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ZJ-Gauge (Japanese Z-Gauge) - Page 9

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Modifying Crown or PRMLoco tank cars to run better with North American Z scale cars.


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I really like the look of these tankers but as they come out of the box they are too light and the wheels don't roll nicely and the trucks are equipped with Rapido couplers which are useless for me as I use Micro trains 905s and prefer to body mount them rather than truck mount them. These pictures shoe the cars as delivered with Rapido Couplers
the trucks are moulded with a very soft plastic so they are not rigid and you need a very sharp drill to work in this material. The first thing I did was to open care body by removing the Philips screw in the belly of the car. Then I used a variety of split fishing weights used mainly in fly fishing to weight the fly down below the surface of the water. Most hardware and sports stores carry this sort of thing and they are no longer made of Lead. So while not as heavy per unit they still work for adding weight and you can use tungsten powder also if you can get it and it needs to be mixed with a glue to put it into the care body. With the split shot weights I just use white glue undiluted to hold them in place. After weighting the car I then worked on the trucks and couplers. The platforms on each end of the care are not equal in length so on the short one I removed the rear wall of the 905 so it will fit in the pace available. on the other end I used the full length of the 905. I made a brass template for drilling coupler mounting holes in the platform ends. This places the coupler opening flush with the end of the car platform and centered in the notch of the end sill of the car. The next chore was to remount the trucks as I found the bolsters were not well cast and so the hub the trucks were mounted on and held in place with a Phillips screw were not consistent in height plus the wheels did not roll freely in the truck. So after some experimentation found this combination that seems to work well and adds to lower the center of gravity of this car on the track. I mount the truck with a1-72 brass screw and two 1-72 brass washers and 2 00-80 brass washers. The sequence is to put screw with one washer up through the opening in the truck bolster then drop 2 00-80 washer onto screw and they will sit in the opening in the truck and then I put the second 1-72 washer on top of that so it sits between truck and car bolster. The two 00-80 washers create a post for the truck to rotate about on the car. The 1-72 washers keep the screw head from going through the hole in the truck and the second 1-72 washer gives the truck a good surface to run on as it rotates. No to mount the truck. First I cut off the hub that the truck originally sat on and then dress the car bottom across bolster pads flat with a file and then I drill a 1/16th (.0625 inch 5.9mm this is critical as over size the hole and the screw will not self tap and so won't stay in place. You could also use a tap drill [#53= .059 inch] for the 1-72 screw and tap the hole for even better job. ) hole through into car body where the hub was located and I go all the way into the cavity. This gives us a hole that the 1-72 screw can self tap into and hold. Do not over tighten this screw as the soft plastic will strip easily and then you have a problem. When I install the truck I tighten screw slowly until the truck is fully down and won't rotate and then back it off a third to a half of a turn so truck is free to rotate and has a bit of tip side to side. The final touch is to replace the original wheels with fox valley steel wheels and for this you need a number 62 drill bit (.038 inch and this is critical as the axle cone will run in this hole. Too small a hole and axle will not rotate and to big and axle will fall out. I try to drill out enough material so the cone will fit into hole but not bottom out. Using a number 63 drill bit .037in. drill bit is a bit too tight and axle will not rotate freely so car won't coast down hill on its own. You can use a larger drill bit to chamfer the edge of the hole but I used a #63 and found that as long as I did not go through the truck frame and punch out through the axle journalbox the fit was just right for free rolling axle and car would drift down hill. final weight of car was just under 15 gramsJust a reminder that the truck material is very soft so a fresh sharp drill bit for opening axle cones is a must and yes re removed the arm on the truck which held the Rapido coupler.

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