How to Body Mount REAR coupler on Kato F3?

[mark.hinds]

Mmagliaro:

<snip> none of those could possibly fit without hitting the back of that rear swiveling truck. <snip>

I guess I missed why the 1021 (modified) would not work for you?  I found a Kato F3 in my locomotive stash, and putting it side by side with the Hallmark, there is the same amount of space between the rear of the rear truck and the rear of the carbody ... 

MH

<EDIT:  Maybe 1988 Kato F3s (yours) are different than ca. 2000 F3s (mine)?  Mine use the "low-friction phospher-bronze 'axle-cup' style pickup" trucks per http:  //www.spookshow.net/loco/katof.html>  The Kato F3A I am looking at has some sort of drop-in MT replacement coupler installed, which is slightly more compact than my Hallmark installation at the top of the thread.  I wonder if this would fit in the earlier metal split-frame trucks (per http:  //www.spookshow.net/loco/katof.html>, if that's what your F3s have.  This would seem to be easier to implement than the modified 1021s (though you asked for body-mounts in the OP). 

[mmagliaro]

The MT "conversion" is to put the typical univeral 1128 into the rear truck coupler box.  I hate those things.
They have too much flop and droop for my taste.  Given the back-to-back nature of how these engines typically run, I'd rather just live with the Unimates (even though they are kinda BIG).   Again, if you set them up so they couple closely, the couplers don't show much.

I do have later-than-1988 F7's with the newer style trucks.  I compared them.  Yes, they are quite different in the back.
In fact, it looks like by the way they are put together, I could cut away a good bit of that back end of the truck where the coupler box is to make plenty of room for a conventional N or Z body coupler.

[Iain]

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Not the Kato F3, but I intend to use the same exact method for my F3.  Coupler is MT 905.  Works very well; I've pulled a hundred car train with an ABA set of these Sharks with no issues on an N Trak layout.

[nkalanaga]

Max:  All of mine are the early (first run, actually) and the Unimates really don't show when they're coupled.  It also brings the units closer together than the truck-mounted MTs, which helps a lot.  As you found, there isn't much that can be trimmed away from that internal metal frame.

Why do I only have the first run Fs?  I learned long ago never to assume a model would be rerun, and the BN had a lot of these things.  I bought enough undecorated units to last a lifetime, and still have a few that haven't been painted.  No reason to buy the later ones, although they probably run a little better, with the newer pickup.  Mine run well enough.

[mmagliaro]

(Attachment Link)

Not the Kato F3, but I intend to use the same exact method for my F3.  Coupler is MT 905.  Works very well; I've pulled a hundred car train with an ABA set of these Sharks with no issues on an N Trak layout.

John,
Yes, this is exactly what I would *like* to do.  But on the first-run F3, if you cut away enough of the rear frame of that truck to mount the coupler like that, the truck falls apart.  There are two critical fingers with tabs that have to engage back there to hold the two metal sideframes together.   On the later F units with the plastic truck frames, it looks like I could make plenty of room and do what you did.

For now, Unimates will do fine.  Remember, I'm not really a diesel guy, even though I have and run some
1st gen stuff like this. 

Can the later low-friction trucks be put into the first-run F3?  Are the gears and mounts the same?

[rodsup9000]

Can the later low-friction trucks be put into the first-run F3?  Are the gears and mounts the same?

  Max,
 Some of the later pre-DCC runs had the low-friction trucks that will work. The later DCC ready style trucks are different than the early non-DCC trucks.

Rodney

[Carolina Northern]

Max,

Kato made some low friction "Upgrade" trucks for the first run. They have been long out of stock.

They run much better, but still rely on the tab rubbing on the frame, like the early Atlas/Kato Alcos.

Don

[Iain]

I wonder if the new run mechanism will fit the old shell.  As my lone F3 (actually, an F2 in my case) is going to run by itself, I need to body mount if possible.

[arbomambo]

old shells fit on new mechanisms...heed to use the new window glass though....
Bruce

[peteski]

old shells fit on new mechanisms...heed to use the new window glass though....
Bruce

And from what I recall, it loosely fits over the new mechanism (vertical play) do to a lower height nubs in the roof. But that is not a big issue.