HO Scale MagnaLock Magnetic Air Hoses Product Review

[@struck2soon]

A good, objective review with some valid points made. The operation of these hoses certainly looks impressive. (No need to thank me for watching Dan, the pleasure is all mine!)

[@kennethwood4501]

Extremely cool. Love the weathering on your cars.

[@mark-v5z]

Just finding out about these years after this was published. I think these are FRIGGIN" AWESOME!! They ARE expensive but just add that next level of detail to great models.

[@rscott417]

I've added these hoses to 8 locomotives and about 40 rail cars so far. My tip would be to add these hoses AFTER you've done your weathering and/or clear coating. Clear coat made the rubber brittle and they crumbled apart. I ruined 2 packs of hoses.

[@tsgmultimedia]

Thanks for the great tips!

[@amun1999]

rscott417 is there any way to have all 6 mu hoses on the locomotive to connect to another locomotive?

[@mariebcfhs9491]

@@amun1999 yes there is that's called having very stable and and not smashing your locomotive after a few failed attempts

[@railroadfan-io7ns]

@@mariebcfhs9491 lol

[@railroadfan-io7ns]

@@tsgmultimedia hey I'm just starting out on my ho layout and I was hoping you can give me some tips and also tell me why my locomotives May stutter

[@pacbeltrr38]

Good review Dan! I'm definitely interested in getting some. You mentioned something that just made a lightbulb go off in my head (so I'm only half dim now lol). I'm going to cut short pieces of heat shrink tubing, like for 26-28ga wire, and glue it over both ends where it attaches. If it works, that might just be my first video on my new channel! Carmine 🚂

[@leisureshoot]

I was thinking some of the brass tubing might work, too. Possibly evergreen styrene tubing, but it would have to be thicker than metal, so it may look too bulky.

[@debbiemilka2251]

Dan, this is just great ! I remember seeing them when they first came out. really like them,but PWRS is/was a pricer line of rolling stock. A modeler would have to decide whether or not a few cars working like this would do. They look and act like the business and look so much better than the curved metal shanks. I could see such a mass retrofit like this.

[@AustinsMind]

An idea that you could do is heat shrink tubing, it would add decent look with it being a rubber based material and if you can find the right size, should grip well, you could also add glue inside the tubing to add to the security of the hose as well.

[@tsgmultimedia]

That's an interesting concept, although heat shrink tubing isn't very flexible. It could look OK as air hoses though if you could find the right size. Probably a lot cheaper than the alternatives.

[@AustinsMind]

@@tsgmultimedia well I mean just to use it for the bond with the brass tube and the brake tube, since your concern is the butt joint.

[@tsgmultimedia]

Oh like a little sleeve. Good thinking!

[@ModernDTI]

I wonder if the design could be improved with heat shrink tubing rather than glue...

[@michaelcarrier4374]

Those air hoses are great!

[@205004gs]

Oh wow this is fantastic!!

[@justindampier9017]

I gotta try these!

[@railnut8453]

The only problem I have with these is losing the automatic uncoupling ability when you cut the pin off the coupler.

[@davidperrott4502]

I wonder if you could use just the ends somehow to add conductive wire and couple a pair (one on each side of the wagon to run head end power between cars

[@tsgmultimedia]

Not sure. Let us know if it works!

[@inevitablecraftslab]

i will try that next week, great idea!!

[@Hunter_Dawso]

Are these hoses still on these two cars?

[@sd90mac61]

That's the bomb👍👍👍!! However I wouldn't use these types of air hoses, I stick to all types of Kadee COUPLERS, for I trimm the hoses and bend them very gently to mate with their cars, and all locos as well, with ALL the correct height of course they look splendid. Thanks for this new invention of model RAILROADING!!👍👍👍👍 I can hardly wait to see what's next.

[@MarkInLA]

What happens when dangling hoses go over Kadee uncoupling magnets ?

[@tsgmultimedia]

You would not be using trip pins if you use these hoses. No trip pins, therefore you wouldn't have magnets in your layout. If you are running on someone else's layout that has magnets, let us know what happens!

[@debbiemilka2251]

Couldn't you just a imagine an uncoupler magnet with a collection of a bunch of these air hoses ? Who-wee !

[@trainknut]

@@debbiemilka2251 it would probably just pull them apart and then they'd snap right back together tbh

[@hemipatton7799]

OK I like the idea. BUT can these STILL be purchased? I can't find them for sale ANYWHERE online! (maybe looking in the wrong place?) Someone HELP! -Thanks!

[@nightfury8440]

PWRS.CA

[@brianadams688]

may be one day the cars and engines will come all ready installed

[@MarkInLA]

Then cars will be $50 each / 10 cars $500.00 !

[@nightfury8440]

@@MarkInLA That didn't age well. Anything well detailed now is around 50$ MSRP. Often much more.

[@sparky107107]

it does look great , but with the price , how many does that do ?

[@tsgmultimedia]

20 air lines = 10 cars. Thanks for watching!

