Photographs illustrating the use and mounting of DG couplings
Mark Fielder
1. View of DG mounted on a hybrid Peco/Farish wagon. Shows the relationship between coupler, headstock and buffers
2. Underside of same wagon. DG is mounted on a plasticard surface.
3. Similar mounting on a brake van.
4. Brake van coupling being checked for height. It's worth making a gauge like this.
5. This block of tufnol gauges the correct height of the DG mounting plate. This means all couplers are installed level, not bending up or down, so you can make a quick visual check.
6. The loop - tricky blighters these. Apologies for dirty fingers!
Soldering the dropper is the tricky bit. I make my loops with droppers "in the flat" and add in the bend afterwards. This is a good test of your soldering...!
Footnote on the loops, November 2009. A new idea in the "why on earth didn't anyone think of this before" category is to bend the DG loop from a single piece of springy steel wire; dropper included. No soldering is required. Start with the full-width piece which goes through both pivot holes, then forward on one side, across the front, back on the other side, then down slightly for the tail and cut to length. One type of wire which works for this application is "11 thou" guitar E string (ask just about any music instrument shop).
7. Complete wagon underside.
8. Another view of the brake van.
