A little more progress on this topic. I received a set of American Z Lines trucks/couplers to try out, and here's what I decided to do with the first set. [Unfortunately, like the Full Throttle (FT) couplers, these are only available with trucks, but they are less expensive than FT.] Here's what one looks like when the truck is cut off and the assembly is flipped over, like I did with the FT couplers above:
The shape of the coupler is not nearly as graceful as the FT, but it's not hideous. The whole assembly is substantially stiffer than the FT, and also somewhat longer owing to the different centering spring design. Another difference is that the bolster ring is at the same level as the top (formerly bottom) of the coupler pocket, which makes it somewhat easier to work with. This seemed like a good candidate for cars with extended coupler pockets, so I pulled out a Red Caboose beer boxcar and tried the simplest thing possible, just drill and tap a 1-72 hole and screw it in the floor:
To my delight, this gave a perfect coupler height when paired with the BLMA 100T trucks, so this is about as easy as it gets. Here are a few side views:
In the last shot, you can see how much lower the car rides on the BLMA trucks than the stock MT trucks; in particular, there is no gap between the side frames and the skirting. There is a slightly annoying tendency for the AZL coupler pockets to angle up from the floor, but this actually helps achieve the proper coupler height and saves me from having to mill out the floor a bit, so I'm sticking with it.
Now that I have made the plunge, I needed to come up with a robust way to add air hoses and cut levers to these cars. The BLMA cut levers come with a nice etched bracket for attaching the handle end of the lever, but nothing for attaching to the coupler (pocket). Same with the air hoses; so I tried making some attachment points using HO lift rings (Detail Associates #1101), and this turned out really well (i.e. decent looking and sturdy). I drilled one #76 hole on the side of the box, and one in the middle of the bottom (see 2nd picture), and I used ACC to attach them. I glued the air hose into the side ring with ACC and liquid plastic cement (the lift rings I'm using are plastic). For the cut lever, I glued the handle end to the bracket, but I just inserted the other end into the bottom lift ring without glue. This way I can still remove the coupler if it needs servicing.
Now, if you look from the right angle, you can almost imagine the air hoses are connected:
Unfortunately, they really miss by a mile:
though you could probably bend them a bit more to make it closer
. In the last two shots, the Atlas tanker has FT couplers that I tried mounting in a new way. I'll post some notes on that when I get some better pictures taken.
Cheers,
Gary
