Maine Central E7

[westernmaine]

Hi all, some in-progress views of a current project. My goal was to improve the appearance of a P2K E7 by replacing the stock cab. I've never really like the appearance, the arch of the nose is too pronounced, and there is that unsightly crease between the nose top and the lower windshield corner posts, very evident in the MEC and B&M paint schemes as a stripe passes through it. Here's a stock engine so that you can see what I mean:


First I lopped off the cab from a spare E7 body, then grafted on a cab from a Stewart F3. This also got me the 45 degree number boards I wanted. I inadvertently cut too far back on the body, so had to shim the cab with Evergreen styrene to get the right body length.

Here's how things looked after surgery, which included sanding off the mold parting lines on the Stewart nose and drilling for detail parts such as grab irons:


A close up of the cab:

After paint, decalling and some detailing:


I still need to add couplers, more grabs, air horns and windshield wipers.

Just for fun, I decided to recycle the leftovers. here's what I came up with:

[kcs1967]

Brandon

Talk about timing, I just acquired an E7, still in the mail in fact, but I was thinking it looked a bit "Swoopie"

[spud7378]

nice job brandon worth all the trouble, you would never know that it was a chop job!

[icghogger]

Pretty Sweet, Brandon, even the "leftovers" look good (but be extra careful stepping out of the 4235....without handholds, it could hurt when you get to the bottom step ;D)!!

[westernmaine]

Thanks for the nice words guys . Justin, if you do decide to do the same thing be assured that this is an easy kitbash. Just take your time when cutting the two bodies so that your cuts are plumb. Total surgery time was less than 30 minutes from first cut to final solvent-welding.

Bob if I take the 4235 project any furthe, it will get more details for sure (and replace the hideous P2K pilot). I'm torn betwen modeling it as a retired junker being cannibilized behind the shops vs. just tossing it as is onto eBay to see what happens

[NS91]

Great locomotive, but being a Southern RR fan I feel bad for that SOU E unit.

[westernmaine]

William, If it had been in the Tuxedo scheme, I would have had a hard time sacrificing it

[lindsaya99]

I see that there is a bottle of Tenax in the background of your pic. Is that what you used to weld the two bodies together? I have made the same conversion with the P2K E7 and Stewart F-unit. I haven't painted it yet because the joint between the two shells keeps cracking. I used Testor's liquid cement to joint the two shells followed up with CA.

[westernmaine]

Yes, I used Tenax. Fitrst I added some scrap styrene interior "tabs" across the seam between shells for added reinforcement. one for each side and another on the underside of the roof. This also allowed me to postion the two pieces accurately as the solvent set up. Once I was happy with that I ran a small bead of Tenax along the length of the seam to fully weld both pieces together.

[deez]

I love it. it came out sooo good! If you dont like how they look, hack'em up and make'em better baby! Thats what I do:) Great job!

[westernmaine]

a couple of in-service shots from the maiden voyage:

and:

[kcs1967]

Brandon, she looks great in action!! Did you consider using from in front of the door forwards for the cab/nose replacement?

[westernmaine]

Justin, I considered cutting there but was concerned about the close tolerances between the caab doror and the side window. Not much margin for error if the saw slipped and mangled the window area. THe space aft of the door allowed for a little more leeway