I have two 3RD Rail C&O FP7's and the huge spacing between the two units using the dummy lobster claw couplers that come with the engines was hideous. I bought two of 3RD Rail's 2 rail kadee mounting brackets from Scott, turned them 180 degrees from how they would normally be mounted, and added short box Kadee 806's.
This really narrowed the gap between the units and was very simple to do.
Also, as received everything below the carbody was painted black and should have been C&O blue. The font that 3RD rail used for the script Chesapeake and Ohio is best described as squished and slanted too much as well as the engine number on the 8002 was in a different place than on the 8013. Repainted the lower parts of the engines blue and removed the road name and number lettering carefully with lacquer thinner. Re-lettered with old Champ decals, masked all the clear parts off and put a new coat of clear on the engines. Looks a lot better.
Ken
