Fitting Kadee Couplers to Bachman Mark 1 Coaches

mumbles · Post by **mumbles** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 9:57 pm

hi
I have today fitted some kadee couplings to bachman mark 1 coaches
although they have the NEM pocket the height is wrong and it needs a little alteration to get right

this is how i did it, based on Electric Nose method
there is only one photo of the end result on that page so i have detailed the process as if it had been there for me it would have been a help to see before attempting, as it was i just went for it!

remove bogie being careful not to loose spring that hooks into nem pocket collar thingy

i cut the top [or bottom, edit! see below] off the nem pocket and retained this to use instead of plasticard as mentioned on electricnose

which was glued in place carefully with the glue shown [mek pak no good

] using cocktail stick to apply and press firmly in place

i useed a kadee 20 to check heights

Mr proprietry rubberised blue adhesive was used to make a platform to drill through the middle of the altered nem

a track pin cut to size

was then glued in the hole holding the no.19 kadee in place

re-attached bogies and
viola!
all done

i used the no.19s as i have enough of them to do all my mark 1s with them for now
it just meant not pushing them right into the pocket so as to get the right length
i would suggest if you are going to buy couplings for this job get the 20s as its just more straight forard pushing them into a clipped in position rather than the 3/4 way as with the 19s

hope that helps anyone thinking of doing this, not too trickey a job, just a bit time consuming, i got 2 coaches done this evening, 3 to do
michael

Ironduke · Post by **Ironduke** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 10:02 pm

ohhh I see what ya did there :^)

I wasn't sure why you had to cut the top off. Actually you cut the bottom off.

Well done Michael

Sprintex · Post by **Sprintex** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 10:06 pm

Very clear explanation and pictures there Michael

I need to look at fitting Kadees to some N-gauge wagons at some point, gawd knows how fiddly that's gonna be though

Paul

sol · Post by **sol** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 12:00 am

Michael. I agree with Ironduke & Geezer , well done.
I did mine differently & did not use the existing coupler unit that allows for the coupler to extend as you did. I anchored mine direct to the bogie & I have no problems with buffer or diaphram locking but then I use 36" minimum radius.
But your method will be used in other coaches that I have to do.
thanks for the good pics.

Mike Parkes · Post by **Mike Parkes** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 6:33 pm

If you have a broken NEM Kadee (ie one that has lost its spring - I can never get a new one in place) then a simpler method is to cut the knuckle off the shank of the broken one and cut the NEM mount prongs off one that is okay. Then simply glue the pair together to make a stepped shank coupling.

With regard to N gauge Kadees are actually Microtrains couplings (a different company). The Microtrains 1129 / 1130 couplings apparently drop into the farish/dapol etc rapido coupling mount.

Ironduke · Post by **Ironduke** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 9:34 pm

Mike Parkes wrote:If you have a broken NEM Kadee (ie one that has lost its spring - I can never get a new one in place) then a simpler method is to cut the knuckle off the shank of the broken one and cut the NEM mount prongs off one that is okay. Then simply glue the pair together to make a stepped shank coupling.

you could use the prongs off the removed Bachmann TL coupler for that. I find the plastic doesn't take to glue very well, though.

Mike Parkes · Post by **Mike Parkes** » Sat Sep 29, 2007 5:03 pm

Ironduke wrote:
you could use the prongs off the removed Bachmann TL coupler for that. I find the plastic doesn't take to glue very well, though.

Try hard plastic super glue using an activator.

Ironduke · Post by **Ironduke** » Sun Sep 30, 2007 4:52 am

is hard plastic superglue different from ordinary super glue?
I've tried superglue with zipkicker but it doesn't seem to stay stuck for very long to that weird soft plastic that they use.

Mike Parkes · Post by **Mike Parkes** » Sun Sep 30, 2007 9:46 pm

Ironduke wrote:is hard plastic superglue different from ordinary super glue?

No idea.

Did you roughen the plastic parts as that dramactically improves the glues grip

Ironduke · Post by **Ironduke** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 9:30 am

yeah I did :^) maybe it's this cheap supermarket superglue I keep getting.

m.levin · Post by **m.levin** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 9:52 am

What is the price for these kadee couplings and the best place to get them?

Ironduke · Post by **Ironduke** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 10:32 am

http://www.expressmodels.co.uk/acatalog ... plers.html :^)

m.levin · Post by **m.levin** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 12:11 pm

They seem to have many different types, ie 35,19 and 18.
What are the differences?
How do you know which is the right ones for you?

mumbles · Post by **mumbles** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 5:32 pm

hi martin
there's a thread here that should answer some of your questions, beyond that i'm not too sure myself, i think no.5s are a standard choice for most uk stock that doesn't have nem pockets, also 30s/40s i think
i got mine from ebay, plenty of people on there selling them
can msn you a specific link if you want?
michael

m.levin · Post by **m.levin** » Mon Oct 01, 2007 6:22 pm

Disappointed in that Link mumbles, was expecting "you are an idiot".