New N Scale Coupler Announced! NZT

[jereising]

To state the obvious - Mr Smith is conspicuous by his absence. 

I can only hope they will fit in an existing draft gear box and will come in varied shank lengths.

I also am prepared to beta test...

Pant, pant, gasp, wheeze, gimme, gimme!

[Robbman]

Sorry, my dog bit me this morning.  My comment is geared toward function AND appearance.  Intermountain's don't look like prototype wheels and MTL's are, well, plastic.

You want a prototype wheel, look to BLMA, the only company to make a wheel using the correct AAR CJ-33 and CH-36 profiles on the front of the wheel (and back too)... of course, I'm biased

[jereising]

You want a prototype wheel, look to BLMA, the only company to make a wheel using the correct AAR CJ-33 and CH-36 profiles on the front of the wheel (and back too)... of course, I'm biased

As you should be!  I love them!

The BLMAs are they way it should be, but they suffer from the same issues the Atlas code 55 product does: installed base.

If there's any little thing, expect trouble.

I've got the Sub tweaked out to handle them now, but it was very interesting the first couple passes in some locations.

[altohorn25]

If you're anything close to a prototype modeler than you will realize how significant the FVM whellsets are.

I agree Andy.

Nate

[rschaffter]

Sorry, my dog bit me this morning.  My comment is geared toward function AND appearance.  Intermountain's don't look like prototype wheels and MTL's are, well, plastic.

I hope you heal fast, Andrew.     I do wish the IMs looked better; sometimes I feel an urge to paint 'Goodyear" on the sides.   

I'm with Marc about the offset couplers; I wish MTL sold 2004s in bulk packs...

[coosvalley]

To state the obvious - Mr Smith is conspicuous by his absence. 

Yes, the silence is becoming very loud......

I am curious, if Ian saw a prototype 2 years ago, and it is still 2 years away, why make the announcement without any pics?

If it were someone else I would be skeptical, but David seems to get things done...so I'm hopeful.....

[FEC Railway]

i really just wish someone would make a coupler box to use MTL Z scale couplers on my Atlas GP40s and Kato Sd40-2s.

[Sokramiketes]

You want a prototype wheel, look to BLMA, the only company to make a wheel using the correct AAR CJ-33 and CH-36 profiles on the front of the wheel (and back too)... of course, I'm biased

FVM gets the nod for the revolution because they were first to market.  BLMA's may be the best looking models around, just wish they were also the best running models around.  It continues to be a trade off apparently.

[bbussey]

Or, it could be a less notorious example of an "Atlas C55 / MTL pizza cutters" scenario.  I feel tighter tolerances are of benefit to all.  If the BLMA wheels run flawlessly on an assemblage of trackage, there should be no operational issues with any in-gauge equipment.  We can't say we want prototypical perfection with the body detail of a model and not extend that standard to the wheels and trucks.

[DKS]

Good morning, folks, sorry it took me so long to reply, but I got in last night after midnight from Denver, and I was a vegetable. Just now got the brain cells functioning.

A few notes. First, the illustration is just that--an illustration. It's not truly representative of the final product. The knuckle size will be in keeping with most other N scale couplers (and it should also play nice with them, too), but the Z scale coupler will be a functional clone that's smaller, so those looking for closer-to-scale couplers can opt for the Zs.

The pocket requirements are in fact smaller than anyone else's; however, the coupler itself will still drop into most pockets with MT geometry. It will come with its own little pocket, so you can body-mount it right out of the package, or pop it apart and drop it into a different pocket.

The shank will be the shortest in the industry so far. That said, it will eventually be offered with different shank lengths. Various different pockets will also be offered over time, including a cushion-length version, so folks won't have to do too much tinkering to get the right look.

At some point way down the line they will be offered truck-mounted, with a new line of trucks having metal wheels. However, the N scale trucks will only come after a new line of Z scale trucks are introduced, as they are currently in much greater need.

I announced the arrival date of 2014 in order to give myself enough time for fine-tuning the product and loads of beta-testing. If it all goes really well, then of course they'll be released earlier, but not before they pass a battery of tests with flying colors.

Many people have asked me what they're like. "Are they like the AccuMates?" No. "Are they like the McHenrys?" No. "They can't be like the Micro Trains, because that design is patented." Well, their patent has expired, but regardless, they are nothing like the MTLs. The design is unlike any existing product, even slightly, and a patent has been filed. (And Ian, it's also totally different from what you saw, too.) The only thing that is similar to anything else is the magnetic trip pin, but by necessity, everyone's trip pin is the same.

