L and B OO9 couplers plain boss fitting

(3 customer reviews)

$15.00

4mm scale couplers based on drawings from Ffestiniog for the L&B style couplers fitted to the locomotive ‘Lyn’.

Supplied with 3D printed draught boxes that fit PECO OO9 wagons and pins for hooks.

See our guide to OO9 couplers.

 

SKU: B4002 Categories: , Tags: , ,

3 reviews for L and B OO9 couplers plain boss fitting

  1. peter

    I must start by divulging I was the person who commissioned these couplers. They have, I’m pleased to say, turned out better than I could have hoped for with very good detailing.

    I had been looking for a source of reasonably accurate Jones-Calthrop couplers for some time, plus unsuccessfully trying to make some of my own, and was very pleased when a contact in the USA mentioned New Zealand Finescale to me. To cut a long story short some six months later they are here!

    There are two versions available, the first for headstock mounting and the second as a simple plug-in to the NEM pockets on OO-9 models. Both types are at the prototype height of 6mm above rail height. The couplers come on a brass sprue, three pairs per sprue (with a spare hook).

    Once assembled the headstock mounted ones have a 3-D printed pocket that they rotate in whilst the plug-in ones simply do that – plug in! The headstock-mounted couplers are centred by means of a pair of tiny 1mm x 0.5 mm magnets, one at the back of the coupler and the other sunk into the pocket, which have to be sourced separately. E.g. from Guys Magnets in the UK and from: Super Magnet Man in the USA, and no doubt other suppliers.

    The headstock mounted couplers require a little modification to the body of the vehicle, though for coaches and wagons this is pretty easy and minimal.

    The Heljan Manning Wardles have a plastic buffer beam at the front and a metal one at the rear. Cutting the front buffer beam to accommodate the coupler is quite straightforward but the rear one requires a little more work. If a hole is drilled through the coupler pocket (with the coupler in situ for correct alignment) then a new M1.4 fixing screw may be used to both hold the coupler and secure the body to the chassis.

    Some packing is needed to obtain the correct height for the coupler at the front of the engine.

    It may well be that people might not want to carve up their expensive engines and would prefer to fit the plug-in version.

    Both types perform quite satisfactorily on my 11″ radius though I haven’t been able to check them on anything tighter than that. The plug-in ones obviously work well on bogie vehicles and engines (including my Bachmann Baldwin “Hummy”) and perform satisfactorily on short four wheel vehicles on the 11″ radius though I’m not sure if a long wheelbase four wheel wagon would be suitable for the plug-in coupler.

    To assemble all the couplers require is removing from the sprue, a little tidying up with a file, maybe a small broach to open the hook’s pivot hole slightly – and some brass blackening. A brass pin was supplied with each of my sprues for use as the hook pivot though I intend to try using some 16BA nuts and bolts.

    Peter Richards,
    Punganui, NZ

    They are not a quick fix but an afternoon set aside to work on them should provide a good supply.

  2. reed.jeremy48

    Hi – I have just received the couplers via the good offices of Peter.

    Have to say they are superb castings and set a new standard for this type of
    small scale product in my opinion.

    Congratulations – I will be fitting them this weekend and will share my
    observations in due course.
    Jeremy

  3. chris

    I was very pleased to receive these couplings last Friday. I have managed to fit five wagons with the headstock mounted version and have also assembled three pairs of the NEM 355 compatible couplings over the weekend. It is in the assembly and operation of these couplings though, that one realises just how extremely well considered they are in all aspects of their design and manufacture. When assembled and fitted, there is such remarkably little loss of fidelity in scaling that they completely capture the aesthetic and translate the prototype operation into miniature in an entirely convincing manner. The castings are extremely finely detailed but being cast in a hard brass there has been no compromise on the robustness of these couplings.

    These couplings are truly astounding. They not only stand head and solders above anything else I have seen in 4mm / ft but also in larger scales too.

    Chris H.

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