Large Scale Central

Accuctaft AP11-730 Coupler on Bachman 45 Ton Diesel

Modeling Motive Power
#1

Anyone have a slick mounting method?

I’ve been looking at it for an hour or so and after removing the Bachmann cast metal coupler mount the resulting hole is in the right place, but the slots for their mounting plate are right where the Accucraft screws should go.

I’ve seen them set up this way at shows, but didn’t get to see underneath. Filling the slots with putty doesn’t seem like it would result in a very stable bed for the screws.

If anyone has done this mod with success I’d love some pointers. Thanks!

#2

Never worked with either Jon but if you don’t get an answer perhaps some pics of what your trying to do

#3

Maybe you could press T nuts into the slots.

#4

David Maynard said:

Maybe you could press T nuts into the slots.

Not a bad idea. The stock Accucraft screws are pretty small - they will fit tight in a 1/16th pilot hole. Not sure if I can find T-Nuts that small - but it’s worth a look at the hobby store.

For Rooster I dug up this pic. I need to take some of the actual project, but this will hopefully explain the issue…

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post4/M-11Front-00.JPG)

Above is a jury-rigged Accucraft coupler in Kaydee draft gear secured by a single #4 screw up through the draft gear into the front plate. You can see the screw in the opening just above the coupler. The slots that I am referring to are right and left of center. When a proper Accucraft draft gear box is used the mounting screws fall directly in those slots!

This is the coupler I am trying to mount…

(http://www.accucraft.de/ebay/AP-11730.jpg)

Interesting that they show nuts in the photo, but the couplers do not come with nuts!

I have started down the road of fabricating a styrene plate to glue over the slots and still use the #4 screw as the primary load bearing attachment. The Accucraft screws would be primarily for show.

BTW - I found a pic of BD’s 45 Tonner taken at TrainOps. He has done this mod to his…

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post/Train-Ops_2010_001-800.jpg)

#5

I have found 2-56 T nuts at a hobby shop that specializes in RC aircraft and cars. I also have ordered an assortment of small screws, lag bolts, nuts, washers and such from Micro Fasteners. I ordered a bunch of stuff so that I have a supply of them when I find that I need them

#6

I’ve done a couple of em. I might have put a backing plate in to compensate for the hole alignment. I’ll go out in the shop later and take a look see and report back.

#7

Yep. Styrene backing plate glued on the back of the pilot. Then fastened the coupler with small nuts and bolts. Only did the top 2 holes. Not all four.

#8

Thanks guys.

Made a run to my local HobbyTown USA. They had the 2-56 T-Nuts with matching hex cap screws, but thinking I needed all 4 screws the T-Nuts weren’t going to fit in the space.

They also didn’t have a metric nut driver to fit the Accucraft screws, so I bought black 2mm hex cap screws, nuts and washers. $8 for a set of 8! I really should do a “stock” order so I don’t have to pay these crazy small bag prices!

I’ll probably end up with a plates on both the front and the back of the pilot. When I line up the hole in the draft gear to screw up into the pilot (like in my photo) there is a small gap between the coupler flange and the pilot face that needs to be filled.

#9

Daktah John said:

I found a pic of BD’s 45 Tonner taken at TrainOps. He has done this mod to his…

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post/Train-Ops_2010_001-800.jpg)

Bob McCown might know

#10

John:

I just opened a similar question on that other site, except for Kadees - here is the reply.

Hope this helps,

Mark

#11

Thanks Mark. I think you may have the same issue as me with the Kaydee coupler pocket that Kevin suggested. His modified unit no longer has any openings in the pilot.

I agree with Kevin that using the casting is probably not worth the effort. I have done that by trimming a coupler to fit, but the resulting sag makes it unreliable.

My solution was to buy some long (about 3/4") 2mm hex cap machine screws that I will bolt through styrene plates that I will add both inside and outside the pilot. For added pulling strength a #4 x 1" sheet metal screw will run up into the pilot from the bottom through the coupler draft gear by slightly enlarging the existing hole in the draft gear and drilling a pilot hole.

I haven’t gotten to installing the coupler yet as I’m still working on wiring. When I do I’ll post some pictures.

#12

Thanks John.

I think that I’ll wait on your pictures before I start slicing and dicing. I’ve got plenty to keep me occupied as I am also converting it to battery R/C.

Mark

#13

I’m re-converting to trail-car based Batt-R/C-Sound. This time around removing all the internal electronics and adding a forward facing speaker in the front grille and some weight in the rear hood.

If you haven’t already hard-wired the trucks, be sure to do that. The truck contacts are the weakest part of this loco. I went nuts and hard wired all the way to the motor, but you can bypass the plunger contacts without taking the truck apart. Pictures of that exist if you need them.

#14

That’s on my list. I was planning on taking the truck apart enough to solder on wires directly to the motor.

Did you solder to the metal “foil” that the plungers contact? I’d sure appreciate your pictures.

#15

I’ll post up the pictures when I get home tonight.

I soldered directly to the motor and drilled holes in the circuit board to pass the wire up through. I did keep the track pickups as both my Dizzies are track power or trail car batt-R/C. I think I soldered the pick-up wires to the foil on top of the circuit board. Pictures will remind me!

#16

All the pics are on-line. I was going to write an article, but never did. You can browse theme here: http://lsc.cvsry.com/44TonTruck/

#17

John:

Looks too easy, thanks. I know what I’ll be doing this weekend. (https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/e/gtalk.324)

Mark