knucklecouplers,to put on my train cars and engine

[Anonymous]

i been trying to find answers to my ? so now i can ask; i need to know what kind of knuckle coulpers will work and what one is best; i have all kinds of cars from all the major players in ho scale,some cars have horn hook that has a small hole and some have big hole,also i need to find coulpers covers to fit my cars so i may put them in the middle of my trains instead of the end like i do now the metal pice i need is like a channel and in the pc there is squares holes the snap in place once its where it needs to be???? please help me

[Anonymous]

i been trying to find answers to my ? so now i can ask; i need to know what kind of knuckle coulpers will work and what one is best; i have all kinds of cars from all the major players in ho scale,some cars have horn hook that has a small hole and some have big hole,also i need to find coulpers covers to fit my cars so i may put them in the middle of my trains instead of the end like i do now the metal pice i need is like a channel and in the pc there is squares holes the snap in place once its where it needs to be???? please help me

[BR60103]

starting at the end, the channel piece you describe sounds like an Athearn coupler box cover. They don't always stay in place, specially if you removed them once. You should be able to order them from an Athearn dealer or your local hobby shop.
Different holes come from different manufacturers. They need to be matched to the post in the coupler box. There is no standardization, although the Athearn size is the commonest.
Do you want to replace them with a better looking coupler? most advanced modellers use the Kadee and its clones. Opinion is divided about how well the clones work. Kadee makes variations of couplers to fit almost everything; the others don't.
If you want to replace missing horn-hook couplers, you can either buy from your hobby shop or ask at a train show if anyone has any spares.

[BR60103]

starting at the end, the channel piece you describe sounds like an Athearn coupler box cover. They don't always stay in place, specially if you removed them once. You should be able to order them from an Athearn dealer or your local hobby shop.
Different holes come from different manufacturers. They need to be matched to the post in the coupler box. There is no standardization, although the Athearn size is the commonest.
Do you want to replace them with a better looking coupler? most advanced modellers use the Kadee and its clones. Opinion is divided about how well the clones work. Kadee makes variations of couplers to fit almost everything; the others don't.
If you want to replace missing horn-hook couplers, you can either buy from your hobby shop or ask at a train show if anyone has any spares.

[wp8thsub]

You can't go wrong with Kadee. Their site has info on conversions of most types of rolling stock you are likely to have: http://www.kadee.com/conv/ho.htm . Invest in one of their coupler height gauges and consider some of the fiber washers in different thicknesses to shim bolsters on cars which don't automatically give you the correct height.

Other manufacturers have created Kadee compatible clones in plastic, some of which are better than others. I haven't had trouble with those that have separate knuckle springs like Kadee, but I avoid any that use a cast on plastic sliver for the spring. The sliver inevitably loses its ability to keep the knuckle closed after a period of time and you start to get random uncouplings.

[wp8thsub]

You can't go wrong with Kadee. Their site has info on conversions of most types of rolling stock you are likely to have: http://www.kadee.com/conv/ho.htm . Invest in one of their coupler height gauges and consider some of the fiber washers in different thicknesses to shim bolsters on cars which don't automatically give you the correct height.

Other manufacturers have created Kadee compatible clones in plastic, some of which are better than others. I haven't had trouble with those that have separate knuckle springs like Kadee, but I avoid any that use a cast on plastic sliver for the spring. The sliver inevitably loses its ability to keep the knuckle closed after a period of time and you start to get random uncouplings.

[Anonymous]

I use Kadee on everthing except Athearn locos. On them I use McHenry or Life Like proto 2000 with the coil springs as Kadee's are metal and cause shorts when multi unit are put together frame to frame. The plastic couplers by McHenry or Life Like solve this problem. Kadee has a cross reference manual, talgo adapters, and universal coupler boxes that can be fitted to anything that can have a small hole drilled into it.

[Anonymous]

I use Kadee on everthing except Athearn locos. On them I use McHenry or Life Like proto 2000 with the coil springs as Kadee's are metal and cause shorts when multi unit are put together frame to frame. The plastic couplers by McHenry or Life Like solve this problem. Kadee has a cross reference manual, talgo adapters, and universal coupler boxes that can be fitted to anything that can have a small hole drilled into it.

[Anonymous]

flee307: Kadee makes plastic-shank couplers for installations like Athearn engines.

[Anonymous]

flee307: Kadee makes plastic-shank couplers for installations like Athearn engines.