I ordered a number of Trainworx undecorated gondolas. One of them came like this. I will be forwarding this to them, perhaps. Right now, their web site is down.
Hey, give 'em a break. I myself have ALMOST done that on coupler conversions from Rapido to MT, when I have the trucks of the car removed.
Upon seeing this thread title, I was not-so-secretly hoping they would be making these: https://flic.kr/p/LzKvhU
Mostly right, Jason. They use a 00-80 flat head screw countersunk into the cast metal portion of the underframe to put the coupler and box together. Then they use three dabs of glue to hold the metal to the gondola floor. And, they use VERY good glue. I know because my son, trying to help, broke off a coupler on another one. (Don't think toddler here, think be very careful of IPMS modelers - their contest structure is go for broke.) I was able to separate the underframe and the body, but it wasn't easy, and I don't think I will attempt it again. The faulty car goes back to Trainworx.
As much as I like Pat, Trainworx and the cars produced, I don't like that several of his cars are built this way. I understand it is done to keep the wheel axle from rubbing on the screw, but it's still lousy if you need to or even just prefer to change out the couplers. Jason
Those 53' well cars from JTC are the same way. Unless you happen to have a car where the etched walkway over the couplers is pretty loose (they are ACC'd in place), you would need to essentially mangle or destroy the walkway to get to the coupler screw beneath it. I purchased 3 of the damaged/discount cars from JTC where the damage was limited to the couplers. Thankfully, they came with extra etched walkways in addition to couplers, as I mangled all but 1 or 2 trying to remove them.
