Reality Reduced Episode #8 is now available at Episode #8 - Couplers!, as always you can see all of our episodes at Reality Reduced on blip.tv. In this episode we check out the new McHenry couplers, and look at converting some Rapidos to Micro-Trains couplers via both truck replacement and body mount. Don't forget our Derby City Express DVD, available for pre-order now!
Another great episode Leo. As great as the explanation was on body mounting couplers....I do have a *coupler* questions (pun intended) though that you didnt cover. When you body mounted the coupler...did you reuse the old truck that you cut the Rapido coupler off of...or did you use a new truck without a coupler attached? And if you use a new truck along with the new body mount...how does the price compare (buying both pieces) with just buying a new truck with a truck mounted coupler? And lastly...Is it advisable to just cut the old couplers off the trucks and just reuse the truck without the old coupler on it? As you know...I am going to be doing body mount couplers on a few cars (as a test)..and would really like to know the difference in price...per car...on the different styles... new body mount with a new truck or new body mount and old truck (if feasible) or just new truck mounted couplers I know prices vary with different stores...I am asking as if any or all the above mentioned items where purchased from the same store Thanxs again Leo...always look forwards to your Reality Reduced shows ^5.
I saw the McHenry;s at KY and was very impressed with the way they operated. Your tests are right on!
This episode was a challenge to cut down because I really wanted to show the McHenry's in operation, the results very much surprised me. As a result a few rambling bits got lost in the coupler conversions. Yes, I reused the trucks with the coupler box cut off, and that's what I do 95% of the time. Virtually all trucks are reusable, some benefit from having wheels replaced (I'm trying to not put new pizza cutters on the layout, for example) but the truck is normally good. About the only time I replace them is when they are significantly wrong (e.g. friction rather than roller bearing) or broken. Note you can buy trucks without couplers from Micro Trains so there is no cutting and you save some money.
Thnxs Leo...that is all thought provoking...both for the new modeler and even us 'intermediates' who have dabbled in truck replacements. If in fact body mounts prove to be more effecient running wise...and a modeler can reuse the trucks...and just have to purchase a body mount coupler (at a reasonable price)...that may be something really worth looking into. Being on a fixed income with little $$$ to spare each month...I will check on the cost a handful of just body mounted couplers for now...thanxs again ^5.
If you can tolerate assembling them you can buy 1015's unassembled. I recommend their little installer tool and set of pliars if you go this route. You can cut your cost in half I think, but I find them so frustrating I almost always purchase pre-assembled. I think if you had a 8 year old around with small fingers it might be worth an extra trip to Baskin Robins to bribe them to do some for you. :tb-biggrin:
Leo, Enjoyed the video. Thanks verymuch for taking the time to do it. Question about the roofwalk on the C&O 28016 it has a lovely bow in it. Is that what it was like out of the box? I like those McHenry couplers although the gap between cars does seem a bit larger than the MT ones. If they are available in body mount I'd be interested as I'd like to body mount my cars too and would be willing to give them a go. Cheers, Alan.
Unfortunately yes. I've been informed that was common with the previous MDC run. The plus side is the roof walk is a really fine detail etched metal part, the minus side is the bow. It appears to just be adhesived (some sort of CA I bet) to the roof, I believe the solution is to pull off to one end and gently CA back. It's a shame because the car is above average in most other respects, although not entirely state of the art. All four I purchased show the same issue, to various degrees. I actually cut out a small segment comparing the gap, as I babbled for almost 3 minutes while doing it. Yes, the gap is significantly larger than MT out of the box (about 2x the end of roofwalk to end of roofwalk distance). I'm not sure that's a McHenry problem per se, since they may be using older truck designs with too much extension. Unfortunately I know of no body mount at this time, but they have said they are coming out with "more options". The operational aspect really surprised me though, over a stock MT magnet these things are virtually flawless, and I've never had anything better than hit or miss luck with MT couplers for magnetic uncoupling.
Wow........ The folks at MT had BETTER have an executive meeting Monday. This does NOT look good. The C&O Cameo cars are about $30 each. An un-coupling failure between two of these right out of the box is NOT ACCEPTABLE. The QC guys have some BIG problems Monday morning!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for the reply Leo. Interesting how all four cars exhibited the same symptoms. I wonder if it an expansion thing due to the metal roof walks expanding faster than the plastic and causing the obviously tiny bits of glue to let go. Be interesting to see what ends up happening about the gap and the "other options". I know what you mean about the hit and miss. Also that first MT car, the one cuple to the McHenry seemed to wobble a bit. Thanks again, Regards, Alan.
I had the same issue with the Athearn C&O boxcar. The roofwalks on mine were held on with some sort of sticky stuff and I just pulled up the bowed end and layed it back down staright and it stayed on both my cars. Leo, I cant find the place on the BLW site where the cars are on sale. Help a C&O brother out!
For the record, I also tried my other two McHenry cars (the NW version of the boxes) with two 40' MT boxes from my collection and got the same results. My personal experience with MT delayed uncoupling is it works about 1 in 10 times no matter what the car, and only with the MT magnet (as shown), never with under the track magnets. I've read once or twice that there is some burr that needs to be filed on MT couplers, but I've never taken the time to figure it out. I used the cars in question because they were all brand new out of the box; no chance to blame it on abuse or tweaking. Since then I've experimented with the radio shack and SL Enterprises under track uncouplers. None will even move a micro-trains coupler. McHenry to McHenry I can get about 50% of the time operation with the SL Enterprises, and about 25% of the time with the radio shack magenets. Neither are reliable enough to make me want to depend on them. I do have a Micro Trains electromagnet (I think they are technically HO) that I need to build a test rig for. Basically I had decided magnetic uncoupling did not work in N scale. Kato's aren't magentic. MT's don't work. Accumate to Accumate is like 1 in 10. But on my 4 McHenry cars they sure do work, at least with the MT magenet in a track....
Leo do the mchenrys have the same slinky affect that the MT do thanks Wendell PS I do enjoy yourtv show its getting better all the tim
Very well done!! They get better all the time. Be careful on the volume between segments. The opening sequence is quite a bit louder than the rest of the show.
