.
I agree with that.I made the mistake of painting the mateing surfaces a brownish rust color and then they wouldn’t couple right. They just pushed each other around instead of coupling. For the actuating pins, I’d go with a rubber looking blackish color with silver or rust on the tips to simulate air hose lines.