Airfix brake van / 3-link couplings

One way of doing this is to put a small bend in the shank of the coupling, turn the brake van upside down, put the coupling in position on the underside of the buffer bean and - gently - apply a warm soldering iron to the coupling. As it heats up it will "melt" into the buffer beam. The "proper" way is, as you say, to cut a slot in the buffer beam, insert the coupling and place the spring on the "inside", then push the small split pin provided through the hole in the back end of the coupling's shank. This method allows a little bit of "give" whereas the soldering iron method cannot provide this, as the coupling is fixed permanently in the buffer beam. Hope this helps, David Costigan

If its the Airfix kit brake van the buffer beam already has a slot for the coupler, this can either be enlarged to take the coupler shank or the shank can be filed down to fit. To enlarge the slot you need a very small square file or a piece of piercing saw blade in a pin chuck. On the other hand the coupling s**nk can be filed down with pretty well any flat needle file.

The boss on the floor was for the original Airfix 'horn/hook' couplers not Kadees, it should be carved and filed off before you fit the buffer beams, its harder afterwards but can still be done using a burr in a mini drill such as a Dremel. Keith

Just got the couplings installed. In the absence of either a soldering iron or piercing saw blade (as suggested) the option I went for was whatever was to hand - a few chops with the scalpel, some enthusiastic filing, and the aid of a mini screwdriver blade! I decided the springs were surplus to requirement and anyway, the fit is pretty tight anyway so they wouldn't have had much effect.

Matt