Assuming the position

In the mail box for the last post before Christmas I received a box of unassembled microtrains couplers. This was ordered from Kelmara loco depot who also stock a fair bit of TT scale stuff (i must order some figures from them at some point). I must admit to a bit of hesitation about this purchase as previous experience with assembling these had not been good. From what i can determine the historical process ran something like the following. Holding the base with one had position the 2 bits for the coupler with a second hand while positioning the spring with a 3rd hand while positioning the lid with a 4th hand while sealing the lid with a hot iron with a 5th hand. this is of course assuming that you get it all together in one go without the tiny spring deciding it want's to fly free to the nether reaches of the modeling room. I always wondered if they were assembled by the Indian god Krishna.

Fortunately there has been a few modifications made over the years, and I've got smarter (or more cunning) in my older years. the lids now clip into place. If you use a needle of some sort to hold the base it almost proves possible to do the entire assembly with 2 hands.

"Doing the work of 3 hands"

To cap it all off there are extra springs in the packet (well, there were in mine) and I needed every last one to assemble 10 pairs of couplers. I did spend some time assuming the position for another hunt for a missing spring, but for some odd reason I found every one that vanished.

"Cor, it's like Aladins cave down here..."