"...anticipated to be released sometime in 2014"

[ArtinCA]

And all these are brought to you by BLI!!

[basementcalling]

The Hounds

[Smike]

2014 - realistic couplers coming to go with you Code 80 snap track.  (since code 55 is MIA)

[Denver Road Doug]

Well, I was hoping this would be a fun, positive thread about something many of us have been anticipating for almost two years now.  I never intended for it to be such a nebulous post...I recall when the announcement was made that the "2014" part really stuck out with everyone.   I figured it would be an easy memory jog.

 I don't know if any updates have been communicated of late about the status but I would like to think that at least we might have something in our grubby little hands by the end of this year.  Either way, it is an exciting prospect to me that we'll see an innovative new coupler sooner than later.

I don't know anything about the Vlk coupler beyond what was mentioned in a thread here some months ago.   I don't know why, but I got the impression that the Vlk coupler was just another no-mans-land clone versus something that to me seems like an innovative product with the Protomate.   Again, there's no real specs from either side...just my gut feeling based on statements from the respective creators.

[C855B]

Isn't Charlie Vlk's coupler planned to debut on the Hornby U25C? Of course I have no clue whatsoever when we'll see it, but at least there was firm-rumor chatter that it was slated for a production product in the near-ish future.

FWIW.

That said, I'm looking forward to the NZT coupler, very much so. Not only produced by "one of us", but also somebody who we know pays really, really close attention to quality and detail.

[jmlaboda - RIP]

I know... pick me... pick me... I know...

Finally MT is going to release the single windowed heavyweight coaches!!!  They're be dancing in the streets when that happens!!!

[MRL]

More eastern stuff from Kato!   

[wcfn100]

I'm awaiting this (I should say these, I ordered like 24 of them  ):



Total game changer for me.

Jason

[C855B]

... I don't know if any updates have been communicated of late about the status ...

Absolutely not speaking for David (who is welcome to slap my down), but last discussion I recall were delays due to wrangling with international patent protection. No surprise, it's a cruel world when you have the better mousetrap and the Chinese (or whoever) have zero respect for your intellectual property. So you have to defensively go to every country who might import your product and prepare for legal relief on a piecemeal basis. Nasty, costly, and time-consuming.

[Rossford Yard]

Maybe the mfgs should play the game of "you name the month, but I'll name the year, or vice versa"

[robert3985]

2014 - realistic couplers coming to go with you Code 80 snap track.  (since code 55 is MIA)

Just Atlas 55 is MIA. 

Plenty of code 55 ME flex out there (along with code 70 and code 40) in wooden ties, concrete ties (c55 only), weathered or unweathered.  New DCC "friendly" #6 turnouts are also available in both Code 70 and 55.

Just sayin'....

[DKS]

Mike has touched upon a very real aspect of the project. In addition to the international patent application, I have my move complicating things, some health issues to deal with, plus enough personal crap to inspire a new TV soap opera. But I'm still targeting 2014. I deliberately left the timing vague exactly because of what's going on--it's virtually impossible to anticipate obstacles. Obviously it'll be late 2014--later than I'd prefer--but I despise the thought of pushing it to 2015, so I'll be working that much harder to prevent that from happening.

As for Charlie's coupler, I've actually had a nice long chat with him about it. We're both familiar with--and excited about--each other's designs, so you could consider it "friendly" competition. I'm genuinely thrilled for him that he's found a way to make it a reality, because I know what it's like to pour one's heart and soul into a project such as this, and now that he's found a backer, it raises the stakes for me and turns up the fire on my pot. (BTW, his design is anything but a clone of existing products; more than that I obviously can't say.)

I'm still committed to two (functionally identical) versions of the coupler: a larger one for maximum reliability and compatibility, and a smaller one (call it the "Z scale" version--it's intended to serve that market as well) that's close to scale, albeit with no assurances it will play nice with others.

People have been clamoring for more details on the ProtoMate. Without getting into the functional design (which I'll touch upon when the patent situation is just a bit further along--this at last is coming together), I can offer a peek at the design of the visible portion. Just look at the graphic on the blog; that's based on the actual geometry of the knuckle in its present form. It may change subtly depending on any tooling issues, as well as the outcome of testing, but it will give you a very good idea of what I'm targeting. And yes, it is designed to be compatible with other couplers--admittedly only in computer simulations at present. We'll have to wait and see how it behaves in real life.

Stay tuned. I know folks are impatient--none more than me--and I know there's growing skepticism, which is always fed by delays. There's nothing much I can do about that except don my blinders and keep forging ahead.

[PAL_Houston]

Everybody knows what I'm talking about.   

Throw. Us. A. Bone.   

 

(EDIT: PROTOMATES, people!!!!  Get with the program...    )

Seriously?  A K-4?  No way!! 

[jmlaboda - RIP]

"Seriously?  A K-4?  No way!!" 

One thing is for sure... something is terribly wrong that we are to get a GMD1 before a K-4...

[CBQ Fan]

Cool info on two upcoming couplers.