FEF coupler conversion

[Gozer the Gozerian]

Howdy.  I'm waiting for a sample of the Kato FEF and have been getting lots of questions about the MTL coupler conversion...anyone done this yet and what did you use?  Thanks for the help in advance.

Joe
MTL

[peteski]

Howdy.  I'm waiting for a sample of the Kato FEF and have been getting lots of questions about the MTL coupler conversion...anyone done this yet and what did you use?  Thanks for the help in advance.

Joe
MTL

Joe,
FEF-3 uses Kato standard split-shank center-pivot pin coupler.

I used to bug Eric Smith during every Springfield show for MT to produce a drop-in MT coupler conversion for the Kato coupler pockets. It would be so nice to get rid of the unreliable Kato knuckle couplers.  Yes, they are still unreliable (after being revised several years ago).  There are unscheduled uncouplings on certain types of s-curves (repeatable) and they are hard do couple (compared to MT couplers). Also forget about automatic magnetic uncoupling (but that is not very important to me since I use Kato couplers mostly on fixed passenger consists). The unscheduled uncouplings is the worst for me.

ANyways, back to my quest: I even gave Eric a sample of Kato passenger truck (Superliner to be exact) as a representation of Kato coupler design).  He took the truck but actually returned it to me year later (and the next Springfield show) and while he never said that they will not be made, he made it pretty clear that MT wasn't interested in doing this type of drop-in coupler conversion.

To me it would make sense to do this as I know quite a few modelers unhappy with Kato couplers.  And such conversion (maybe couple different shank lengths) would cover most of the Kato's rolling stock.  How cool would it be to just pul out Kato coupler and just drop in MT coupler? No fuss, no screws. This would be especially good for all those passenger cars with truck mounted couplers (which is the mainstay of Kato products). Most modelers are happy with the truck mounted coupler on passenger cars and we wold gladly buy and install MT coupler in those cars if there was such conversion coupler available.  Maybe you have some pull to get this type of coupler made. It would benefit a lot of unhappy Kato coupler users out there.

[Gozer the Gozerian]

Not sure about the progression of the effort you had with Eric, but I know I have had doing something to deal with Kato for a number of years.  Getting tooling time is very difficult given our work load.   Has anyone taken the coupler on this tender apart?  Any photo's.

Thanks

Joe

[peteski]

Joe, for a real hands-on evaluation, for $12 you can pick up the FEF tender "trucks" set which includes the coupler. The part # is 941057.  Kato USA ships quickly! But if photos are good enough, here you go.


FEF_rear_coupl01.jpg


FEF_rear_coupl02.jpg


FEF_rear_coupl03.jpg


FEF_rear_coupl04.jpg


FEF_rear_coupl05.jpg


FEF_rear_coupl06.jpg

[victor miranda]

nice photos.   daymmmmn.

[C855B]

nice photos.   daymmmmn.

No kidding. Peteski is hereby appointed the official TRW macro photographer.

[peteski]

nice photos.   daymmmmn.

Thanks!
It is my 10-year old (ancient in "digital camera years") Nikon Coolpix 8700.  It was a whopping 8 megapixel camera which was really good back in 2004.  At that time it cost me close to $700! It shows its age with candid (indoor or outdoor) shots but it has excellent macro capability.  I use it for all of my closeup model photography. It gets mounted on a tripod and I use aperture priority with the smallest aperture possible for that camera (f8).  For illumination I use the circular fluorescent lamp mounted at my workbench.  Then I use remote shutter release to prevent the camera from moving during the longish exposures (usually between 1/4 and 1 second).

The coupler photos were taken at 3 megapixels then cropped and resized to 800 pixel width using Corel PhotoPaint V10.

Here is a good review of that camera: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikoncp8700

[learmoia]

Joe, for a real hands-on evaluation, for $12 you can pick up the FEF tender "trucks" set which includes the coupler. The part # is 941057.  Kato USA ships quickly! But if photos are good enough, here you go.

Well that's not what I was expecting to see...  The passenger couplers I remember seeing don't have the whole through the center.  It looks like the Diesel coupler..  Is that the same coupler they are using on diesels that take the MT 2004 conversions?

