I have several Lifelike twin hoppers with Hookhorn (talgo) trucks. I want to change to metal wheels and Kadee couplers. What is the best way to do this?
Thanks
Mike Dickinson
Jamestown NY
Sorry I put this in the wrong forum
Metal Wheels --> Intermountain (or whoever your favourite manufacturer is). Just pop out the plastic wheels, and pop in the metal ones.
KD Couplers --> you have some options here:
1. Keep the Talgo trucks, and simply replace the X2f (horn-hook) couplers with Kadees. This is done with a #212 Talgo adapter and a standard #5/58 coupler (dunno if Whisker couplers work with this).
2. Keep the trucks, and cut off the coupler boxes (i.e. convert them to "standard" trucks), and body-mount the couplers using the #232 draft gear box (this is the one included in a package of #5s).
3. Trash the trucks, replace with KD (or whoever) and body-mount the couplers with the #232 draft gear box.
-Dan
Builder of Bowser steam! Railimages Site