Help with Tomix/Kato EF-15

[Lemosteam]

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

DFF

For the windows, you could just shave off the flange around the frame and square the corners a little and patch some in with styrene.

[Dave V]

For the windows, you could just shave off the flange around the frame and square the corners a little and patch some in with styrene.

That's the plan.  Check back to my last post on your Shapeways idea.  Suggest calling these old EF15s a write-off (mine is actually Micro-Ace and not even Tomix) but if the new ones from Kato are 21st-Century (i.e., smaller flanges, knuckle couplers, and DCC-ready) then that's where I'd focus your efforts.

[nkalanaga]

If all you want is to "Pennsyfy" it, it should work very nicely.  My genuine Kato ran well on ME code 55 flex and turnouts, but not on C40, until I had the flanges turned.  It's painted as a MILW unit, and the only major change I made was new pans.  Kato's don't work, and I wanted something that would at least follow the wire.  It doesn't look like anything the MILW owned, but they could have bought a similar motor if they'd needed the power.

[C62-2]

In order to get an older Kato EF58 and some Japanese prototype steam to work on code 55 track, I've had very low-tech success with using a hand drill and a file to turn down the flanges. In the cases where I could pull one of the wheels off the axel, I just put the axel in the chuck and turned down the other wheel. This was all a while back, but I think I may have also put one wheel in the chuck and turned the other when if I couldn't pull the wheel off. Having grown up in PRR territory and now living in Tokyo, I like the idea of PRR-ifying one of the Japanese box cabs. I've been on and off trying to figure out which J-prototype is closest to something the PRR had to make something to go along with my GG1s. The EF-15 --> FF2 seems like a reasonable starting point, so I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out!