Kato E8 Rock Island

[Point353]

Would these locos be repaints of previously decorated models for which Kato Japan has excess inventory?
Or, does Kato Japan have some extra stock of chassis and undecorated shells?
Or, is there another production run of E8/E9 locos in the pipeline for early next year?

[Englewood]

Hopefully another run of E8/9s.

[squirrelhunter]

Ha! Well good on them to advertise it correctly.  Red and orange LOL, not in my world. 

Jason

Ok, I'm not crazy right- that the maroon should be flat, not bass boat sparkly and the red should be a more magenta/red than orange?

Im.not sure why they didn't just do a production run in the as delivered Rocket scheme, I'm sure it would sell well.

[peteski]

Ok, I'm not crazy right- that the maroon should be flat, not bass boat sparkly and the red should be a more magenta/red than orange?

Im.not sure why they didn't just do a production run in the as delivered Rocket scheme, I'm sure it would sell well.

I'm no RI expert, but I wonder if the 2000 repaint did use those colors?  Seems like Kato should have been able to get exact info on the paints used just 20 years ago.

As for the maroon, it to me looks like it does have a satin finish, but it is a metallic color. The lighting in that photo simply brings out the metallic effect of the paint.

Maybe that was how the repainted loco really looked?  Are there any photos of the repainted loco floating around on the Interwebs?

[wcfn100]

Are there any photos of the repainted loco floating around on the Interwebs?

Yeah, almost all the photos on the web are of the repainted scheme.  The fact they call it maroon and orange is all you need to know as there is no orange in the as-delivered scheme.

I just find it bizarre that Kato would do this.  The NMRA even sells the EMD Paint and Styling diagram for the original scheme.


Jason

[peteski]

Yeah, almost all the photos on the web are of the repainted scheme. 

Do the  Kato model's colors look close to the actual (repainted) loco?
Maybe they decided to run with that paint scheme *BECAUSE* most online photos show that scheme?
Kato often makes seemingly (to us Amuricans) strange decisions regarding their models.

[Bendtracker1]

Here's a few links I found

/>
https://www.flickr.com/photos/23711298@N07/4259270437/in/photostream/

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/Locopicture.aspx?id=18123&Page=3

https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1MSIM_enUS827US827&sxsrf=AOaemvK-Mas_0r6W8uM7xGaSSYDIN0TzcA:1635424827153&source=univ&tbm=isch&q=rock+island+baldwin+city+kansas&fir=ZKmF1XC_pzo3-M%252C2ErRhltS6DW7qM%252C_%253BZ39FCqMXW8bbpM%252ChCdNxuR1KAQEkM%252C_%253BRTh6oR66InkCWM%252CQ4l3J2dGGY1LZM%252C_%253BGllsUEmP8d_PWM%252C6hcHoaIYdsI4bM%252C_%253BWD7dhnXSlntnEM%252CtdU-RnUxapOVMM%252C_%253BKvKSYzz41nZTHM%252CHLJVBPbxehXEUM%252C_%253BfWDBATFqcyz_JM%252CdLb-76GuRwRt8M%252C_%253BXYNvj9vHvdxVFM%252CQySbcVh_dwz2JM%252C_%253BoWpHm9Vw2azrLM%252CkHJok6x3TBMZhM%252C_%253B2xp1Og1DDwGtYM%252CbBCqZ5i0vZTiVM%252C_&usg=AI4_-kTrQXe4HiKZmN9dX2_zOk5yFAdaow&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi83YOfkO3zAhWkl2oFHUeWAnAQjJkEegQIGxAC&biw=1441&bih=802&dpr=1

[thomasjmdavis]

My hope is that this is just an indication that Kato is re-tooling the E8 (it has been around for 25 (?) years now) for a passenger train release next year.  Had a few shells and chassis sitting around in Japan from the last production run, and somebody in Schaumburg had a bright idea, and they shipped them over from the factory to a custom painter.

I hope they sell well and it results in some new products for the US market.  A SF "Big Dome" would be first on my list, with an E6 close behind.  The first would preferably be done in both the executive train version, and the as delivered version (not much difference, IIRC, other than numbers and some other cosmetics, but I would need to double check drawings), and perhaps a window plug to create the San Fran Chief dorm version.  The E6 may already be in the pipeline somewhere- I have decoders that are labeled to fit a "Kato E5 or E6"- so at least the decoder makers are expecting one.  And they've already got the basics in the E5 tooling and chassis.  And I'd love to see some pre-war streamliners, but that may be asking too much.

[OldEastRR]

Well, if the colors aren't right a guy could just paint up and decal his own version of the loco. Can't be that hard

[peteski]

Comparing to:



Kato's colors look pretty close.  And the paint is more glossy than flat.  Not sure about the maroon paint being metallic (not apparent in those overcast photos), but I suspect that Kato's research indicated that it was metallic paint. Otherwise why would they bother using metallic paint which is not normally used on railroad equipment.   That is how I see it.

[CBQ Fan]

Could it be just a test model and proof of concept?

[GhengisKong]

Could it be just a test model and proof of concept?

Someone on facebook mentioned that that was the case. I couldn't find if they were associated with Kato or even lived in Chicagoland to indicate that they might, though.

[squirrelhunter]

Well I think wfcn100 and Petoski solved this one- it definitely matches the engine as repainted by the museum looking at the photos. It just seems the museum paint job doesn't match the factory job done

I don't plan on buying one (I would be interested in the as delivered scheme however), but I'm intrigued by Kato doing a special run of a museum engine. Perhaps other museum/tourist line schemes will be Kobo offerings in the future?

[thomasjmdavis]

Well I think wfcn100 and Petoski solved this one- it definitely matches the engine as repainted by the museum looking at the photos. It just seems the museum paint job doesn't match the factory job done

I don't plan on buying one (I would be interested in the as delivered scheme however), but I'm intrigued by Kato doing a special run of a museum engine. Perhaps other museum/tourist line schemes will be Kobo offerings in the future?

I think this is consistent with their releases of "executive" trains and "museum" steam locomotives and such in recent years.  I would speculate that they are trying to find markets among modern era modelers for some of their 1940s-60s passenger equipment and locomotives.  I am all in favor of this (Kato, or Atlas, or IMRC making money is generally good for the hobby), as long as they also remember that some of us model those earlier eras, and we need equipment too, in paint schemes appropriate to our era.

From what I can see here on Railwire and in other forums, the strategy works pretty well- lots of excitement whenever a Big Boy, Northern or other steam loco is released in a current day scheme/number.  Gives the modern era modeler an option to run a steamer or early diesel in between long strings of COFC and such.

[spookshow]

Looking forward to Kato finishing the set and releasing E6 #630 

-Mark