Kato Kinematic coupler vs. Kato Standard coupler

I am in the process of changing couplers on some Kato Daylight cars to the Kato Kinematic type for a fellow modeler.

Here are some photo's I shot displaying the differences of Kato Kinematic vs. Kato Standard couplers.

The left photo is of the standard; the middle is of the kinematic; and the right photo shows the two types by comparison.



For instructions about changing to the kinematic coupler, here is the Kato website link:
http://www.katousa.com/N/Daylight/maint/coupler.html

And here is my "up close and personal.." shot of the kinematic:


(photo updated 05/28)

Kinematic couplers DO NOT OPERATE with standard Kato couplers, or any other coupler. Because of this only the headend baggage car is equipped with a kinematic on the passenger end and a standard coupler at the other end thus allowing the operater to switch motive power at will (if so inclined). Also for the obersvation car the rear coupler does not require a kinematic.

Kinematic equipped cars must be pushed together until they couple (firmly but gently please!); there will be an audible click. Kinematics do NOT couple on their own, i.e., by running the cars into one another; or at least I have not successully done so yet.

Kinematics DO NOT UNCOUPLE except manually ... and one needs be careful while doing so as the kinematic does not always "want to let go" easily.

All things considered, however ... I find the kinematics very worth-while for all who own the SP Daylight passenger series. And, "Yes ..." that GS4 really does pull ALL 18 cars in the consist by its 'lonesome.' No diesel help required "Thanks Very Much!"


P.S. - If you do own the entire 18 car Daylight consist, believe it or not, you will only need one (1) box (10 pair) of kinematic couplers for all the cars. After all ... some of those cars are "articulated" ya' know!

As always - TIJMHO ... FWIW.

Have an 'N' Joyable Day!

 

Out of curiousity, could we have a top shot of the couplers?

IIRC, Fleischman(?) had a close coupling system 15 years ago.

Bob in IDaho

 

Yes, Fleischmann developed in the eighties for its HO scale a new close coupler. Very ugly. I don't think that they made something for N scale: they still use Rapido's.

 

How's this? :tb-biggrin:

 

I just installed mine and really like them a lot. They seem to traverse through the curves smoother. I didn't even have to remove the shells to install them and it only took about 15 minutes to do all the cars.

 

What about installing these couplers on say, the CZ cars? Or UP cars? Or Super Chief cars? Will this work? Can we get the same look? Or is there something proprietary about the Daylight cars?Anybody try installing these on any non-Daylight cars?

 

Nah .. ain't gonna say it!! :tb-mad::thumbs_down:

 

I just checked my CZ, UP, & Super Chief cars and I don't see any way for them to work on these cars. It looks like, to me, the Kinematic Couplers are proprietary to the Daylight cars only.

 

Is there a min. radius to use the kinematics? Luckily I just moved and will be designing a new layout with my lot of unitrack, however I have quite a bit of 11 in. radius.. Will that work or will I need to trade out for larger radius? How about my 12 3/8 radius track?

 

Yeah Daylight only for now, but I would bet a good bunch of pennies that with this hit, every passenger set from now on (from kato) will have a kinematic option.

 

This should answer your questions N Scale Southern Pacific "Morning Daylight" - KATO USA : Precision Railroad Models

 

well, DUH... My only excuse is I didn't know what I was supposed to be looking at.:tb-embarrassed:

I guess I should have looked at N-Scale Southern Pacific "Morning Daylight" - KATO USA : Precision Railroad Models, step 6 in particular.

So you have to mildly _force_ the couplers together, and somewhat more forcefully, pull them apart (or lift them???)

While it may be a PITA to duplicate the underframe bitz, I can see it would be neat under my commuter fleet. Of course, the same technology could be employed with fully auto couplers on the lower member.

Bob in IDaho

 

Sorry for any confusion Bob .. my photo wasn't meant to be exact since the Kato link actually does a better job.

If you follow the steps as Kato has outlined them, the couplers slip in fairly easy. The PITA for me was removing the shell off/on.

While I have no "inside" info re: Kato, it wouldn't be surprising to see future cars from Kato possibly having this feature ... but then again?? :tb-err: Just have to keep watching ... :tb-cool:

 

[quote
If you follow the steps as Kato has outlined them, the couplers slip in fairly easy. The PITA for me was removing the shell off/on.
[/quote]

I installed all mine without removing the shell. Much easier that way.

 

Thursday evening I finally installed the Kinematic couplers on my Daylight cars. It was an easy job, took about an hour, plus the twenty minutes I spend searching for the diaphragm cover that shot off the three car dinner. The backside of the piece being close to the same color as what is between the tiles on the floor contributed to the length of the search.
Last night I re-worked a section of track that has caused some derailments and then hooked up the 12 cars and WOW!
What a difference in appearance and performance. It is a truly beautiful thing snaking through the curves, climbing the grades.
Since I don't have my replacement GS4 yet, I pulled the consist with a Kato PA/E9.
I would encourage anyone to switch to the Kinematic couplers.

 

The information there actually applies to the standard couplers on the daylight set. I am asking what minimum radius is recommended for the Kinematic couplers. It seems unlikely that they can operate on 11in radius, but since all my stuff is packed I can't give it a test. Has anyone actually ran the set with kinematic couplers on 11 inch radius free of issues?

 

Yes I ran the kinematics on an 11 inch radius oval with no issues.

 

I'm not sure if this will help anyone but my bullet train, (with kinematic), from Kato with the couplers will take 11" radius Unitrak curves. I am not sure if the ICE will as I have had issues with it in the past. I'll test it and let you know.