Good day ladies and gents.
Will a Proto 2000 E-7 shell fit on a Proto 1000 Erie Built cab unit chassis? I have the chassis with DCC and sount already installed and an chance to pick up a shell in my prototype. It will save either a DCC install or a repaint job. I can do both and probably will, “when I get around to it”, if you know what I mean, so the swap would be imediate gratification.
Thanks for your help.
RoyPea
Roy,
Did you try contacting Walthers to ask them? They’ve usually been pretty good about getting back to me on inquiries.
Tom
I’m not sure, but I think the E units are longer than the Erie Builts. So if the shell does go on, it will probably look pretty interesting.
I don’t know if the shells will mechanically fit or not. But if the models are anywhere close to prototype dimension, you probably might want to know that there is a difference between the center to center distance of the trucks. According to information on the Diesel Shop website, the center to center dimension is 51’ 10" on the Erie Built (http://www.thedieselshop.us/Data%20FM%20ERIE-BUILTS.HTML), and 57’ 1" on the E-7 (http://www.thedieselshop.us/Data%20EMD%20E7.HTML). Whether this 5’ difference matters to you is another question.
Well as a friend of mine used to say, “You can’t put a square peg into a round hole…unless you have a really big hammer”. I guess if you really want to put an E-7 shell on a FM Erie-built chassis you could do it at least eventually. You might need to file some metal in the chassis to make it fit, and as noted you’d have to be OK with the truck centers being wrong (assuming the difference doesn’t affect the turning ability of the trucks) and that the trucks themselves will be the wrong kind for an E-unit, and that the sound of an FM diesel is nothing like an EMD E-unit.
I believe you’ll find the E unit body is a little longer than the Erie Built body. It could pose a problem for the trucks on turns. I had just the reverse of that problem in mounting an Athearn SDP40F body on a Proto 2000 E6 chassis. I had to trim a little off the ends of the chassis so the body would fit.
No.
Erie is a smaller the E-6 and up. I have both and unless you cut the shell down in the center it will not work.
Is the Erie a Proto 1000 that someone added sound to? I never seen a factory sound Erie. Want to sale or trade? I have a E-7 PK 2 with sound I am not in love with.
Cuda Ken
Thanks for all of the great replys, Okay, I now know more than I did and will not pursue the switch but will rather take on the sound install and the repaint, its a hobby right, we’re supposed to have too many projects waiting to be completed right?
Thanks again
Roy
This distance is pretty close to three quarters of an inch and that’s going to be readily apparent.
If I understand this correctly you want to fit an E7 bodyshell over an Erie-built chassis. Although not as common today as some years back there have been numerous articles over the years on how to shorten or, in this case, lengthen a frame. Not sure what your skills might be but usually this involves cutting the chassis and using brass channel for rejoining the severed parts. Not an easy chore, admittedly.
Even if you were to do this are you sure that FM’s A1A trucks a