Kato E7

[nightmare0331]

Lol....can you tell I have NEVER, EVER, EVER been involved in copyright controversy?

Edited and deleted a mildly snarky reply.

Let's just agree that it was a misunderstanding. 

Kelley.

[thomasjmdavis]

The model looks great.  I will hope that at some point in the future, it will appear in some other versions and roadnames.  It occurs to me, for instance, that the original Wabash Blue Bird was pulled by an E7, and had domes that were the same (less a little skirting) as the Budd cars originally made by Kato 20 or 25 years ago.....  I know, will never happen, but would be a big help if Kato did the E7 in Wabash paint.

[CBQ Fan]

I am expecting a Denver Zephyr with two E-7’s in the future.

On unrelated passenger train topics the guys at Kato hinted at a UP City of Portland using the COLA cars.

[reinhardtjh]

@nightmare0331  Is it possible to verify if the chassis is the same as the current E8 chassis?  Would shell swaps be possible?  Or rather, using the E7 shell on an E8 chassis?

[Ngineer]

Is this a shell that can be universally used? Or one that is just right for the NYC?

I remember a previous discussion where somebody mentioned that Kato plans on doing a model that will ONLY be correct for the NYC.

That would be a huge letdown.

   Javier

[nightmare0331]

Is this a shell that can be universally used? Or one that is just right for the NYC?

I remember a previous discussion where somebody mentioned that Kato plans on doing a model that will ONLY be correct for the NYC.

That would be a huge letdown.

   Javier

It's not quite that simple when it comes to the E7.

Pretty much every road had different flavors of the E7.  Sometimes (like in the case of NYC) different batches had different spotting features.

Now, couple that most were modified pretty early on due to cooling issues so you have even more spotting feature differences.

Unfortunately in this situation, there is no 'one size fits all' or 'one size fits most' type scenario, and like CB&Q E5, the bodyshell was tooled up and designed for a very specific purpose. 

Will more variations happen?  It's possible, but I think that ultimately depends on how well the NYC units sell.

Only time will tell!

Enjoy!

Kelley.
www.dufordmodelworks.com

[nightmare0331]

@nightmare0331  Is it possible to verify if the chassis is the same as the current E8 chassis?  Would shell swaps be possible?  Or rather, using the E7 shell on an E8 chassis?

The short answer is the mechanism is the same.

The light board and light tubes are different as the lenses and shield now match up to a smled.

This is the one rare time I don't have a complete E5 or E8 mechanism in the shop, so you're going to have to settle with a E unit frame with E5 lightboard laid over it for comparison...

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]
[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

The E8 LED's would be a bit shorter than the E5.

So...if wiring in your own lighting (or, I'd hazard eventually TCS or Digitrax will make a board that has a smled setup like this), it's not a huge hurdle to overcome.

Hope this helps!

Enjoy!

Kelley.
www.dufordmodelworks.com

[peteski]

Kelly, when any photo gets uploaded to the Railwire gallery (which is the preferred way to upload photos here), it automatically gets the "as seen . . ." tag.  But if a photo is attached (uploaded) to a post, or linked from some external website, the "as seen . ." tag is not added.  That is how the forum works.  Nobody added a watermark - the forum software does that.  Does that clarify things? 

Not sure if I would even call that "as seen. . ." tag a watermark. Anyway, it appears that someone got a hold of your photo from wherever (which has no watermarks of any kind), and uploaded to the Railwire for all of us (not on FB) to see. Not knowing whether you would have come here and post that photo for us to see, I appreciated the gesture.  If you are touchy about your photos being shared on Internet, maybe adding a "real" watermark would prevent any misunderstandings.

[nightmare0331]

Kelly, when any photo gets uploaded to the Railwire gallery (which is the preferred way to upload photos here), it automatically gets the "as seen . . ." tag.  But if a photo is attached (uploaded) to a post, or linked from some external website, the "as seen . ." tag is not added.  That is how the forum works.  Nobody added a watermark - the forum software does that.  Does that clarify things? 

Not sure if I would even call that "as seen. . ." tag a watermark. Anyway, it appears that someone got a hold of your photo from wherever (which has no watermarks of any kind), and uploaded to the Railwire for all of us (not on FB) to see. Not knowing whether you would have come here and post that photo for us to see, I appreciated the gesture.  If you are touchy about your photos being shared on Internet, maybe adding a "real" watermark would prevent any misunderstandings.

That makes sense.  I was not aware there even was a railwire gallery as I've always just uploaded by attaching the images.

I'm certainly not touchy about it and am aware once stuff gets posted to the interwebz it's out of my hands.  My initial response was more tongue in cheek, but inflection is difficult to read through a screen.

Anywhoo...my apologies if I offended anyone.

Enjoy!

Kelley.
www.dufordmodelworks.com

[CBQ Fan]

Now that the first E7 is on its way, this should open the door for printing money.  There are so many roads that had them, most of which there is already a Kato passenger set in existence. The only bummer is that the ATSF never owned any. I would be surprised if these molds aren’t modular like the E8 shells.

[reinhardtjh]

The short answer is the mechanism is the same.

The light board and light tubes are different as the lenses and shield now match up to a smled.

This is the one rare time I don't have a complete E5 or E8 mechanism in the shop, so you're going to have to settle with a E unit frame with E5 lightboard laid over it for comparison...

The E8 LED's would be a bit shorter than the E5.

So...if wiring in your own lighting (or, I'd hazard eventually TCS or Digitrax will make a board that has a smled setup like this), it's not a huge hurdle to overcome.

Hope this helps!

Enjoy!

Kelley.
www.dufordmodelworks.com

Thanks Kelley!

[OldEastRR]

Lighted number boards? Like the last E9s?

[Leggy]

I forgot the link to your Facebook post, trw added the watermark.

My bad 

I see someone 'borrowed' my Fakebook quick grab and go photo I posted yesterday then proceeded to add a watermark.

lol

ETA:  I'll post some more photos later here with the shell off and being converted to sound later today also.

Enjoy!

Kelley.
www.dufordmodelworks.com