Magnetic Air Hoses Part 3

This post is for the AtlasO Fishbelly Hopper.  This one was a bear of a job to do, but luckily the bolsters come off the hopper.  They are diecast, so it is a bit more work to get things to work.

For the kadee couplers, I redrilled and retapped the holes for 2-56 screws.  I then used 1" screws at angles to screw down the coupler and trimmed the tops to make them flush.  Everything gets touched with black paint to blend it all in at the end.

For the A end of the car, I was able to drill into the side of the piece that the coupler screws into using a #55 bit.  I had to be careful drilling to widen it slightly to take the brass wire that I bent to get the air hose at the correct height and angle.  I filed down both ends of the wire and went to solder the angle cock casting to one end.

For the B end, the notch that holds the triple valve kept me from drilling into the side.  I thought to drill at another spot, but I instead was able to use the 2 holes that originally held the AB Reservoir and bend them in place to hold the angle cock.  I was able to bend a piece first try to fit in both holes and soldered the angle cock onto the correct end.  For the AB Reservoir, I cut off the two pegs and made sure the "wires" into the A and B sides from the triple valve were glued so that the triple valve could hold the AB Reservoir in place.

The rest was simply putting together the glad hand, painting, and screwing the bolster pieces and trucks back on.  See photos below for some ideas...