"Does MTL know about it?" Yes. Joe D'Amato showed Eric Smith the flyer. "Are they worried?" No, and there's no reason for them to be. The market is big enough for lots of different designs. My hope is that it will become very popular; I have no hope (or desire, really) of doing any real "harm" to MTL. They will still own the coupler market for all eternity; pretty much all that will likely happen is that they might see a small dent in their market share. That would be a win for me, as far as I'm concerned.

Other FAQs. Yes, it's all for real. The design (three years in development) and the patent (one and a half years to draft and file it) are very real. (For what it's worth, my patent attorney is also one of the best in the country; he's literally prosecuted hundreds of thousands of technology patents, including most of the patents involved in xerography.) The coupler is actually the reason I formed my company, NZT. Although I make and sell detail items, structure kits and so forth, it's all been done so as to establish a presence in the market, so that the coupler didn't appear out of nowhere by some nobody. With growing visibility and credibility, the coupler ought to gain a bit more attention and veracity.

Will the design be OEMed? Oh, yes! Anyone who wants the ProtoMate can have it. More than likely I'll sell finished couplers rather than offer licensing the design, mostly because if someone else manufactures them and screws up, and their version doesn't work right, that would ruin the product line's reputation. So, OEM sales for sure; licensing, probably not.

Why am I doing this? There has been a need for a better alternative to MT for a long time. Accumate didn't quite cut it, McHenry certainly didn't cut it, and the rest are all clones of someone else's design. In Z, the need has been even stronger, since MT has a monopoly on automatic couplers yet will not OEM their product. Will's couplers are nice looking, but aren't automatic (even though they were supposed to be). And AZLs aren't even worth discussing. Z scale also needs correct, accurate trucks in the worst way.

[Sokramiketes]

  If the BLMA wheels run flawlessly on an assemblage of trackage...

If only they did Bryan.  Maybe the revamped slightly larger tread slightly deeper flanges solve the problems of the earlier ones? 

Now, maybe there are other issues with the BLMA rolling stock regarding bolsters or pins or other articulating parts...  But BLMA rolling stock does not like our trackwork at all.  And we're 90% Atlas Cd55 laid in the past 5 years.  Members have run full trains of spine cars and TrinCools and they just fall off the track at inconsistant locations.   

Maybe I need to try running a string of ESM X-58's on the layout.  If they work, then maybe it isn't the wheelsets. 

[Sokramiketes]

Other FAQs. Yes, it's all for real. The design (three years in development) and the patent (one and a half years to draft and file it) are very real. (For what it's worth, my patent attorney is also one of the best in the country; he's literally prosecuted hundreds of thousands of technology patents, including most of the patents involved in xerography.) The coupler is actually the reason I formed my company, NZT. Although I make and sell detail items, structure kits and so forth, it's all been done so as to establish a presence in the market, so that the coupler didn't appear out of nowhere by some nobody. With growing visibility and credibility, the coupler ought to gain a bit more attention and veracity.

I know of one other coupler, with metal spring, that is also patent applied for... but it has been rejected by at least one Chinese manufacturer.  Do you have a manufacturer in line for your coupler already?  Is it in the states?

[DKS]

I know of one other coupler, with metal spring, that is also patent applied for... but it has been rejected by at least one Chinese manufacturer.  Do you have a manufacturer in line for your coupler already?  Is it in the states?

I know about that one, too. I do not have a single manufacturer lined up. Because of its design, it may involve multiple manufacturers (likely one just for the spring), but they will all be in the States, contrary to the "wisdom" I've been offered.

[rschaffter]

Or, it could be a less notorious example of an "Atlas C55 / MTL pizza cutters" scenario.  I feel tighter tolerances are of benefit to all.  If the BLMA wheels run flawlessly on an assemblage of trackage, there should be no operational issues with any in-gauge equipment.  We can't say we want prototypical perfection with the body detail of a model and not extend that standard to the wheels and trucks.

Accurately scaled wheelsets have operational problems on NMRA Standard spec trackwork in any scale.  That's why there are Proto track specs, although none yet for N that I'm aware of.....

[SkipGear]

If only they did Bryan.  Maybe the revamped slightly larger tread slightly deeper flanges solve the problems of the earlier ones? 

Now, maybe there are other issues with the BLMA rolling stock regarding bolsters or pins or other articulating parts...  But BLMA rolling stock does not like our trackwork at all.  And we're 90% Atlas Cd55 laid in the past 5 years.  Members have run full trains of spine cars and TrinCools and they just fall off the track at inconsistant locations.   

Maybe I need to try running a string of ESM X-58's on the layout.  If they work, then maybe it isn't the wheelsets.

Agreed,
 We have customers that won't buy BLMA cars because of past experience related to the wheels. At some point, operation must come before looks.  When they don't run reliably on brand new properly laid C55 layouts, how are they supposed to deal with the multitudes of C80 layouts already in existance.