I go to great effort to avoid getting any paint on my couplers.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
LION throw out couplers.
Him use DRAWBARS!
(And who is going to argue with a LION!)
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
I spritz Kadee couplers with Model master flat black. I have ruined a few through the decades by getting too much paint in the wrong place. It’s technique sensitive and keep the airbrush moving.
PC101Never had a problem with Kadee couplers after light painting/weathering, either air brush , dry brush or powders.
Ditto. After a few laps around the layout with slack running in and out any stiffness the coupler may have exhibited usually is gone. I do use an occasional dusting of moly disulfide powder (graphite will work, too) if the coupler needs to be freed up at all.
SL-SF_XM by Edmund, on Flickr
I'm one of those types that clips off the trip pins.
Good Luck, Ed
Never had a problem with Kadee couplers after light painting/weathering, either air brush , dry brush or powders. Use the above ^ NHTX^ post's advice and be sure to clean the paint or ''weathering'' off the face of the knuckle. The painted face will create drag/resistance when the couplers try to mate.
I use only Kadee semi-scale couplers, 153s prefered, 156s if necessary. I brush paint them with solvent based paints, usually a bulk pack at a time. I have found that using a dry brush technique allows for painting the entire coupler without gumming them up. Once they have dried for a few days, I check them for proper operation. Any that are stiff are easily corrected by grasping them by the shank and moving the "air hose" in a wobbling circular or stirring motion which restores them to normal operation. I have no coupling issues caused by paint.
I always dismantle rolling stock before painting, or more likely just paint a kit before assembly. I don't paint couplers, but I recognize that paint can get where you don't want it and affect coupling.
I paint trucks, and I make sure to mask the axle sockets and even the screw hole in the bolster to keep those free of paint.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I know some of you use an airbrush for weathering. When working on couplers (Kadee) do you need to worry about getting paint in them?
Rick