Non-truck-mounted Rapido couplers?

[scott]

Somewhere I saw a picture of an old Lima coach that had been modified to have Rapido couplers, which were mounted to the body rather than to the truck. (This first caught my eye because I have some old Lima coaches with weird couplers that I need to convert.)

 

I mentioned on here a while back that my Microace "Akagaeru" EMU has lost the coupler-mounting screw from one truck, so I can't mount the Rapido coupler there. Is there any chance I could mount one under the body of the car instead, and where would I find such a thing?

[CaptOblivious]

 

Somewhere I saw a picture of an old Lima coach that had been modified to have Rapido couplers, which were mounted to the body rather than to the truck. (This first caught my eye because I have some old Lima coaches with weird couplers that I need to convert.)

 

I mentioned on here a while back that my Microace "Akagaeru" EMU has lost the coupler-mounting screw from one truck, so I can't mount the Rapido coupler there. Is there any chance I could mount one under the body of the car instead, and where would I find such a thing?

 

Does this model accept body-mount TN (Tomix) couplers? If so, you might find this a more satisfactory solution than DIY, and it's not too expensive.

 

UPDATE: Crap, it doesn't. See image here:

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/image/10023958p2/10/2

That says it takes the Tomix 0391 TN couplers, which are truck-mount.

 

I don't know where you can get body-mount Rapido sets, but you should probably be able to use Micro-Trains's body-mount coupler for this set. Since this model takes the TN knuckle-style couplers, the MT knuckle couplers, I'm guessing, wouldn't be unprototypical.

[CaptOblivious]

Another option would be to buy a Tomix replacement truck. This means you would have to know in advance why style truck your model uses. But you might find it the best option of all.

[scott]

That would work, if the Tomix truck would run OK on the Microace EMU--iirc, it's the motorized car that is missing the coupler screw.

 

BTW--the Lima conversion I saw turns out not to be body-mounted as I thought--the angle of a picture made it *look* like the coupler was body mounted, but it wasn't.  :-[

[CaptOblivious]

I've been doing a little digging. The prototype for your model appears to use TS301-style trucks, which you can't get spares for, as near as I can tell.

Reference: http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/東急5000系電車_(初代) from here: http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/岳南鉄道5000系電車

BTW, the Japanese word for truck or bogie is 台車 to help you search.

 

Tomytec produced a 5000-series just like yours, but in a different color scheme. If you can track that model down, perhaps what you can do is use that model's undercarriage and the appropriate powered unit. I can't seem to find a good URL or part number, however.

 

Greenmax also made one

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10007439

unpainted and unassembled. Perhaps you could strip that for parts, and use the whatever method Greenmax offers to power that unit.

 

Just some thoughts; it's getting expensive though! Were I you, at this point I'd just go with the body-mount M-Ts or retro-fitting some body-mount TNs.

[scott]

Yeah--this isn't a critical project, so I don't think I want to spend too much on it. Most of the time the set will run alone, but it's going to bug me to have no coupler at all up there. And sometimes I might want to pair it entirely inappropriately  :)  with some other set.

[CaptOblivious]

Oh, it's the coupler on the cab-end? I didn't realize! That, of course, changes things.

 

One thing you might try is simply buying a new truck—any truck—that includes the coupler, etc, and snipping the coupler pocket off, and gluing it onto the defective truck.

[scott]

Oh, okay--that could work. I probably have something sitting around that I could disfigure for this.

 

I'd still like to find the right screw to do this correctly, but I got into all this because I figured the odds were severely against me. Now at least it seems like there's a cheapish way to do it without the screw.

[CaptOblivious]

Northwest Shortline (makers of The Chopper) have a rather large catalog of modelling screws!

 

http://www.nwsl.com/Brochure%20Pages/broch%20MetricHardware%20Tools.htm

 

You might try just calling them up, and having a chat.

[scott]

Thanks--I hadn't heard of them, but they definitely seem to be worth a try...