Hi Ed; I'm pretty sure John was bemoaning the lack of assembled 802/808 couplers, not the #5s. I bought some from an individual once, all put together and wrapped in a thin strip of masking tape. At one time I was pretty good at assembling the Kadee N scale couplers, so the S ones are not too bad. Just practice!
Ready-built structures are pretty new in most scales (except for Plasticville). I'm not sold on them, as they are so limited in number that your layout has all the same ones everyone else has. Kinda like the old days in HO, nearly every layout in the magazines had a Revell bakery, Atlas depot, Suydam or AHM mine, Plasticville gas station, etc. The Pine Canyon buildings are almost as easy to build as the HO DPM kits, except that use CA instead of plastic cement. I'm not sure about someof the newer Twin Whistle structures; the older ones like the White Tower were real craftsman kits in styrene (all sheet and strip stock, like a wood kit). Then there is the built up O scale MTH farmhouse that Don Thompson nominated for best S structure of the year... Pieter E. Roos --- On Mon, 12/19/11, Ed <[email protected]> wrote: > > I'll use Kadee no 5 > > Quite a few S guys use the so-called HO Kadee coupler which > is a bit oversized for HO. You are not alone. > > > ASSEMBLED (why can't KD do that?) couplers. > > Kadee does offer 'ASSEMBLED' No. 5 couplers. It is > called the No. 3 coupler. RTR in every > sense of the word. > > > Some things in S that frustrate me... > > You are not alone here either. Ever try to get > indications of interest for a J-1 Hudson? Lemmee tell > you that story sometime..... > > > coupler issue, > > No issue here. Many of us use the same couplers that > the HO guys use. Others use the KD#802 or SHS > equivalent couplers. They all work with each other > just fine. No problems at all. Issue..?? > What issue? Our coupler situation is the same as in > other scales. > > > SHinohara switches, > > Well, there is TOMALCO TRACK and also FAST TRACKS > fixtures. While Shinohara turnouts are not perfect, > they can be made to work reasonably well with some > effort. I understand there is a fellow now who offers > RTR turnouts made from the FAST TRACKS fixtures. Those > ought to be superb. TOMALCO TRACK makes turnouts darn > near RTR with isolated frogs to simplify wiring. > > > now the 45 degree crossing I paid $50 for has to be > cut apart in order to operate correctly. > > Yes, gaps in track do need to be cut from time to > time. Same thing is required for turnouts in some > cases. And crossovers between mainlines. This is > all part of modeling trackwork and building a layout. > It is true that S does not have RTR trackwork like ATLAS in > HO with plastic frogs and integral motorized turnouts. > Cutting gaps is not hard once you have the correct tools for > the job. > > I would be willing to bet that TOMALCO TRACKS (Larry > Morton) will sell you a pre-gapped crossing upon > request. He sells turnouts with pre-gapped isolated > frogs and gapping the crossing is not that much more > work. Why not ask him? > > > I'm really begining to wonder if I made a mistake > switching scales? > > Not sure I understand the problem here. Kadee has RTR > couplers and Larry Morton has RTR crossings. Am I > missing something? > > > And, the lack of any kind of ready built building... > > Correct, S scale does not have RTR structures. But > Plasticville can be detailed, painted, weathered and > used. Not hard to do at all. Then there is the > Heljan Brewery, Revell bakery, Walther's Cornerstone Series > and other easy-to-assemble mass-produced large HO plastic > kits that can get you to your goal with minimal > effort. Serously, none of this is very hard. > > > Look at Woodland Scenics, > > Yes, I have. And I use a lot of their products on my > layout. Even Chooch makes great HO retaining walls and > bridge piers useful in S scale. > > > now doing finished stuff in O... > > There are probably five times as many O guys as S > guys. Every one of them has a simplistic layout > consisting of an oval of track that barely fits into a > bedroom or 2-car garage with no large structures except > simulated flats on the walls. An O scale passenger > train with full length cars wraps around the entire > room. (Slight exaggeration, but not much.) Is this a > reasonable trade-off for the more complex and interesting > track geometry possible in the same space with S > scale? We each have to make a series of compromises > along the way. That is what model railroad layout > building is all about. > > > Thanks for letting me vent... > > Venting is part of being an S guy. You are not alone > on the S planet. Every problem has a solution. > Sorry to be appearing so unsympathetic, but the couplers and > rail gaps are not major crisis issues. > > I have the sense that you really would prefer everything > you buy to be ready-to-run. If that is truly the case, > you might find S scale frustrating. Of course,learning > new skills and asking lots of questions will help greatly to > overcome the frustrations. Most all of us have done > just that over the years. > > Keep chugging and you will like the end result very much. > > "S"incerely.....Ed L. > > > > ------------------------------------ > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > [email protected] > > > ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
