New to the Board

[GWRFANN]

Hi folks

I'm new here & I'm relatively new to model railroading so I might be asking quite a few questions, that is if you don't mind. I'm mostly into N-scale but I do have a little bit of HO in the house.

I do have a question now & it is regarding couplers for n-scale rolling stock. I want to get rid of the ugly Rapido style & replace them with the knuckle type but I'm not sure what to do. Some folks up here have said to replace the whole truck with the Micro Trains truck & coupler & others have said to just replace the couplers but have not given me any part #'s.

What would you suggest & what would be the cheaper way to do this?

p.s. I have already changed everything to steel wheels

 

[grumbeast]

Hi!

A few things.. first the interrogation .. Where in Eastern Canada, I'm in Dartmouth NS.
second. GWR! good man!, I grew up in South Wales, so the GWR is (was) of course the only real railway in the world *grin*

I have the same situation as you. I have a bunch of stock that has rapido couplers but I'm converting to microtrains. In terms of converting stock, I find replacing the trucks is more expensive but easier. I'm doing it a bit at a time and I've made several "conversion" cars that have a microtrains at one end and a rapido at the other. This means that you can run your together to a degree.

Are you modelling a North American prototype? If you're running GWR stuff, you'll need to do coupler conversions which I don't really know about.

Anyhow, hope this helps

Graham

 

[GWRFANN]

Hi Graham

Well well, another Ex patriot Maritimer:thumb: I'm in Saint John, N.B. & I was born in Gosport, U.K.

I'm starting to model Canadian National N scale but I have alot of British HO, sorry, OO in God's Wonderful Railway livery.

From what others have told me changing the whole thing seems to be easier. I just wanted to see if there was any other opinions.

Simon

 

[60103]

I think we have another thread on this back in the archives.
The fastest and most expensive way is to replace the entire truck. I don't suggest this because I don't car for truck mounted couplers. Sometimes there isn't a good alternative.
MT also make couplers to replace the Rapido ones in the trucks. I never tried this.
My favoured way is to cut the coupler mount off the truck (close to the bolster) and screw a MT coupler in box to the floor. Often need a shim to lower it.
For locos, MT make special packages. See the web site.

I can put you in touch with suppliers who sell crimson lake paint to improve your OO stock.

 

[tillsbury]

Try reading this thread about coupler conversions that was on this board a few weeks ago... there's a fair bit there...

 

[GWRFANN]

Thanx guys. It's all been very helpful.:thumb:

 

[Drew1125]

I've modeled in both HO & N scales, & I come at it from both schools of thought, depending on the scale...

*I think the truck-mounted couplers aork & look fine in N scale (IMHO)
*I prefer body-mounted couplers in HO scale

Regardless of what you choose to do, it's usually better to replace the trucks & wheels also, on a lot of R-T-R (ready-to-run) stuff, because a lot of the factory stuff is kinda cheezy, unless you're buying the more expensive kits...

An example of a real cheezy piece of rolling stock, here's one of those Bachman "old tyme" freight cars in N scale...

Painting & weathering helped a little, but notice the big difference new couplers, trucks & wheels make...(MT Archbars with truck-mounted couplers)

As far as part #'s go, the only ones I know off the top of my head are:
MT #1015-1 (N scale body-mounts - pre-assembled)
KD #3 (HO scale body-mounts - pre-assembled)