An N-Possible journal

[garethashenden]

There’s a prototype for anything - if both of these cars had new wheels or both had wheels at their condemning limits, the height difference would hardly be noticeable.  New wheels on one with worn wheels on the other, and there’s a noticeable difference.  Just say your modeler equipment isn’t all fresh out of wheel change, if anyone notices a difference.

Jim

Loaded v. Unloaded is another major factor in coupler height. Probably makes more of a difference than wheel wear. But the prototype gets 3" of variation allowed, which works out to 0.5mm, or 0.020". Should be achievable.

[GaryHinshaw]

BLMA/Atlas Trinity reefer and Intermountain cylindrical hopper: more fodder for the archives.



The reefer is a straightforward URS medium shank conversion, though a long shank would not be out of place, based on some photos I've seen.



I added a 0.25 mm washer to get the coupler height right, as well as to prevent the wheels from rubbing on curves.

The cylindrical hopper has been sitting in a project box since well before the pandemic (maybe as far back as 2015?).  It dates back to when I was using etched brass pockets and LEZ couplers:



I removed the old coupler and a height shim to reveal a pair of small pre-drilled holes in the floor:



I enlarged the outer hole for an M1.2 screw and mounted an SBX with a short shank (no hat):



With 100T BLMA trucks, the ride height and coupler height are perfect:





[I'm going to have a sh!t-t*n of weathering to do once I get through these conversions!]

[philippe.whyte]

Can you elaborate?  I have 48 of these cars to do and they will be early candidates due to their faulty MTL couplers.


Thank you,

Tim

@BCR 570, I have converted one of my PWRS NSC 5092 Cu Ft 50' Combination Door Boxcars to NP couplers.  It's a very straightforward case of removing the factory box altogether (it's just screwed to the car) and installing a 101-SBX short shank scale box using the factory screw in the hole closest to the car end.  Note that I had to adjust the etched end platform to get the box to fit since it was installed in the car tilted slightly downwards.  Could use a 0.2 mm bolster spacer to get the coupler height to spec, but I didn't bother with that because I'll be converting all my cars to BLMA trucks/wheels in the future.  This is good enough for now.

[vermonter_railfan]

@samusi01 designed AMF Built 42000 series DODX Flat car 3D print - Medium Shank URS

So here's a better entry regarding @samusi01 3D printed flat cars that he offers. In this case here is his AMF built 42000 series DODX flat, but at the end of the day this entry will work for any of Sam's flat cars that use his 1015 box. Which includes GSH90, RSH90, JSH90, Thrall 42000, AMF 42000, multiple heavy duty flats like the JSH70 and many many more. If he ends up having a flat that needs something else I'll make a separate entry.

Using the medium shank URS to achieve this, add the brass centering piece to the 3D printed 1015 box, then install the coupler like normal. Then finally glue it into place on the car. Keep in mind most cars have the box apart of the under frame so you might have to place the coupler in upside down compared to other installations. Once installed you can add the optional MTL airlines to the car if you want using the hole provided on the 1015 box.

[GaryHinshaw]

^ Beautiful execution from start to finish here: @samusi01 's design, printing, painting/lettering, and couplers.  Let me know if I should edit the index entry to be more accurate.

[vermonter_railfan]

^ Beautiful execution from start to finish here: @samusi01 's design, printing, painting/lettering, and couplers.  Let me know if I should edit the index entry to be more accurate.

He has done such amazing work bringing these much needed cars to N scale. Maybe once the tariff game is over we can talk about getting some up to Canada for you.

I would personally edit the index to have it reflect that entry and as I said if we end up with a car that had a different coupler design then I'll make another entry regarding it.

[basementcalling]

^ Beautiful execution from start to finish here: @samusi01 's design, printing, painting/lettering, and couplers.  Let me know if I should edit the index entry to be more accurate.

Got a link to his page and offerings? Never heard of him before.

[turbowhiz]

Got a link to his page and offerings? Never heard of him before.

https://cults3d.com/en/users/samusi01/3d-models

[Iain]

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mod for Broadway Limited NYC box car

[jpwisc]

Athearn 50’ FMC PD Boxcar, 101-URS-K. The short worked very well. Just had to grind off the back of the box like the other Athearn cars.
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[vermonter_railfan]

Centralia Car Shops / Intermountain ATSF CE-1 Way Car - Short Shank Scalebox

Decided to work on a CCS CE-1 for today's project. I initially started off with just a direct replacement with a short shank and universal. The URS version works well, but you will have to trim some of the elongated coupler box to slow the URS to pivot.

But, I decided to go with the Scalebox for this install. First off you need to remove the coupler box, I believe it is molded to the under body detail so I ended up cutting it where the red paint stopped to remove it. Secondly I then cut off the screw post that is mounted onto the under body, you will want to save the screw. Thirdly I went ahead and sanded the area and also the top of the Npossible Scalebox to make sure everything is nice a flat. Then I reinstalled the screw, which is just long enough to hold the box to the body. Finally I trimmed the original coupler top to better match the scalebox and once you paint it black it looks perfect in my opinion.

I will note, the end of the car is definitely bent. I attempted to straighten out the steps but they are not unfortunately.

[peaks]

Quite a bit of hard work! The result, however, is amazing. I'm curious to know how the N-possible couplers perform when operating.

I'm used to MT couplers, and they couple very gently at slow, prototypical speed.
Is there any video around showing the N-possible in an operating session context?

[Jbub]

Quite a bit of hard work! The result, however, is amazing. I'm curious to know how the N-possible couplers perform when operating.

I'm used to MT couplers, and they couple very gently at slow, prototypical speed.
Is there any video around showing the N-possible in an operating session context?

Andrew has a youtube channel for his couplers. Here is one of the videos showing the capabilities of the coupler, although the coupler in the video is a pre-production prototype. There are others as well and they show how well they do function in real world situations.

[turbowhiz]

Quite a bit of hard work! The result, however, is amazing. I'm curious to know how the N-possible couplers perform when operating.

I'm used to MT couplers, and they couple very gently at slow, prototypical speed.
Is there any video around showing the N-possible in an operating session context?

Production version demonstration; They automatically couple as well as MTL. But they don't slink, which is ideal for slow speed ops if that's your thing.

I should update the video with the "Titanium Toothpick" uncoupling tool Gary mentioned in this thread, it works better then the skewer/pin demonstrated and is my go-to uncoupling tool now.

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Some more operating context in this recording of the my booth from the NTS this summer:

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[OrangeAnon]

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Was there ever a guide for converting these flat cars? I can tell the long shank would fit best and that the spring needs room cleared out, but I'm not quite sure how best to get at it with the tools I have (typical set of Dremel tips.)