Michael Kirrene said:
That’s cool, Matt!
The American Series are the newer reefers that already have the platform for mounting Kadees easily without any surgery? What kinda Kadee’s are you gonna put on there?
Thanks Michael.
I think you mean the “Ultimate Series”. The box car I got is the old style that Charles Ro first introduced in the late 1980s. So no easy coupler mounting pads (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-frown.gif)
I started out with the standard truck mounted Kadee 831 and later Kadee 909 couplers. The RGS reefer pictured above shows truck mounted Kadee 909 couplers. It has since been converted to body mounted couplers.
Around 2 years ago I converted my rolling stock fleet to body mounted Kadee 906 couplers.
Body mounting on older style USA Trains boxcars, like the one I just received, requires building a coupler pad and much surgery to the underframe and car ends. I also add Ozark Miniatures coupler pockets on the end beams of the car. In addition, the Kadee 906 coupler “air hose” is cut off and then gets painted with Folk Art Asphaltum craft paint.
Here’s the best picture I have that shows a body mounted Kadee 906 on one of my USA Trains boxcars. That’s also a body mounted Kadee 906 on a modified Hartland flat car in the background:
Link to full picture