Life Like ATSF E6 mods (E3)

[Cajonpassfan]

Bruce, these turned out really sweet, all I can say is WOW! Truly amazing what you managed to do with an inexpensive model. A question: what are you planning to do for the headlight and Mars light? Perhaps some MV lenses as an easy interim fix before you go DCC, or Richmond Controls if you plan to stay with DC....
Again, great work!
Otto K.

[arbomambo]

Otto, thanks...
As far as the lighting situation (and that goes for all of my ATSF units...PA's, F's, etc...) the final jury is still out..I've performed a 'temporary' mod to the PA's...simply painted the rear portion of the upper headlight sprue black to prevent light in the upper position...
truly, I'd really like to have available the Richmond controls headlight and 'Mars' light set up in all of these units..just like DCC is an inevitable 'reality' for me...
a second, and more scale option for me, would be to install Richmond control lights in the main headlight position and MV lenses in the upper, regardless of DCC..even though the Richmond Controls Mars lights are really neat (I used to see him at all the Texas-Oklahoma area train shows back in the day)-and my friend Joe Cox has been using his items from the beginning, I'm still not real satisfied with the look of the light installations his set up advises...I'd love to modify MV lenses to use his set up...but , although it's suggested, I've never actually seen it done to my satisfaction.
 If I can't figure a satisfactory arrangement, I'm inclined to lean toward the 'scale' solution and disregard the lighting altogether...MV lenses in all headlight positions...they really do look good, and to scale (I love sound, but, IMO, locomotive lighting suffers 'scalewise' in our diminutive scale....)
 As an aside, I' have decided to stay with the LL mechanisms for these units...after tweaking them a bit, they've become very reliable runners and even creep better than most, and, with DC, run at prototype speeds...
 To that end, I've bought a Life Like powered E8 booster unit (the A-cab units are hideous representations of the real one-but the B or booster units appear 'ok') along with the Plano FARR grills designed for the LL E's...from what I can tell from the pics, the ATSF LL unit does not have the dynamic brake...so that will help considerably; the LL unit probably running better between the E6/3 A & B units...
This lashup will look a lot more prototypical-E3A-E8B-E3B- pulling The Fast Mail on the Chicago-Kansas City leg of it's journey...
Otto, one more question...what happened to the Erie-built trio by my era?...1957?
Thanks,
Bruce

[Cajonpassfan]

Bruce,
In answer to your question about the three Eriebuilts (ATSF 90), I don't know exactly, as my cutoff is Spring '51. By then, they were taken off the the first class trains but continued on the likes of the Grand Canyon. I do understand that they were taken out of transcontinental passenger service sometime after '54 and placed in freight service east of Kansas City. Two of them apparently also ran on the KC to Tulsa passenger service but I don't know when. They weren't traded in, to GE, until 1963.
Hope this helps,
Otto K.

[arbomambo]

Just arrived!
  a Life Like E8 B unit painted for Santa Fe....
I remember when these first were released; I was involved in N scale in Austin, TX and was modelling modern era...I remember being impressed with the split frame mechanism and performance but aghast at the shape of the bulldog nose on the cab units...the later released E7 units were better but still shaped a little funky (if I remember correctly, these E8's with the nicer split fram actually were released before the E6 and Alco DL109s...the E6's still have an earlier open frame mechanism with the old 'worm' and heavy grease).
However they run beautifully together, the E8B can't suffer from the same mishape of the A unit, and the paint matches well with the E6's...
 Another odd thing is the way LL decided to body mount the Raqpido couplers on this one...very odd and cumbersome,,,and, although I applaud the attempt, it just doesn't look good at all...
I've already used a spacer to mount a Unimate/Red Caboose 'low profile' coupler to mate perfectly between the E6 A and B unit. A etched stainless steel FARR vertical style slit grill is ordered from Plano Models (they manufacture one specifically for the LL units in addition to the ones they make for the Kato units..
...so this will also get the 'full' treatment:
lift rings
photoetched stirrups
photoetched grills with simulated 'see through' openings in the carbody
Flat Aluminum painted trucks

I'm glad I found this on Ebay (quite cheaply I might add), I doubt we'll see another release of these LL E8 units (thank goodness because of the nose shape on the cab units) from Walthers, although I'd appreciate re-releases of the E6, DL-109's and the Erie Builts. Acquiring this one also saves me the expense of remotoring the E3's with Kato mechanisms to match my original plan to purchase a Kato E8B unit.
Thanks for looking,
Bruce

[arbomambo]

bit by bit...a little here and a little there...but it's coming together...
the replacement bell arrived in the post today (Thanks, Roger!!!!!!!)
I trimmed the 'ears' off and mounted it in the hole that's been waiting for it, but I still need to paint it...also added some mirrors..I believe I'll keep these unpainted, I don't have any pics that show these painted.
I still need to touch up some decal areas before final clear coats and weathering.





Thanks for looking,
Bruce

[arbomambo]

Hello all...
 progress continues on the E8B portion of the ATSF 'E' unit consist...again this is the LifeLike E8B unit.
This one is much easier to detail than the E6/3 units; much less detail to add...

Lift rings (from the BLMA ultimate E and F set)
new stirrups (Gold Medal Models)
seperate FARR-style vertical grills (Plano model products)

I shaved the molded stirrups and drilled for the new GMM version (the center one was a little trickier...)
Drilled for and glued the BLMA lift rings (only 16 for this unit compared to 26 plus for the E3/6 units!)
I used Microscale Black striping, cut to fit, to simulate the openings in the carbody behind the grills; I also used silver striping to simulate the diagonal structural members.
The Plano model FARR grills simply lay over the molded version-I use Gorilla brand CA glue applied to the outer edge of the grill frame. These fit perfectly (These are designed specifically for this model)

These really go a long way to dress up an otherwise 'plain' unit

Thanks for looking,
Bruce

[arbomambo]

Hello all...
posing the three units together before I start to carve a 'alit' in the foam to mount the new backdrop...
I'm happy with the way the E8B unit looks sandwiched between the two E3 units...now, only a little more work remains on the E3B unit before final weathering!
Thanks for looking,
Bruce

[SP-Wolf]

Outstanding work!!!
I'm working on set of E6's (for a frriend)- and hope my set turns out half as nice as yours. This thread has been very insperational.
Have you figured out your head light situation-? If not- I may have a solution for you.

Thanks,
Wolf

[arbomambo]

Thanks, Wolf...

 These have been fun to accurize, and they complement my detailed Kato F and Alco units (the only real gap in my passenger motive power now are the F3 units; major surgery would be needed to model the beautiful Kato F3s as they appeared on the Santa Fe by the mid 50's...)
Still waiting for a Kato re-pop of the Freight F7's!
As far as lighting, DCC is definitely in my future, and with it, the whole lighting packages; the Richmond Controls sytem of LEDs is currently in the top spot of workable solutions...
However, until that time, I probably will be using MV lenses to model the lights...i'll just attatch them with white glue...
I'm curious to hear your ideas on lighting, though...nothing is etched in stone yet; I haven't reached the 'point of no return' as regards to lighting my units...
Thanks again,
Bruce