Help with Tomix/Kato EF-15

[Dave V]

A few years back I bought a second-hand Tomix EF-15 that looks like this:



Interestingly, the body looks a lot like a PRR P5a, but the wheel arrangement is that of a PRR FF2.  So like many have already done, my plan is to foob it up as a PRR FF2:





But, I still haven't figured out how to open the thing up to take it apart to paint it, let alone install DCC.  So, I'm asking the herd:

1)  How do I get inside this thing?
2)  Will a decoder even fit?  If so, is there a drop-in somewhere?
3)  And lastly...  How would I go about turning down the flanges on this thing?  It doesn't run on the Atlas code 55 in Enola.

Thanks for any help you can provide!

[drgw0579]

I did the same to my EF-15, but a long time ago.  The shell spreads like a F unit (toothpicks whatever).  For a decoder, I think I used a left over Digitrax <something> from a Kato RS2, just soldered in.  Required some milling, but was much better than using the standard decoder of the era, the DZ120.  A M1 would probably take a lot less work.   I never did anything about headlights because the prototype had them on the ladders in front of the doors, which would be hard as hell to do.  Maybe SM LEDs would work better now.  I never worried about the flanges; my excuse is the electrified area on my layout would have used the 155 pound rail which looks big anyway, so code 80 isn't that much out of scale.

As I remember, the hardest part was putting MT couplers on it.  I lost interest in this project because the truck sideframes don't look like anything American, and then Kato did the GG1; mine has been stashed on a yard track for about the last 8 years.  The FF1 was apparently used mostly as a helper and were retired when the E44s arrived, so its use would be limited.  But as your photos show they were used around Columbia which is part of the area I am modeling, maybe I should revisit this project again sometime. 

Bill Kepner

[Dave V]

That's actually very helpful, thanks!

[nkalanaga]

Mine, by Kato, has the T-shank MT couplers, although I can't tell you what number, because I don't remember.  I suspect they're leftovers from a steam conversion kit, probably one I stole the pilot from for a narrow gauge loco.

Getting the body off is a pain, because the windows lock to the frame, and into the body, so you have to decide which one to release, without breaking something. 

Years ago, one of the brass importers advertised a GN Y-1, which is your FF2.  I reserved a couple with a dealer, but the importer never set a price, much less made the model.  I suspect quite a few GN and PRR fans would have loved to have had that model.

I didn't need it, modeling Montana, but my MILW interchange could have used it.  All the MILW would have had to do is change the motor-generator set, a simple project, and they would have had a relatively new motor perfectly suited to their needs.  They really weren't suitable for the PRR's operations and, as Bill said, were used mostly in helper service.  They were intended for heavy hauling on a mountain railroad, and were too big and too slow for the PRR.

[C62-2]

You might also want to look into the Kato EF13 coming out later this month. The flanges wouldn't need to be turned down, and the DCC would just involve replacing the light board (although I don't know off hand which decoder would be the right replacement). I'm only getting started into DCC, but none of the tomix that I have seems DCC friendly. None of the JNR EF-xx box cabs seem to have the equally spaced drivers of the PRR box cabs, though.

Doug

[Dave V]

I didn't know about the EF-13!  Thanks!

As for the FF2, I'm familiar with their short and unfortunate lives on the Pennsy, serving as helpers out of Thorndale where they had a tendency to spin out of their own tires...  But I'm still in need of some good electric boxcab love to go with my GG1 fleet!

[randgust]

Those cast truck sideframes look exactly like a Baldwin AS-616.   

Seriously, are they the same?  I've still got a few resin sideframe castings.

[Iain]

New side frames for the trucks, and etch new sides for the body, and you'll for sure have a 'close enough'.

[Dave V]

New side frames for the trucks, and etch new sides for the body, and you'll for sure have a 'close enough'.

I don't "etch."   

[nkalanaga]

The bigest problem is that, even though the Kato, and probably Tomix, locos are 1:150, they're still smaller than a 1:160 FF2.  The GN had big motors, as the Pennsy found when they bought them.  Any new sides will have to be smaller than scale to fit the mechanism.

[C62-2]

Hmm. The FF2 was 73' 9", or 5.53 inches at 1:160. The EF15 was 17,000mm, or 4.46 inches at 1:150. The EF57 is a bit closer at 19,920mm (5.22 inches at 1:150), but has the 4 wheels on the pilot trucks instead of 2. The body of a P5 is somewhere in between the size of the two Japanese engines, but is completely different underneath.

[Dave V]

Let me just set expectations right off...  I'm in no way looking to put in the work necessary on this to make it an exact FF2.  Just to Pennsy-fy it a little.  The sum extent of my intended work is to blank out some of the windows and maybe tinker a little with the roof detail.  That's all.  Then paint, decals, and weathering.

I got it apart last night (finally!!!--what a pain in the a$$!).  Now I'm working on replacing the couplers, which as it was mentioned is no easy order.

[Lemosteam]

Let me just set expectations right off...  I'm in no way looking to put in the work necessary on this to make it an exact FF2.  Just to Pennsy-fy it a little.  The sum extent of my intended work is to blank out some of the windows and maybe tinker a little with the roof detail.  That's all.  Then paint, decals, and weathering.

I got it apart last night (finally!!!--what a pain in the a$$!).  Now I'm working on replacing the couplers, which as it was mentioned is no easy order.

@Dave Vollmer If you could file those sideframes smooth I could design a refacing sideframe in shapeways just for you to get it one visual step closer....

[davefoxx]

@Dave Vollmer If you could file those sideframes smooth I could design a refacing sideframe in shapeways just for you to get it one visual step closer....

That, and correcting the windows will go miles towards making it a credible FF2.  Kudos!

DFF

[Dave V]

@Dave Vollmer If you could file those sideframes smooth I could design a refacing sideframe in shapeways just for you to get it one visual step closer....

Tempting.  But more work than I'd planned to put into a loco that won't even run on half my layout (the code 55 part).

FWIW, if only we had the right mech for a P5a, Shapeways is the answer to the body.  Obviously I wish I could build this into a P5a, but no dice.

Don't everyone get their hopes up...  I'm not going to be submitting this as a proto-job in TKM!

Actually, @Lemosteam, you should look into the forthcoming Kato EF13.  If you could do sideframes and a body for it, I think that could be something you could sell!  I'd buy one.  Just one though!