A Couple of Developments

One of my sources of "prototype futzing" with T-scale has been the couplers.  The stock couplers, with their square/angular oversize appearance, just don't look much at all like real couplers--at least those found in North America (or some other parts of the world, Australia, South America, etc.).  They might have some redeeming quality if they actually were operational, but they aren't (although the good people at T-Gauge.Com are developing a T-scale coupler that has some automatic coupling capability!).  I don't forsee T scale being much of a switching scale for the time being, but I do want more prototypic rolling stock for the "roundy-round" style I want, so I set about trying to make a better coupler, more resembling the standard knuckle coupler found in the US.

First, I scaled down a typical prototype coupler in the US (the Janney Coupler) and printed in what materials I could on Shapeways.  At the time this was only the old "Frosted Detail";  but the results not only were these just too small, but far, far too fragile.  So I scaled them up and printed them in bronze.  This was semi-successful.  The fit was so tight I needed pliers to get them apart, and the cost was outrageous (somewhere around $15 for a set of 4).  There were no other alternative materials, and so the project was set aside.

Fast forward a few years, my interest in T-scale rekindled.. and some additional material options available on Shapeways.  I tried the "Professional Plastic" and it seemed to have promise.  After a couple tweaks to the design I printed what you see below.  They come on a small sprue and printed in a gray material, so I painted a rust-brown color.

Note they are holding together unaided.  It is a decently firm grip--but not so tight you can't separate them.  The material is grainy in texture, but paint seems to fill in the texture, even looking a bit like cast iron.  They are somewhat flexible and are remarkably strong and resilient.  I found I had to sand/trim them a bit to fit through the pilot hole in the GP40, reducing the horizontal profile a bit.

Yes they are still over-sized but they are small enough and prototypic-looking enough for me to be "good enough".  I will be striving to make them smaller and see how small I can get.