Is that post the same size as a 00-90 screw?

Looks like you could snap in an MT Box of some sort.. or at least screw one into that mounting surface.

~Ian

[peteski]

Well that's not what I was expecting to see...  The passenger couplers I remember seeing don't have the whole through the center.  It looks like the Diesel coupler..  Is that the same coupler they are using on diesels that take the MT 2004 conversions?

Is that post the same size as a 00-90 screw?
Looks like you could snap in an MT Box of some sort.. or at least screw one into that mounting surface.

~Ian

Ian, I own pretty much every passenger truck Kato makes in N scale.  I looked at most of them and they all seem to have couplers similar to the FEF-3 coupler.  They all have 0.039" (1mm) diameter center post (smaller than 00-90 screw.  The coupler used on passenger trucks is the same on all the trucks I have but there are either one-piece coupler pocket or a a 2-piece pocket.  Here are both types of Kato passenger truck couplers.  They are also similar (or the same) as the short-shank couplers used on the Kato locos.

Single-piece coupler pocket.


Kato_Amfl_coupler01.jpg


Kato_Amfl_coupler02.jpg


Kato_Amfl_coupler03.jpg

2-piece coupler pocket.


Kato_pass_coupler01.jpg


Kato_pass_coupler02.jpg


Kato_pass_coupler03.jpg

[jdcolombo]

I cut off the Kato coupler and body-mounted a 1015.  Used .040 styrene shim under the coupler.  Height appears correct.  Might limit minimum curve radius, but my minimum on my layout is 15".  Doesn't appear to be a problem.






John C.

[Gozer the Gozerian]

Thanks Peteski...as usual more info than I hoped for. I really appreciate the time.  I have an engine ordered but still no show, I'll call Kato.  Looks initially like an ll28-29-30 T shank after you nip off the mounting post.  I know they buy a ton of our T Shanks with suitable Japanese Instruction every year.  Hopefully I'll get the engine or the truck before the show next week.  I want to be sure Eric has information when asked.

Again, I really appreciate your help

Joe

[Gozer the Gozerian]

Thanks for the post...

Joe

I cut off the Kato coupler and body-mounted a 1015.  Used .040 styrene shim under the coupler.  Height appears correct.  Might limit minimum curve radius, but my minimum on my layout is 15".  Doesn't appear to be a problem.






John C.

[peteski]

Thanks Peteski...as usual more info than I hoped for. I really appreciate the time.  I have an engine ordered but still no show, I'll call Kato.  Looks initially like an ll28-29-30 T shank after you nip off the mounting post.  I know they buy a ton of our T Shanks with suitable Japanese Instruction every year.  Hopefully I'll get the engine or the truck before the show next week.  I want to be sure Eric has information when asked.

Again, I really appreciate your help

Joe

You welcome Joe.  But I'm not so sure about the T-shank adapter. Unlike the closed draft gear boxes in other Kato models, FEF-3 draft gear box has an open top with only 2 small protrusions on the sides holding the larger than usual coupler shank.  Will those 2 little nubs hold the T-shank adapter securely?

You know, when I was pleading with Eric about having MT design a drop in MT conversion  for Kato I didn't even think of Kato's Japanese market.  Now that you've mentioned that, I think it would be a viable product for both U.S. and Japan (and other countries where Katos are sold).

I was never a fan of the T-shank conversions. They have been better since the metal coupler adapter was introduced, but I'm still not a fan and stay away from these.  They still have too much vertical play in them for my taste, and the hands-off magnetic uncoupling is less reliable than let's say MT 1015 or 1023 couplers.

The new adapter I envisioned would utilize the Kato's post inside the draft gear box as a pivot point (just like Kato is using it with their coupler).  Basically it would look like the Kato's version, just with the head of the coupler being replaced with a MT head.  And a softer spring. That would give those couplers much more (vertical) stability, and with a softer MT spring would make magnetic uncoupling possible. Also with the MT coupler the unscheduled uncoupling of Katos would be a thing of the past.