More realistic diaphragms that really work properly?

The best Scale o diaphragms that I have are the ones Pecos River Brass did just before the turning the century. They were pricy then at $17.00 each plus shipping however were well worth it. 

try this as it worked perfect for me in ho.  glue clear plastic to the outside of the diapragms and then the diapragms can slide against each together on curves etc and they can touch.

Here's a photo of a diaphragm "housing" without the diaphragm that may help some:

The problem I have is where to place them vertically.  Putting them on one brand of car is one thing, but when you have 3-4 different brands of cars, trucks, and diaphragms, trying to get them all aligned can be difficult.

My Seaboard 4-car heavyweight train is made up of:

K-Line Baggage car

K-Line Diner

Walthers Coach

All Nation Observation

I also have 2 Weaver "American Flyer" cars and 4 OK Engines cars, again with different brand trucks and diaphragms.

I think the K-line cars are a bit undersized, they're the ones I had the most trouble getting the diaphragms to align with the other cars.

The fabric used with the PSC diaphrams can be used with contact cement to attach it to the buffer plates. If you want the plates to touch I would advise polishing them and then use a hard gloss enamel paint. Otherwise a you could use a slippery plastic like Delrin instead of the brass plate. 

The buffer plates on my Lionel F3s touch and slide easily against each other and they are plastic.

Pete

Pete,

I wonder if a slightly curved buffer plate would prevent two from snagging?

Slightly curved will reduce the friction but it really depends on the plates allignment with each other. If S curves cause them to move to the side away from each other they can still catch. 

Prototypical couplers and diaphrams require more prototypical curve diameters

Pete

The Keil Line plates are Delrin and look very realistic to me.