I'm kinda like T4. The claws really destroy any ascetic enjoyment of otherwise scale models for me. They just hav'ta go!
Now, I don't have the specific cars in question. Is there something special, about these cars that makes it especially difficult to fix scale couplers to them?
I had no trouble affixing Kadees to my 21 inch GGD heavyweights.
In fact, these cars are my absolute favourites, making it especially important they have scale couplers! I would have thought owners of the El Capitan cars would feel the same?
Despite my layout being small, an around the room in a 12.5 x 14.5 foot space, I quite deliberately made the outer loop with a min. O-80 to accommodate 21 inch cars. That O-80 is hidden. The rest of the loop has wider curves. That said, my 21 inch cars, with Kadees, run without problems on the inner loop as well which is all O-72.
I'll admit the Kadees were a problem with these very long cars on grade transitions. I had to do some finagling to ease into the grades to prevent uncoupling.
I certainly have no regrets putting Kadees on these 21 inch cars. In fact, my second sleeper just arrived this week. I put Kadees on it before it ever hit the track! I got satisfactory results with standard shanks but there is always the option to use extended shanks if necessary.
