Intermountain/Genesis/Highliner finally got the F units right; what about E units? I’m not aware than any are in that league; they sure don’t seem right to my eye(s)…
I have a pretty good size group of E 7,8 & 9s. I had a few Proto 2Ks but I didn’t especially like them, no real reason. I like the Cary metal bodies better for their weight and they are easy to paint. The Cary bodies fit very nicely on the Athearn SD40 frame. The silhouette of the Cary bodies is very accurate but they lack detail, I’m more into power than detail on my E Series so no problem here.
Mel
Modeling the early to mid 1950s SP in HO scale since 1951
My Model Railroad
http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/
Bakersfield, California</
Respectfully, this is really the wrong forum for this question.
Go ask this question on the Atlas Rescue Forum. The diesel guys over there are experts on the contours of E and F unit noses, and most of them do not participate over here.
There are already topics over there regarding which bulldog nose on what model is the most accurate, and you might be surprised regarding the E units. I think their main complaint is that the roof details on some of the more recent E unit models are just off.
There are custom builds where they started with a BLI shell, changed maybe the headlight and the roof details, front windows, and the rear details, and ended up with an amazing model, after using aftermarket E unit grills that are nicer than BLI’s.
The Cary body is from an earlier time when most manufacturers were not getting anywhere close to the correct contours of the bulldog nose. I would not put much stock in it being “accurate”. If someone likes the appearance of it, great…but based upon the era in which it was tooled, it is not likely to be in the same league as the Genesis nose contours. The original reason Highliners tooled new F units was because there was nothing on the market that was “accurate”.
John
I have and prefer Genesis and Intermountain F units for their balance of detail, accuracy and performance overall. I have one set of Proto F units, they are not bad.
I have three sets of Proto E units, C&O, B&O, and my ATLANTIC CENTRAL. I’m happy with the performance and detail, and for me the look is close enough, they may not be perfect, I don’t know.
The BLI E unit is lacking in detail compaired to the Proto, not a unit I would buy.
Sheldon
Sandusky,
I’m an Atlas Rescue member and will confirm that PRR8529 is correct regarding the extensive discussions on E unit noses over there. Joining is free. If you do, a modeler to direct your question to is Green-Bay-Packer-Fan as he is referred to as an E-unit guru and is very detailed oriented. You could either send him a PM or just start a topic, like you did here.
High Greens [8D]
I like the Cary metal bodies better for their weight and they are easy to paint. The Cary bodies fit very nicely on the Athearn SD40 frame. The silhouette of the Cary bodies is very accurate but they lack detail, I’m more into power than detail on my E Series so no problem here.
Hi Mel,
it´s the first time I hear about these Cary metal bodies!!! Your post immediately made me search for it on ebay! Same here with me: I´m more into power than detail when it comes to E Series diesels, and since a long time I wanted to have a Rock Island E6 (they are my favorite Es) with metal body, as I really dislike plastic bodies anyway and especially those for my taste too delicate ones of the Proto E Units. I have a question: Do these Cary EME E6 metal bodies fit the Proto E Units? Or do you need to make a lot of adjustments?
By the way: I don´t why but the quoting function is disabled for me. I wanted to insert your words as quote into this posting of mine, but whenver I click on “quote” nothing happens. So I just copypasted your text.
Is there really one correct version of the EMD bulldog nose? I look at prototype photos, as well as photos of the noses under construction at the EMD plant, and I see what look to me like many subtle variations in basic contours, even within a “class” such E7 or F3.
Dave Nelson
De Luxe
I’ve been a Bowser/Cary fan all my model railroad life. The long discontinued Bowser HO Reference Manual says the Cary E 3 to E7 metal bodies will fit Athearn SD40-2, AHM E8, Hobbytown E7 #A76o8F, Hobbytown #A0608 & Multidrive #A0600 Dummy.
I bought a half dozen of the newer Athearn BB SD40-2s off eBay and they fit like a glove, they weigh in at 2.4 pounds as a package and easily hit 6 ounces of drawbar. An A/B pair will pull the paint off the walls. I remotored a pair with Mashima motors for DCC operation using MRC 1730 decoders and they
I have been in conversations with quite a few people involved in the restoration of several EMD E and F style cab units and they have confirmed that there was a bit of variation and that the windshield and numberboard areas in particular have gone through changes over the course of their production run.
They also pointed out that there was a pretty generous use of a “Bondo” like material used for contouring and smoothing out weld seams.
Personally, I have never had a problem with the looks of the Proto, Genesis (Highliner) and Intermountain models.
Regards, Ed
I don’t think the filler was used for much other than smoothing out the curves, particularly between the nose section and the angled windshields.
The actual noses were built from pressings in heavy plate, two that formed the top of the nose and another two the windshield area. I believe these pressings were the same for all E and F units, since the basic shape doesn’t change, although the length of the nose and the angle below the headlight changed.
The noses were, not surprisingly, built up on a jig separate from the locomotive frame and were in theory interchangeable (at least between “long” E units and “bulldog” E and F units). The pressings covered all areas with curvature in more than one plane, and the remainder was just curved to shape on the jig.
A feature not generally realised is that the actual curve of the nose was the same in a vertical section in front of the windshield and a horizontal section below the headlight. So the nose area around the headl
I think that Walthers has done a good job with the E and F noses.