Micro Trains couplers on Kato 4-wheel rolling stock

[E_Fredrick]

My original post asked if "anyone here converted Kato 4-wheel freight wagons such as the ワム (WaMu) 80000 / 28000 / 38000 to Micro Trains magnetic couplers?."

 

MT-10s fit, but leave a lot to be desired in terms of performance and they retain those huge toy-like snap in draft gear boxes. So I obtained samples of M-T 1015-1 (short length, centered shank), 1016-1 (medium length, centered shank), and 2004-1 (short length, underslung shank) couplers.

 

Fitting the Micro-Train 1015-1 to a Kato 8033 (ワム 380000) was very easy and resulted in a car (two actually) that functions perfectly over Unitrack and the 20-032 magnetic uncoupler. 

 

Using a pair of flush end nippers I removed some underframe plastic . . . yeah, in 100 years these cars will be selling for $300 each and my great-grandkids will be saying "why, oh, why did he do that . . .." (Of course in 2124 a triple-shot espresso will be going for $150 so it's all relative.) Then I glued a square of 0.040" styrene over the hole and secured a 1015 to each end with two sided tape . . .. Darn if a bit of 0.010" sheet didn't fit between the trip-pin and rail while a bit of 0.015 wouldn't. 

 

Initial tests with the couplers just stuck-on using an 0-5-0 and loose track pieces were promising. The short-shank M-T 1015-1 tracked just fine at prototypical speeds through S249 Unitrack curves on a Kato 8033 (~ 64 mm coupler to coupler). So I converted three cars.

Edited April 25 by E_Fredrick
condensed into fewer entries

[E_Fredrick]

I obtained a set of Micro-Train 1015-1 couplers (diagram below). A little bit of surgery was required due to the height of the Kato floor. 2004-1s  have shanks that are below the coupler's horizontal center-line. But for me using the 1015s was easier because it did not require shims (other than one square of two-sided tape which served that function. And in my opinion they looked the same if not better since the draft gear box sits up in the cutout.

 

I used two sided tape to hold the coupler in the correct position while a #62 hole was drilled and tapped 00-90 for a screw. The "pad" is a piece of 0.040" styrene 5/12" deep and 1/2" wide.  I used Evergreen 1/12" tile, since it's already scored and dimensionaly perfect once one moves away from the edge, secured with Faller yellow label "Expert" glue.

 

The first time I used the grid to orient my screw hole, but found it was much easier to use the draft gear box itself for that task. A tiny sliver of white styrene can be seen beside the Micro-Trains box, so i'll run a fine-point sharpie along the edge of my next conversion.

 

The first three cars (two Rapido / M-T "converter" cars and a two-end "production" test bed) took maybe 45 minutes to complete. The next nine cars, including two more Rapido / M-T "converter" cars, took about an hour.

Edited April 25 by E_Fredrick
condensed into fewer entries

[Beaver]

Wonderful. It's rare to see a modification that improves both realistic appearance and operational capability.