Back when I began converting these Model Power cabeese into more detailed models I ran into a conundrum; how to mount couplers. In January of 2018 I determined I'd need to hog out the old coupler box entirely and sheath the platform surface with styrene, distressed to resemble wood planks. Fine. But that doesn't leave anything for a screw to bite into in order to attach the coupler box.
Now I know what you're thinking - why not just glue the box in place. I considered it, but I really prefer to be able to unscrew the box to access the coupler and spring plate in case either or both are damaged, heaven forbid. To do so if it had been glued in place would mean potentially damaging the platform detail above, then having to glue in the replacement, and I could just imagine that going badly.
The obvious solution was to glue the top plate of the coupler box in place, and attach the lower half by screwing it to the post on the upper half. The only problem was finding a screw of the right size. The largest tap I own is for a 2-56 screw, and that slides right through the coupler hole. I had slightly larger screws but no tap...but perhaps I could just force them to "self-tap" into the soft plastic of the coupler box...
Sure enough, it worked. The old Atlas switch machine screws tapped themselves easily into the coupler boxes without cracking or distorting the plastic. Only about 1/16 of an inch needed to be snipped away and my Xurons made quick work of that followed by a few swipes of a needle file. A couple tiny drops of super glue and voila, couplers installed.
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