Over the last year or so I've been body mounting couplers to my freight cars. Cutting the MT boxes off the trucks and screwing or gluing them to freight cars. These boxes are quite wide and when the cars are run on curves less than about 14" radius, the wheels rub against the box and derailments happen. I have some old N Scale of Nevada coupler boxes that are much smaller than the Micro Trains boxes. Their appearance is much more to scale, and there isn't those locking tabs hanging down underneath. I don't have enough to do my whole fleet, but enough to add to the occasional car for the extended draft box look. Casting these to make more is very time consuming, so I've been sticking to the MT boxes. Here's what the NSN boxes look like (complete with flashing that needs filing off and holes that need drilled out!) A thread popped up here on TB started by Wuttermelon, who makes stuff on shapeways. Alvin asked in that thread if anybody had ideas of stuff to make. After a bunch of PM's between us, I sent him one of these boxes so he could copy the dimensions, update it so it would accept Micro Trains couplers, add some mounting holes and offer it on shapeways to all N scalers. He has them up in his shop right now. He's selling them in packs of 10 (http://shpws.me/KVIt), 20 (http://shpws.me/KVIz) and 40 for those who need to do a lot of cars (http://shpws.me/KVIW) I've been doing rigorous testing with these coupler boxes with the 3 major types of couplers (MT, McHenry, Accumate) and am happy to report that there have not been any problems with the boxes! These photos shows the 3 types of couplers mounted in the boxes. Please excuse the top box, as it did not get a Bestine bath to clean it after being made at Shapeways. Compared to a standard MT coupler box. Notice how much thinner it is. And for those of you who use a MT 1015 box, the width is comparable, but from the side, there is no "slit" in the box. Coming up, I'll post some pics of these boxes mounted to a few different freight cars. -Mike
I have mounted these new boxes to a variety of freight cars so far, but to start with, I test mounted them on a Micro Trains 50' boxcar. To get a standard box length, I had to file down the back of the coupler box to fit. Alvin says he will be offering these on Shapeways already cut down to fit. I used a supplied screw from a pack of MT 1015 boxes to mount to the boxcar using the front mounting hole on the body. The car has NO modifications to it, is sitting on standard MT 70 ton trucks, and has the box mounted directly to the metal frame. Coupler height is dead on. Using the mounting hole to the rear of the coupler box, and using the rear mounting hole on the boxcar frame, the box sticks out a prototypical 24" from the car body, giving it the extended draft cushion look. Here is a straight on view of the standard sized coupler box. More examples to come... -Mike
How does it compare in size to the coupler and box that come with the MTL (1017/1018 style) passenger car trucks?
So far I've only scratched the surface of different freight car applications, but here are a few that I have already done. Atlas 17,600g tank car I had to really cut the box down to fit between the walkway and the mounting screw for the tank. This car has BLMA 100t trucks and 36" wheels. I had to add a small shim under the front of the box to get it to match mounting height. Atlas 22,500g tank car The length of box comes in handy for this tank car. I cut a half circle into the rear of the box to give it more of a gluing surface to hold on to the bolster hole. This car also has BLMA 100t trucks and 36" wheels. The coupler box is glued directly to the walkway in front and the tank in back. Red Caboose Beer car Glued on (could be screwed on as well) and sticking out that 24" length for the cushion effect. And a Precision Masters 3 bay hopper. I have a whole write up on this car, which I'll post soon. Again, the length of the coupler box coupled with the half circle cut out around the bolster shaft makes for a strong hold. I will add more examples as I get around to them. The size of these boxes and the ability to cut and file them to different sizes makes them perfect for quite a few of those older freight cars that we all own. -Mike
I don't have any of those to compare them with. But looking at them on the woo woo woo website, these new boxes are quite a bit smaller in height. -Mike
Looks interesting! How well would they work with Train Worx coal hoppers? Or the Roundhouse/Athearn Thrall gondolas? Might have to look into it! Information appreciated. Thanks.
Same here ! May be awhile before I do any modifications...but like a lot of stuff I have...they can sit in a box for as long as they have to !! This looks like a product that everyone can use and may want. Thanks tons to both Alvin and Mike for going the extra mile on these
I was just explaining all this to THE Wife...so payday I get to spend some money...wooohoooo!! BTW...while in the thinking mode (dangerous) ...these may work pretty good in all those locomotives I read about where someone says "A MTxxxx will fit in the pilot but you will need to cut the pilot hole bigger to get them to fit." You should be able to cut one of these down to length...if need be... and the narrower width will fit with no modification to the pilot hole...I would presume
Next question.... Will a Z Scale coupler fit it this new coupler box???? Enquiring minds want to know !!
Keith, as a matter of fact, I have a Trainworx hopper sitting on the bench in line to get modified. I'll move it to the front of the line and let you know! -Mike
George, I haven't tried, or even thought about that one! Good suggestion, I'll have to check it out and see if they'll fit! I don't think they will. The shaft side of a MT Z scale coupler is a bit thinner than that of a MT N scale coupler. There would be some vertical play in it. I'll check to make sure though.... Mike
Indeed. More and more modelers who are concerned about coupler size has been turning to Z-scale couplers and I believe that NTZ or someone else is said to be working on a closer to scale coupler for N-scale equipment. If these new coupler pockets can fit these smaller couplers will make for a much better option for many modelers... if not then maybe you and Wuttermelon still have your work cut out for you. I can definitely see where these pockets will be a boon to modelers, especially so folks who need the extended coupler housing or possibly add them to a hopper car... I do hope that it will be possible to make something that will work for the smaller minded folks. After all, "Size is everything!!!" (Yah... I got in trouble saying that before but being small minded it actually does...)
Keith, since the Trainworx hoppers have a mounting pad already there, all that is needed is a .015" x .183" strip of styrene to bring them up to correct mounting height. Evergreen makes that exact size, item #109. -Mike
Ok guys, I just tried a Z scale coupler in these boxes and as I suspected, there is a lot of vertical play. The box will need to be shortened both vertically and horizontally for a MT Z scale coupler to work. If Alvin wants to tackle doing one for the Z scale coupler guys, then that's his call. I personally don't like the look of them (or MT N scale couplers), that's why all my pics have McHenry couplers, since that's what I use. Now if we could get some more of those Bowser/Full Throttle Z scale couplers that was offered over there on Railwire a few years ago, then I'd be all for helping design a box for them. I purchased quite a few for my locomotives and love them. Mike
The knuckle on the McHenry coupler may have a more prototypical appearance, but then there's that spring visible on the side...
