Things fall out

[OldEastRR]

The coupler pins on my Atlas stuff tends to fall out of their tiny mounting holes. Is there a way to get them back in? The hole is rather shallow and doesn't friction grip the pin. If I try to superglue it back in, I know I'll just glue up the whole coupler. Looks like an MTL coupler can be substituted. I KNOW those pins don't fall out.
I might will as well drop this in, too: some wheel sets on my Rapido streamlined fluted NH coaches fall out when the car is picked up. Not a lot but enough to be annoying. Put the set back in, it stays a while then ooops there it goes again. And MTL wheelsets don't fit as replacements. I never have this problem with their Osgood Bradley NH coaches, but they have different style trucks.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Haha, I always consider this a feature as opposed to a bug. I pluck em out of pretty much everything I get as soon as it comes out of the box.

But if you want to keep them in... CA?

[randgust]

If you take a pair of longnose sharp tips and crush the plug slightly, it deforms it and puts a rough edge on it so it holds better in the hole.   

[robert3985]

I agree with Ed.  I remove all magnetic dongles as the first thing to do when taking a new car or engine out of the box.

However, if you want to keep them, I'd not trust ACC to adhere to whatever engineering plastic Atlas uses, so instead, I would first make sure the offending dongle is properly adjusted, then put a small blop of Walther's Goo on the top of the dongle sticking out of the top of the coupler, making sure to wet the rim of the hole it's in too.  That should cure the dongle-dropping problem you're having.

Also, don't trust that MTL dongles are always adjusted properly either.  Before I decided to not use MTL's Magne Matic uncoupling system, I had problems with dongle dragging or catching on turnout frogs and/or grade crossings all the time.  So did the rest of the club, which was probably caused by the mass replacement of all the obsolete Rapido couplers by everybody at the same time, most opting for body mounting their new Kadee/MTL couplers and choosing to use the cheaper unassembled couplers, which involves dongle insertion during assembly.

So, now that I snip 'em off, pull 'em out on cars that I haven't equipped with modified MTL True-Scale Couplers yet, and I don't have to worry about dongle dragging anymore.

If you like them because they simulate brake hoses, I apply brake hoses I've bought from BLMA (I don't know if they're still available or will be from Atlas) and Precision Scale, which offers them in both brass and plastic.  They look much more better than coupler mounted dongles.  Plastic hoses are much cheaper than brass, but brass hoses don't break nearly as easily.

Just sayin'.... 

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[Sokramiketes]

I agree with Ed.  I remove all magnetic dongles as the first thing to do when taking a new car or engine out of the box.

However, if you want to keep them, I'd not trust ACC to adhere to whatever engineering plastic Atlas uses, so instead, I would first make sure the offending dongle is properly adjusted, then put a small blop of Walther's Goo on the top of the dongle sticking out of the top of the coupler, making sure to wet the rim of the hole it's in too.  That should cure the dongle-dropping problem you're having.

Also, don't trust that MTL dongles are always adjusted properly either.  Before I decided to not use MTL's Magne Matic uncoupling system, I had problems with dongle dragging or catching on turnout frogs and/or grade crossings all the time.  So did the rest of the club, which was probably caused by the mass replacement of all the obsolete Rapido couplers by everybody at the same time, most opting for body mounting their new Kadee/MTL couplers and choosing to use the cheaper unassembled couplers, which involves dongle insertion during assembly.

So, now that I snip 'em off, pull 'em out on cars that I haven't equipped with modified MTL True-Scale Couplers yet, and I don't have to worry about dongle dragging anymore.

If you like them because they simulate brake hoses, I apply brake hoses I've bought from BLMA (I don't know if they're still available or will be from Atlas) and Precision Scale, which offers them in both brass and plastic.  They look much more better than coupler mounted dongles.  Plastic hoses are much cheaper than brass, but brass hoses don't break nearly as easily.

Just sayin'.... 

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

I don't think the Accumates have a through hole.  Interestingly, Lowell Smith has the factory glue in the Accumate trip pins.  I noticed when trying to tug them out. 

[peteski]

I don't think the Accumates have a through hole.  Interestingly, Lowell Smith has the factory glue in the Accumate trip pins.  I noticed when trying to tug them out.

That is correct.  It is a shallow blind hole.

[robert3985]

I don't think the Accumates have a through hole.  Interestingly, Lowell Smith has the factory glue in the Accumate trip pins.  I noticed when trying to tug them out.

I just checked on some of my new Atlas cars and whatever fugly coupler they have has a shallow hole, and the dongle is easily pulled out.  I did it one-handed.

I'd still do the Goo trick, just put a blop on the top of the dongle, insert it and let it dry if ya really want dongles.

FVM Semi Scale wheels, no dongles, then modified True-Scale couplers and Precision Scale brake hoses on this fine-looking boxcar...now I need to do this to the rest of my new Atlas cars while I'm waiting for my resin to show up.

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore