Rapido couplers couple loosely; the gap between carraiges is about 6mm.
Most of your trains look like this: Big, bulky Rapido couplers and nearly a scale meter of space between the cars. Your passengers have to get a running start to leap to the next carriage! What to do? The obvious answer is to install TN couplers. But this is a Micro Ace model, and the info sheet doesn’t mention anything about them. Can TN couplers even be fitted?
Yes they can.
In this article I’m going to fit TN couplers to a Micro Ace A4821 E653-series. The info sheet that came with the model indicates that it can be fitted with Micro Ace couplers part no. F0001. This part is a set of six black, Scharfenberg-type couplers. From the table at the bottom of this post, I see that Tomix part nos. 0334 or 0336 can be fitted. Tomix 0334 is an older part, and if you have some lying around: Great, you can use them. Tomix 0336 is basically the same coupler, but with an improved mechanism. I’m not really sure what the differences are, but the two couplers are compatible with each other. I went with the 0336′s.
How many couplers do we need? In general, for a train of N cars which doesn’t need couplers on either cab end, you need (N-1)*2 couplers. Since the E653-series is a 7 car consist, and Micro Ace has already provided couplers on the noses for double-heading them, we need (7-1)*2 = 12 couplers total. Since Tomix 0336 contains 6 couplers, I needed to purchase two packs of the 0336.
Location of coupler mounting (left), and a mounted coupler (right).
Installation is, in theory, very easy. Remove the body shell. Unscrew the trucks (if unpowered) or unclip them (if powered). Separate the seats from the frame bottom (only for unpowered cars). Remove the old truck-mount couplers from the trucks (On the E653, the couplers were clipped into place, and I had merely to unclip them. Most Tomix trucks require you to actually cut the coupler pocket off the truck.) Press the new coupler in place, and reverse the process. (Do not do what I did in the photograph, and attempt to replace the shell before screwing the truck back on. Getting the shell off requires pulling on the trucks, and if something goes wrong, if the trucks aren’t attached…the shell isn’t going to come back off. And then you are in trouble.) Easy-peasy, right? Well, maybe not…
Pull gently where the arrows indicate to disassemble the coupler.
The couplers come assembled, unlike previous Tomix releases, which would be a huge relief if they didn’t come apart so easily. To take them apart, you gently pull the mounting tabs apart, as in the photograph. But the astute reader will have noticed that the process of installing the coupler requires…yep, gently pulling the mounting tabs apart. Which means that many of your couplers will simply explode as you attempt to install them. Crap!
The coupler in parts. The arrows show to where the coupler spring hooks.
What to do if it comes flying apart? Try not to panic? Most that exploded on me stayed more or less in one spot. There are basically four parts (there are actually more, but you have to work to disassemble it further). Simply use a pair of tweezers to hook the spring first onto the main body (the bit that has the mounting tabs on them), and then to the coupler itself. Holding this assembly carefully in one hand, use the other to press the cover (the rightmost part in the photograph) over the spring. You may have to flex the mounting tabs slightly to get the cover to seat correctly.
(I actually did have one coupler explode rather violently, and the parts rained onto the floor. I found all the plastic bits, but searched frantically for almost half an hour for the spring before giving up in despair. To my total vexation, I found it staring up at me on my worktable. It had never hit the floor! So, a word: Be prepared to lose small parts! Use a watchmaker’s apron or something like that.)
Improperly installed, the coupler sits unevenly under the body, leaving an unsightly and awkward gap.
Even if the couplers don’t explode, you may find that many do not seat right in the frame. The tabs will clip on, but the outward pressure of installing the coupler causes the cover to come loose, leading to a crooked seating, and unreliable coupler operation. I couldn’t seem to install most of my couplers without this happening. I had begun to think that Micro Ace had designed the frame to be just a little too wide for successful installation of TNs. But after much cursing, I found that the fix is very easy, but it requires three hands or good dexterity. While pulling gently on the coupler itself (the spring wants to pull it into the coupler body when the cover is loose), slip some small tweezers between the coupler and the body (where the arrow indicates in the photograph), and press the cover back into place. This only work if you’ve pulled the coupler proper away from the coupler body by just the right amount.
TN couplers couple tightly; the gap between carraiges is about 2.35mm.
That said, I’m not sure I like the black couplers on this set; I’m tempted to move them to my 209-0-series, and replace them with gray couplers (except that Tomix 0335 is totally sold out everywhere right now). The gray might blend in a bit better with the gray undercarriage of the E653s.
Finally, a word on operation. To couple cars, press them together. Sometimes you have to press a little harder than others. To decouple, pull straight apart. These couplers do not offer very much vertical play, and I discovered that in at least one spot on Shogatsu that the transition from level track to inclined track was too sudden, and the stiffness of the TN couplers would cause the trucks to pull up off the track over that transition, leading to derails.
Next time: truck-mount TNs.
Booya! I’ll be in for a joy ride when my couplers will arrive tomorow or the day after tormorow. Thanks for the warnings Don.
Very welcome! Happy to suffer an evening of torment if it means I can help others avoid the same fate. Do post here and let us know how your installs went, and if you discover any other potential pitfalls!
Timely post. I installed the MicroAce F0004 couplers from MicroAce on my Rap:t…similar experience with an ‘explosion’ too!
I wish I knew more about these before ordering them however. The MicroAce site lists the F0004′s as the right TN’s for this model, but they are more like Janney/AAR type couplers versus the Scharfenberger’s (which I think would have looked better for this train). There are also strange to uncouple as well. The illustration indicates that you should turn the cars to be separated at a sharp angle ‘upwards’ to disconnect. This has worked a couple of times, however, it also results in exploding couplers as well! I may not have installed all of them correctly in the first place though, particularly after reading this!
Quinntopia,
That,s interesting. My MA Skyliner also cals for knuckle coulers, even though EMUs are usually fitted with the Scharfenbergs. I wondered about that too: is this is a quirk of the prototype or of MA?
Post pics of your Rapit! And the couplers too!
I’m getting there with the pictures!
I’m actually hoping that Santa brings me a new camera…specifically for shooting video! The other think is that I keep starting new projects…demolishing parts of the layout, adding and scratch-building a viaduct bridge, rewiring all my electrical, extending my yard, finishing the “Sarumon” building…yeah, I need to prioritize! 
I finally got my Tomix TN Couplers in the mail and installed them yesterday.
Fisrt, I wanted the knuckle couplers to install on my 781系 but I got it wrong and ordered instead the scharfenbergs. But it might be a good thing. I have now two MA sets equiped with Tomix’s TN couplers. One got the brand new scharfenberg and the other one came in with the old knuckle couplers (I got it on Yahoo Auctions). And man! You can see the difference. The gap between the carriage is much more reduced with the new equipment. Or it’s because of the scharfenber make for a smaller link. I don’t really now. To be sure I would need to compare the new knuckle couplers to my scharfenbergs.
Taking apart the train, unscrewing the trucks and taking the rapido couplers was quite easy… even if I broke the second pantographs (the first one was missing a piece when I open the bpx) when my hand reaped.
I also had two “explosion”. One coupler was quite easy to reassemble the other one is for the moment impossible to put back together. It was the first one I isntalled and when I put the shell back I discovered the head of the couplers wasn’t moving. So I took the shell and the coupler off. Try to move the head. Still not working. So I try to open it and it explodes in my hand.
I try many time to put it back together and succeeded only two times but, each time, the head wouldn’t move. I’ve decided to let go and to order more couplers. Now my 4 cars set run in 3 cars set consist, without one pilot car. That’s quite disturbing.
Disturbman: If you can use three hands, try this: Use two to snap the coupler back together, while the third gently pulls outward on the coupler head. I’ve found that sometimes the spring pulls the head into the body while you’re assembling it, and in these cases, the head becomes immobilized.
Today, I decided to give it another try with two or three hands… Bad luck. I don’t know where the spring is. I was sure I had precautioniously packed it away with the rest of the coupler but I can’t find it anywhere. Mission aborted. I’ll have to buy a new bunch of coupler.
Oh no! I worried too that I would lose a spring; I wonder if you could scavenge a replacement? Perhaps a spring from a Micro-Trains coupler? The coupler should work fine without the spring, too, if you must.
Thanks Don! I didn’t thought to try the coupler without a spring. It seems to work well like that. I’ll swap it with a complete coupler when I’ll order more. For the time being, it will do.
I also tried to scavenge on of the numerous regular coupler-spring I have. But to no avail. The design is far too different to obtain a correct elasticity.
Anyhow, I could give a look at the MT couplers. But I’m not sure I can find that easily here. And now that I have a semi-permanent solution, the need isn’t so urgent anymore.
So, thanks to you, my train can now run with two head-cars! I just need to reopen this problematic car. The head-lights are not working anymore. I guess the disassembling wrecked somehow the connection of the leads. Something must be out of reach somewhere.