#closecoupling (19/04/2025) Electrotren produced some good continental model vans many years ago, before they were taken over by Hornby Hobbies. But they had metal stamped bogies, underframes and couplings which could not easily be modified back then. The couplings also stuck out a long way creating a massive gap between wagons. See the first and second photo! The bogies were also held in place by a circlip! Proper old fashioned engineering! I was determined to fit Roco close couplings. To create my required 3mm gap between buffers (for non kinematic couplings), I knew that I needed to fit an NEM362 pocket with the front face 6mm from the face of the buffers. First I removed the pin and continental style coupling hook (photo 3). Then I cut the coupling and tabs off (photo 4) and, by using a razor saw, cut the coupling bar at 6mm from the face of the buffers (photo 5). This was my reference point. I filed the end to make it neat. The height seemed about right for the coupling too. For all the other photos please see the comments. I built up the section behind the front bar with strips of plasticard using superglue, to give a platform for mounting the NEM pock (photo 6). Then the NEM pocket was filed flat on one side and superglued centrally on the coupling bar of the bogie (photo 7). By the way. I bought a load of NEM pockets from Bachmann many years ago as spares and I think you can still buy them today. Very useful to have. Then the Roco close coupling is fitted to the NEM pocket (photo 8) and when two vans were completed, they were checked for height on the track and gap between buffers (photo 9). The end result is a far more realistic looking train.

Posted by Wagons Mike at 2025-04-19 21:42:53 UTC