[@inevitablecraftslab]

i bought 20 magnets 2x1mm each on amazon and made them myself. cost me 7$

[@crazyfvck]

@@inevitablecraftslab I know I am 4 years late late here, but can you give me any more info on how you made your own? I searched for the magnets that you used, but the only ones I could find are 'pancake' style magnets, not 'hotdog' style, like the ones shown on the Magnalock hoses. I did find some small cylindrical magnets like the ones in the video, but they were way too big, at 2x3mm.

[@inevitablecraftslab]

@@crazyfvck i bought 1mm magnets and little strings from a hobbystore, superglue thats it

[@crazyfvck]

@@inevitablecraftslab Thank you SO much for getting back to me! :) Shortly after I messaged you, I was able to locate a source for the smaller 1mm x 1mm magnets. I just now went ahead and ordered a small roll of 1mm black rubber cord for the hose portion. Luckily, it is a fairly common size for making necklaces and bracelets. The only thing I need to buy is solid brass wire for the brake line that mounts on the car body. I think I am going to order 1mm, 1.2mm, and 1.5mm, to see which diameter looks best. Luckily, the rolls are not that expensive, and I can always use the wire that I don't choose for other projects.

[@SGTGhost]

hey Dan do you think product from this review can be compatible with n scale?

[@abstractbybrian]

are you using kadee 158/58 coupler?

[@CentralJerseyRailfan]

those are 5s/148s in the video

[@mgr_video_productions]

Great review!

[@tsgmultimedia]

Great comment!

[@miguelCHIVASFan17]

Is this available for N scale

[@tsgmultimedia]

I don't think they ever released it in N. You could try a Google search if you want and let us know what you find.

[@luisarroyave]

I bought many of these, when they came out in the marqet and now the plastic or rubor holding the magnet are breaking down, like the material is drying and breaks apart easily, they are garaje I don't know if the new ones are better ?

[@tsgmultimedia]

Yeah long term use evaluation was not possible on these.

[@debbiemilka2251]

ut-oh !

[@TrainsNStuff]

Cool review! As realistic as it is, I prefer the "original" style air hoses on HO. (the ones that don't connect that everyone has)

[@TrainsNStuff]

Also, can you review Bachmann's new line of NS heritage?

[@MarkInLA]

Just thought !: Since one hose is (+), then opposing hose will have to be ( - ) polarity between cars in order to have hoses couple. Won't this force us to have to have cars turned a particular way ? What else, when two opposing hoses are the same polarity ? Will we have to be doing all this 0-5-0-ing whether in staging or in a scene ? And this is only ONE train movement. Also, since hose connections are separate from couplers, what will go on during uncoupling of cars via say, Kadee magnetic ramps ? I see allot of all around conflict. Am I wrong ?...M

[@edeptula2992]

Mark Harris the website does say that they are reversible and will run in any orientation

[@splitreduction]

You’re more than welcome to start your own detail part company and compete with their price point.

[@debbiemilka2251]

spoil sport.

[@benmack1334]

My jaw dropped

[@trainknut]

I'm baffled that the industry is still standardized on those ugly fixed "brake lines" attached to the couplers, it's unprototypical, it just looks ugly, and I personally find it often detracts from the overall look of the model, as the locomotives and rolling stock we're getting today have some really fine detail, but then you have these goofy looking kadees with these plastic spaghetti noodles sticking out of the bottom in the place of a realistic knuckle coupler and brake line/mu system. I get that they provide limited function by kinda giving you a way to cut the couplers(sort of, I find it doesn't work very well that way anyway) but, come on, it's been years, how is this technology still so niche when it's so clearly superior? I find McHenry, or Kadee 158s look perfectly fine to the naked eye to pass for prototypical, even if they are a little oversized and wonky if you look too close... You don't necessarily need to go full Sergeant Couplers on every car - but even they are held back by the black spaghetti noodles. If you just cut off the noodle and replace it with a real magnetic hose(as seen here) it does so much to make the model look more like a real train shrunk down and less like a toy. The Black Spaghetti Noodle as I am dubbing them feel like a relic of an era of analogue controllers, relay boxes, direct current wiring, and manually throwing switches... It was handy for times gone past, and if you want to continue to do it that way by all means go for it, your layout your rules... But... how come more companies don't give you options like this out of the box? or say, offer coupler/model variants without the spaghetti noodles? I'm not asking for a magnalock on every boxcar, just take the spaghetti noodles off, save me some time to do it myself.

[@warrenmaker798]

With a RRP of nearly $39.... this is highway robbery

[@tsgmultimedia]

What is that, about $6 per car? I guess it just depends how much someone is willing to spend for that "prototype" look.

[@whiteknightcat]

Shouldn't that be more like "train robbery"? Ahahahahahaha!

[@jamesm6638]

@@tsgmultimedia $6 to add a couple millimeters of hose to a car doesn't seem like a bit much to you?

[@tsgmultimedia]

@@jamesm6638 I think it's up to the individual. Just showing something that's available here. No judgments about the cost really. it is whatever it is.