New member here. I am reliving my youth with HO scale - many of them need work to repair trucks, replace missing parts, and just figure out what has changed in the 50 years since I last displayed my trains. I also have a bunch of G scale trains that I'd like to incorporate into my garden - maybe next year. The wife is also big into Christmas Villages and a train will be a nice complement to her village displays - looks like I will be interested in On30 scale also. A number of the couplers are broken on the HO scale trains - engines as well as cars, so I need some help figuring out how to remove the old coupler and replace with the Kadee #5 which comes highly recommended on TB from what I can see. I looked at the undercarriage and don't see how the old broken couplers come off. Do you just mount the new Kadee coupler on top of the broken coupler? How do you manage clearance between track and the other cars? Someone must have a video showing how to do this - a link to any helpful HO Scale repairs 101 would be helpful. Thanks!
Welcome to TrainBoard! We have forums available for all three of those areas you note of interest, so be sure to check them out. There are many variants of Kadee HO couplers these days. The Number 5 is sort of their solid old standard, or grandpappy of them all. You might want to check into buying a Kadee Standards gauge set for HO. This will give you the proper ride height and trip pin clearance above rail. It also works for On30. Thir catalog number #205 or 206. I have used the 205. A conversion chart: http://www.kadee.com/conv/hocc.htm
Hi Myionc, Welcome, glad to have you on board. You'll find lots of help here as you have already seen with Ken's response. I haven't modeled in HO since the 1970's, so can't be of much help with rolling stock or engines. Though I'll be happy to help in other areas as much as possible.
Welcome aboard! You may get a good bit of help if you post some details of the models you want to install couplers on in the HO forum, even better if you can show a picture or two around the mounting area.
Welcome to Trainboard, Mynionc. I will second Eagle2's suggestion. The HO forum will probably produce some instant answers.
