Improving the
Jouef RIB 70 (1)

Original page created on 06/10/2013; updated on 15/08/2024.

Rame inox de banlieue Jouef (Suburban Stainless Steel Train) with modified couplings.

Observation

It is not very brilliant!

• Bad surprise when receiving the material: no elongation, even no NEM box, yet indicated in the catalogue as pictograms!
• The red lights are only evoked (painted). The cabin is not fitted, the windows too little embedded, the wipers are false and coarse (in an RIB, only the driver’s window is equipped). The wheels’ diameter is too small (8.2 mm instead of 9.2 to scale) and the wheel flanges are huge (1.3 mm).

Finally, we will add an interior lighting, which will pose the problem of the electric junction of coaches, because this lighting will be controlled by a function decoder.

Mechanical changes

Changing the axles

I bought ⌀ 9 mm axles at micro-model. Only trouble, the length between axle ends which is different from the original (24.75 mm instead of 24). And impossible to interchange the wheels because the diameter of the new axles is only 1.5 mm.

It will be enough to grind 3/10 mm of the point on each side, with a diamond or corundum disk. Be careful, however, to carefully deburr and even round the flat with a file. The diameter is now practically correct, and the flanges are considerably smaller (1.1 mm instead of 1.3).

Attention, when reassembly, to the current pickup strips on the driver coach. Let’s admit here an effort from the manufacturer: the current pickup is done on the four axles of the coach.

Couplings

There remains a doubt: the SMD drawbar is actually a Makette small model, and I am not sure that its elongation will be sufficient. A first test with a suitable Ribu coupling with significantly more distant pivot points showed a buffer mess when pushing the train with the BB 16500 LS Models, despite spiral entry curves, a minimum radius of 500 mm, and large radius Peco turnouts. Temporary parade: the machine is fitted with an adjustable coupling (NEM 363) which puts out the buffers by more than a millimetre.

Large Makette drawbar model

This is the KKK1 model whose base is 16 × 16 mm. But it cannot be mounted under the chassis: the ultra thin SMD model itself comes flush with the bottom of the body. But let’s get inside. There is in the head coach (or tail?) a large empty place at this location. It will suffice to cut a large enough hole in the bottom to let the drawbar pass through, and to tinker a fastener for the return spring that will be underneath.

In order for the drawbar to be at a suitable height (and also to plug holes resulting from previous tests), I have glued a 0.75 mm polystyrene plate over the frame base. The assembly is then milled with a rectangular hole, and its rear edge is milled (by hand) at an angle to give way for the return spring.

1. Profi Fleischmann coupling head
2. Brass strip equipped with PCB pins
3. NEM box
4. Temporary wooden holding wedge
5. Notched ⌀ 1 rod for spring attachment
6. 13 × 7 mm hole milled in the chassis
7. Mounting screw M 1.6 × 4 *.

* Better, but not available at that time: P-tite miniature screws that are self-tapping in the plastic and do not require to enlarge the base holes.

Modified Profi coupling head

As it passes under the body, the Makette NEM box is not at the correct height. SMD has solved this problem by providing a dovetail, which is not easy to make by hand. I use another technique that consists of soldering on a brass strip two 2.54 mm pitch PCB pins. This strip, narrowed at the back to fit into the NEM box, will be locked into it with a little soldering.

The Profi head (but this is valid for the Roco heads and probably others too) receives two ⌀ 0.8 mm 2.54 mm spaced holes, 1 mm from its end. Its tail is then cut. The head is finally mounted onto the CI pins.

The advantage of this technique is that it is possible to adjust very easily both the drawbar length and the head height. And the holding is much firmer than with a dovetail head.