Micro Ace freight cars

[minijapan]

Hi All,

 

There are several MicroAce freight cars that I'm interested in, one reason Ive avoided in the past is they are fitted with rapido couplers and as all my locos are KATO with the knuckle couple Ive not purchased as didn't know if you can convert MA rapidos to KATO knuckles, is this possible?. The sets I'm interested in are the car rack Koki 71 and the 8 car HoKi 1000 cement tanks.

 

Thanks

[keitaro]

i use these, cheap have ok grip and are easy to assemble.

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10003621

 

i use on all kawaii freights/tomix/kato i even use on some of the MA locos if they fit in.

 

i can get you a pic of them alternatively look at my youtube account by searching Mrkeitarotrain

 

some of the vids have freight using them but i havn't done everything yet. I usually just do the first car/wagon so i can hook it upto the loco.

[minijapan]

Thanks,,i will order some 

[cteno4]

Dang those are cheap! how well do they self couple with cars just pushed together or do you need to manually couple them?

 

next hs order i have to get a pack and experiment.

 

thanks

 

jeff

[Guest Closed Account 1]

Do these car racks have sheer sides?

 

If so then glue some N scale cars onto styrene stringers to add the effect.

[keitaro]

Dang those are cheap! how well do they self couple with cars just pushed together or do you need to manually couple them?

 

next hs order i have to get a pack and experiment.

 

thanks

 

jeff

 

Jeff i find they couple easy together but to the kato knuckles that you find with their new steamers for example need some pushing together.

 

they are quite soft.

 

at the bas where they pin together i find a bit of supa glue for stronger hold is a good idea. If a derail happens and they get stressed they can un pin and you need to re assemble the coupler.

[Transalpen]

I have installed these on all my rolling stock.  They work great.  Look way better than rapido couplers and yes, they couple together with minimum force.  The carriages, wagons sit closer together too which I like.  I put Microtrains magnetic couplers on all my locos and at the head of each set of carriages / wagons which are inter compatible.  They are a little fiddly to install but you'll get the hang of it.  Tomix gave me the most trouble.  KATO, microtrains and Kawai were all fine.

[keitaro]

on a side note as there are some gm couplers that can be used on freight mainly for use for older ones that do not allow others to go in.

 

 

There are these coupler pockets you can get from Greenmax you can buy a similar version on HS but these are ones only available in GM stores they are by hand couple only.

 

It comes with the following parts.

 

- 2 tomix pocket clip (clips on regular tomix carriages like the tn ones but no coupler on it.

 

- 2 micro tomix pocket clips (this can clip onto the tomix pocket clip and can have a coupler clicked onto it) you can also file it down and paint it black and slap under a freight and glue it

 

- 3 different sized TN couplers

 

works all right but 400 yen a pack so much more expensive.

 

I use it on some of the older freight i bought that didn't allow you to remove the rapido's, by removing the rapido and gluing these onto the base.

 

I also use it on GM models such as

 

- All GM models that have the tomix tn moulding

However some say they are not compatable with TN. This is true but also untrue, the reason is on the T carriages they work fine and don't interferre with the wheels turning on curves if the rapido holder cut off. The motor car has the mount mould but the trucks will rub on the Tn coupler limiting curve to large radius's .

 

- These couplers can be used to work between each side of the motor unit and the carriage it connects to.

 

similar to this. http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10168755

 

except the catcher, and the box the coupler clips into all come off. The rods (coupler) clip to each side of the mounts

 

I Will snap a pic later and post.