Ok, I really am completely happy with my rapido couplers, but on the off chance I can get a good deal for re-fitting all 160+ cars/engines with MT couplers... is my LHS the best place to start? Is this a painless process to convert? *If you're a dealer feel free to chime in with your offer*
I have a few suggestions to cut back on the pain: 1) make a list of all freight cars you want to convert. Be SPECIFIC - give the car type and manufacturer. 2) make a list of all locos you need to convert. Be SPECIFIC - give the loco type and manufacturer. 3) The cheapest way to go is to cut the rapido couplers off their trucks and body-mount Micro-Trains couplers. Save the trucks, since they can usually be used with the body-mounted couplers. 4) Continuing in the "cheapest way" vein, you can buy M-T couplers unasssembled. This will save you about 50% (or more) off the assembled versions. 5) If you don't have the time/patience/skill to body mount couplers, you can buy Micro-Trains trucks with couplers attached. You will need to research when your cars were built to find out which M-T truck style to use. For example, if you are modeling 1959, say, you will probably use mostly Bettendorf style trucks. A few boxcars might have roller bearing trucks. It depends on how accurate you want to be. 6) If you want to make me rich , send all your cars and locos to me and I'll convert them for you...
After looking back in threads (back to 2000) I think body mounts and short coupleres are the most likely soultion - anyone have pics? Sorry Kiz, I love to do this stuff myself - otherwise I'd actually have to run my trains
It really depends on how good a relationship you have with your LHS. If you are converting everything in short order - then perhaps you can work a out a discount for a bulk purchase? I think it's mostly a pain the the wallet! If you want to keep the truck mounted style, then the freight cars should be a snap (assuming you buy the complete truck w/ coupler, which is the most expensive option). If you want to convert to body mounted couplers or convert the couplers on the existing trucks, then the work level goes up significantly. So does the frustration level (in my experience). Loco's will depend on the manufacturer. Most are body mounted and are easy to convert if you purchase the pre-assembled coupler. Now that's an inventive way to address your first concern!
I think you have to look around for pricing, especially on the body mounts. I did see the entire Barber Trucks 10 Packs at a HobbyTown for 1/2 off recently...... I agree body mounts are the way to go, as they assist in tracking, etc. and I think you just tap a screw in the underframe. Since you mentioned saving pain, not cost, I recommend against putting them together yourself. Buy the pre-built ones as cheap as you can. Your time is worth something. I
I've always just switched out the whole truck in most cases, except for locos. But then, I'm not big on cars over 60' at the most. I've just found having the dependable MT truck, which gives uniform behavior, makes less running problems. If you have a few of them getting through the layout without a problem, then probably all of your cars will. Unlike different trucks, where you may have certain cars that just refuse to run through certain switches well for some reason. Not that it can't be fixed, but it just cuts down on that kind of thing. Plus, I consider the MT trucks a decent investment, because you will always have them. Even if you get rid of cars, you just pull the pins, and keep the trucks. That is also helpful if you paint them a more realistic color. Which I do by scrubbing them with something abrasive first, like softscrub. Unfortunately though, I made the mistake of throwing all the original trucks for a lot of cars together, and now I can't remember which goes on what car. So I've had to sell cars with the MT trucks on them. But that's OK, because it raises the value. Dave Los Angeles, CA -DPDP Model Accessories- http://eje.railfan.net/dpdp/
most of mine i've done truck swaps b/c i mainly run covered hoppers of various mfgs., and from what i've read, i don't have time or patience to do the body mount, however, buy bulk packs!!!!! wig-wag has about the best pricing i've seen, about $10 less on bulk packs of trucks than my LHS. that's my $0.02
Hmm... like this?: Below are the new (top) and older (bottom) styles of Micro-Trains 50' flatcar underframes. As you can see, the new style has a coupler mounting pad that greatly simplifies body-mounting with #1027 couplers Below are two Micro-Trains #1026 couplers (before and after assembly) that are specially designed to fit the old style underframe. Place the assembled coupler in the underframe opening and adjust it to get the extension you want from the car's end sill. I used tweezers just for the pic rather than my fat, ugly fingers. Once you have the coupler where you want it, glue it in with liquid cement (be sure to remove the paint from the carbody so the bond is stronger): Here is the completed car and the Micro-Trains coupler height gauge, showing the coupler at the correct height :
exactly! thanks! are the metal curvy things on all MTs? Or is that optional? oh, 1 more question - what is the pros/cons of body mounting? I don't think any of my rolling stock are MT made, so there may be a point in just getting the new trucks -
One note on the truck mounted ones, there are different pins & washers that come in the bulk packs, make sure you have a good fit. Some bachmann cars that have a screw in the bottom will need the bolster hole drilled out. takes about minute with a drill bit turning it with my hand. Then they will fit right. Another advantage to the MT trucks, is they're always the right height.
Save 50 percent by buying unassembled couplers? Can someone give an example of this? Seems like that is a very large savings over full retail.
if i remember correctly, i paid around $10 for 10 pair of unassembled body mounts and price they were asking for 10 pair of assembled was $18. this was at a LHS and a good while back, so i could be wrong (memory is a little foggy today), if i am wrong somebody please correct me!! until i figured out the knack to doing it, i spent about 30 minutes getting my clumsy fingers coordinated to do the first one, after that, they went a little better (3 or 4 min. each)
Here are the price comparisons from Brooklyn Locomotive Works: List price for 1 pack of assembled # MT-1015-1 couplers (2 pr) is $8.95, so 5 packs (10 pr.) = $44.75. Sale price for MT-1015-1 couplers (2 pr) = 6.70, so 5 packs = $33.50 List price for unassembled bulk pack (10 pr.) of #1015-10 couplers is $12.30. Sale price for the bulk pack is $9.25 So, in this example, you save over 70% by buying the bulk pack UNASSEMBLED couplers. [$9.25 divided by $$33.50 = 27.6%, so you SAVE 72.4% Not too shabby!
There's a guy on eBay that assembles the unassembled packs of couplers for body mounting and basically splits the difference....you'll pay about twice what the unassembled couplers cost, but half of what the assembled bulk pack costs. I've only seen him offer the 1015's but he might do others if prompted. I bought a crap-load of 1015's from him and they were all in perfect condition, although he guarantees his work if they're not. Like Jeff says, your time is worth something and this guy is offering a unique niche product/price.
The curvy metal things are called trip pins. A magnet mounted on the track (actually embedded between the rails) attracts these metal pins and pulls the couplers apart when cars are backed up and stopped so that the couplers are directly over the magnet. Pros and cons of body-mounting (part 1 of 58 ): Pros: 1) prototypically correct - looks realistic 2) less chance of cars derailing when long trains are being backed up on curves. 3) If you keep the original trucks after cutting off the Rapido couplers, you'll save some $$$ Cons: 1) coupling cars (hands off) on sharp curves becomes difficult if not impossible. 2) takes more time to convert rolling stock than simply adding trucks with couplers. 3) I know there must be a 3rd disadvantage, but I can't think of it right now...
Wow.... Kis, that's probably the most concise and accurate analysis of body mounting N-scale couplers I've ever seen. You should be ashamed of yourself....it should at least take three pages of posts to get to that point!! They call this a dicussion forum for a reason for cryin' out loud!!!
