Rapido 3/4 dome min radius

[SirTainly]

Hi folks, over Xmas I got out one of my new 3/4 domes and tried to run it with my Kato Daylight around a large loop of unitrack. I had issues with the Rapido car not being able to take the curves (standard radius) without colliding with the preceding car and derailing. Have any of you managed to run one of these successfully, if so what radius did you find them happy to navigate?

Thanks

Simon

[Ike the BN Freak]

Someone on Facebook had the same issue, they were able to fix the issue by loosening the coupler screws by a quarter turn or two.

[altohorn25]

I've had no problem running it on my layout with 20" radius curves.

It has body mounted couplers; can't go around as tight of curves as truck mounted couplers.

[nkalanaga]

I can run it on 17 inch radius, coupled to Kato and Railsmith cars with truck-mounted couplers.

When you said the cars collide, did you mean lack of coupler swing is derailing them, or the corners of the cars are actually hitting each other?

[SirTainly]

Thanks guys. When I get the car back from storage, I'll definitely try loosening the screw. Everything has gone for the moment while we get ready to move out. It was actually hitting the other car, but if the coupler wasn't swinging and the radius was too tight, that seems reasonable to me. Hopefully my new place will have a layout room where I can build something with easier curves.

[nkalanaga]

A too-tight curve will cause the cars to "corner" even if the coupler is working fine. About the only way to fix that is to move the cars farther apart.

In this case, that might be easy.  As far as I know, Rapido couplers are standard MT 1015s.  Take the box apart and install 1016s, with the longer shank, and it should work.  Keep the 1015s, and when you have wider curves, put them back in.