Tech Tips Blog

I regularly get questions from people confused and/or overthinking coupler mounting. I think it is more so overthinking about coupler mounting, not reading the information we provide, and not using the coupler conversion information we provide online. This is something that is a much bigger problem than one might think. This is not just from new people entering the hobby; this is from the hobby veterans also. I will break this down into different common scenarios.

HO Scenario #1: I have an old Example (UP 1234 car) or (B&O loco that has yellow lettering) I picked up; what at coupler do I use on it?
Sorry, we need the make and model of the car to look it up in our coupler conversion list; we can’t identify cars if you don’t know the make and model of a car. You must research it online, ask a railroad forum, or visit a railroad club or local hobby store. Then look it up in the coupler conversion list. https://www.kadee.com/convpl

I am happy to report that the Amherst train show was hopping at the Kadee® booth this year. I was able to get out of the booth a few times to take a quick look around but for the most part it was nonstop interaction with customers. Answering product questions, coupler conversion questions, and talking to individuals about the new O-Scale trucks that we will be releasing after they have been thoroughly tested. We have sent some samples out to some individuals and clubs for testing on different layouts. We still need to do some inhouse testing for ourselves before we release them. I would like to personally say thank you to all of the individuals that we have talked to about this project and a special thank you for all of those individuals and clubs that have been testing the O-Scale trucks on their layouts.

As for our technical tip of the month, I would like to talk about a couple of HO-Scale products that I feel are underutilized that quite possibly be because folks don’t un

The weather has been keeping a lot of you indoors and getting those old modeling projects out again. I have received several product requests for things we don’t sell as retail items or special pack requests. (Example: bulk #33 couplers) Also, requests for coupler conversions for brass cars or old obscure cars that we have never seen or heard of.

Please keep in mind we don’t sell special request packages of bulk couplers or special request parts. We would have to stop current production, check availability, pull parts for a single special package, program the special package in the online system for billing, and sell it to a customer. The reality is “special request product” needs to be billed for lost production time, set up, and assembly time for a single item; the “special request product” would cost much more than purchasing multiple 2-pair packages of couplers. For “special request detail parts,” the same is true. Generally, we don’t keep spare parts for cars we have

I am going to go over coupler heights again since I am still seeing so-called “HOW TO VIDEOS” on YouTube that has so much bad information they need to be removed. I am telling you, the amount of bad, misleading information on YouTube is disheartening!

I can’t emphasize this enough, check your coupler height with a height gauge, setting your coupler height using the centerline of the couplers, and make the necessary fine-tuning adjustments. These adjustments need to be precise for proper working couplers. “Good enough” doesn’t work for trouble-free operation. Checking your coupler height is something that should be, second nature for everyone in the hobby. “Scale” couplers make this even more critical because the coupler pulling face is smaller. See the below details.

STOP BENDING THE TRIP PINS!

Yes, we are releasing a Christmas car this year; it was just behind schedule. Limited quantity.

Upcoming shows we will be attending.

We will be at Trainfest this year on November 12th & 13th at the Wisconsin State Fair Park in Milwaukee, WI. We also will be attending our local railroad show. Rogue Valley Railroad Show November 26th & 27th at the Jackson County Expo Central Point, OR.

We look forward to being back at both of these great shows after they were postponed due to COVID restrictions last year. It feels good getting out there, socializing, and enjoying life again. If you have not had the chance to talk to us in person, we invite everyone to visit us in our booth at either show. Come check out what you have missed over the last couple of years. If you have not had the chance to talk to us in person. I will attend booth shows to answer your product and coupler conversion questions. We will be giving a Product Overview, Questions and Answers presentation

COUPLERS, and The People Who Make Them….

Kadee Quality Products Company has been the "De-facto Standard" for Model Railroad couplers since the early '70s. It has expanded its line of fully functioning Knuckle couplers over the last 40 years. From HOn3 to G scale for Reliability and Functionality.

The prevalent Whisker® version in “Scale” and Standard head HO gauge has overtaken the standard shank centering system for their "ease of use," and the same dependability and reliability modelers have come to expect from Kadee®. Our #148 Centerset Whisker® coupler now outsells "Ole Reliable” NO.5® and #158 “Scale” Head Whisker® coupler outsells its predecessor #58.

Please Note that ALL these couplers will work together provided you have them at the proper height, which you can check with a coupler height gauge, either a #206 or #205.

To dispel any rumors, Kadee is not discontinuing our #148 coupler or any other couplers.

Bulk packs of the #14

I realize it has been only a couple of weeks since our August release, but we need to get back on schedule. So don’t forget about our August 2022 Patriotic Car release.

We have been getting a lot of positive feedback on this design, with the Statue of Liberty and the Constitution of the United States on the side of the car.

I feel the artwork represents the strong American spirit that we all share in one way or another that everyone should be able to relate to, if you leave politics aside.

I was at the 2022 National Garden Railway Conference in Denver last month assisting the attendees with the Large Scale Kadee® product questions. I had a lot of inquiries about our large scale metal wheels and trucks and some I didn’t know the answer to. I can admit this, so when I got back, I looked up the technical info I was ask about and updated our large scale wheel product information on our website. Please check out the large scale wheel product pages #950, #951, #960, & #961 as we have new technical info on the pages.

I keep getting e-mail questions on how may large scale wheels are in the factory packaging even though we have a clear product description on our webpage. We discovered what has been causing the confusion with the 950, #951, #960, & #961 quantities. There had been some resellers opening the Kadee® factory packaging and removing our protective packaging thus changing the quantity & reselling the #950, #951, #960, & #961 as 4 Axle sets instead of the factory 2 A

I am thinking this month we are going to go over drilling and tapping holes. This may be a subject that intimidates some of you out there. Others it may seem like second nature and wonder why I would go over such a subject. Everyone has to to start somewhere in the hobby and people have all different skill levels. For those who are new to the hobby and may not have grown up around tools, working on cars or what not, you may not even know what drilling and tapping holes is referring too it is OK.

I keep getting people asking questions about what glue to use; wanting to glue gearboxes on to cars instead of drilling and taping screw holes to attach the coupler gearbox or replacing trucks. I even have people asking questions about using and were to get self taping screws for mounting couplers and trucks because they don’t want to tap a screw hole. Lets first just say gluing gearboxes is not recommended and should be avoided. A glued on gearbox is permanent and if your coupler h

I have gotten many questions at shows & by e-mail regarding what is the difference between our two styles of Large scale couplers; the AAR Type “E” coupler and our original style of coupler that are available in (O-scale 1:48, #1-scale 1:32 & G-Scale 1:22.5). Yes, both designed are based on the common Type E coupler. Our original coupler style has an exposed knuckle spring with minimal details; our AAR Type “E” coupler has a much more prototypal appearance & hidden knuckle spring. Know that it is large scale season it is time to go over the subject and the features that make the couplers different.

Let's just start out with the obvious the AAR Type “E” coupler has a much more prototypal appearance then our original style of coupler. The AAR Type “E” coupler contour with visible Kadee® casting marks to better replicate the prototype coupler. One other big feature if it hasn’t jumped out at you yet is where is the Knuckle spring? Yes, that is right the AAR Type “E” couplers