Fitting Kadee couplers to Airfix/Kitmaster wagons

[Danjbaker]

I've searched for this topic so apologies if this is dealt with elsewhere..... 

 

Over the years I have accumulated a good number of Airfix wagon kits, notably 16t Minerals. 

 

Has anyone fitted Kadee Couplings to these kits? 

 

I'm sure I will figure out a method but no point reinventing the wheel, so any knowledge or tips gratefully received. 

[cnw6847]

I would think NO5s in their boxes would work.

 

Otherwise NEM boxes then fit a 17-20 coupling.

[Danjbaker]

1 hour ago, cnw6847 said:

I would think NO5s in their boxes would work.

 

Otherwise NEM boxes then fit a 17-20 coupling.

Thank you Richard, I perhaps should have specifically asked about attaching the Kadee gearboxes to the wagons - height adjustment, type of adhesive etc. 

[Geep7]

I have fitted kadee's to various Airfix / Dapol wagon kits. Generally, the first thing you really need is a Kadee height gauge. Once the chassis is made up with the wheelsets in place, I offer it up to the rear of the height gauge (the flat area), and measure the height between the gauge and the bottom of the buffer beam. I then measure the depth of the chassis and add the 2 together, and then create a mounting pad out of plasticard. I then glue this pad to the chassis right behind the buffer beam. Then make up the Kadee with a draft box. I use the #158 Kadee's with the Whisker springs, rather than the #5's as i've found they work a bit better. Once the pad is dry and securely glued to the chassis, I offer up the Kadee and box and mark where the hole is in the box on the pad, making sure that the rear surface of the knuckle is just slightly ahead of the buffers to avoid any buffer lock. I then drill a hole in the pad, and then screw the box on. You could alternatively glue the box on, but I prefer to be able to remove them for painting, etc.

 

Hope this helps, and isn't too waffley..... I would take some photos of the undersides, but my wagons are all packed away at the moment.

[cnw6847]

22 hours ago, Danjbaker said:

Thank you Richard, I perhaps should have specifically asked about attaching the Kadee gearboxes to the wagons - height adjustment, type of adhesive etc. 

Sorry for being a bit vague.

 

Buy a Kadee height gauge, they are essential. You want the couplings a consistent height.

 

Superglue or 5 min expoxy will glue them on ok or you could try some small self tapping screws if using the NO5 boxes as long as the screws don't show going through anywhere.

 

If using NEM boxes they would need just gluing.

[BR60103]

I made a device for checking the height of the place the coupling will be mounted to. (based on a friend's version)

A board with a large (1"?) hole drilled and a length of track mounted over it. Sleepers removed where the hole is. A piece of metal on top of the rails -- I soldered mine on -- covering half the hole.

Put the vehicle on the track and stick the back end of a vernier caliper up so that the rod touches the floor (or whatever) of the vehicle, the end of the caliper against the metal. This give height above railhead.

From here you can determine which coupler to use and how much packing may be required.

 

I had a photo but I can't locate it.

 

[ejstubbs]

On 20/01/2023 at 09:17, cnw6847 said:

you could try some small self tapping screws if using the NO5 boxes as long as the screws don't show going through anywhere.

 

I don't use the #5 (or its height & length variants), preferring the #14x series.  For screw fitting of the gear boxes I use the Kadee #246 tap & die set to make tapped holes in the vehicle chassis, with 2-56 screws as recommended by Kadee (I use black button head hex drive 2-56 screws, in various lengths, from modelfixings.co.uk - as ever, other suppliers may be available).  I find screw fitting much more secure than gluing, especially when dealing with older stock where the construction materials are not certain though the Kadee gear boxes do seem to stick well to polystyrene kit chassis using ordinary poly cement/mek/limonene etc (though not so well to plasticard, for some reason).

 

Someone mentioned using #15x series couplers: the coupler heads on these are 'true' HO scale, so a tad smaller than the coupler heads on the #14x series - which might actually make the #14x series better suited to 4mm scale.  The #15x series are also only available with centerset coupler heads: that's probably appropriate if you are keen to get the most prototypical look possible on HO stock, but the height variations offered by the #14x series (underset & overset as well as centreset) do offer more options for the fitting of the gearbox to the chassis, while still getting the coupler head at the correct height.  The short & narrow gear box options (#252 and #262) also offer a bit more flexibility in the gear box placement.

[Dunsignalling]

#14x Whisker Kadees are the best starting point for 4-wheel wagons in OO for those who are kit-building or converting older r-t-r, where the NEM  mount is often at the wrong height to use a NEM Kadee without a lot of fiddling about.

 

The underside of the floor on such wagons, once made flush, is just the right height to mount a #146. I so prefer the neat appearance of this produces that I now do it even where the NEM fitting is correctly aligned. Nowadays these are usually screwed on, making replacement even easier than in cases where it is actually needed. Typical!

 

The alternative smaller draft boxes available for Whisker couplers (#252) make it easier to keep the coupler clear of body mounting screws (getting away from kit-builds) or vacuum pipes (back on topic).

 

I prefer to glue the box in place and drill/tap the floor, using the screw to primarily hold the lid in place. That way, if a coupler ever gets gummed up, it's easy to clean it out. 

 

Any difficulty in attaching boxes to Plasticard can be overcome by using real MEK (butanone), Plastic Weld, or Plastic Magic. Building up mounts on the the underside of kit chassis is made simple by the use of quarter-inch polystyrene strip material, which is available in various thicknesses from the likes of Slaters, Evergreen and Plastruct.

 

For open wagons expected to run without loads, I countersink the hole in the draft box and superglue a M2 screw into the hole, the box is then glued to the wagon, and the lid secured with a lock-nut (half the thickness of a normal one) for a tidy job.

 

John  

 

,  

 

 

Edited January 21, 2023 by Dunsignalling

[Geep7]

I think I meant the #148 Kadee's, rather than the #158's, although I have used the scale size one's for HO scale as well. I've got a bulk box of them that i've had for a number of years, and I dread to think how much that bulk pack of 50 couplers would cost now. I'm getting quite low on them now, so I might have to find out soon.

[Danjbaker]

Sorry for the delay - some illness in the family thank you @BR60103@ejstubbs @Dunsignalling @Geep7 for your kind and in depth replies. 

It gives me plenty to work with. 

Dan.