Con Cor E8s

[oldrk]

Are they any good? What are the mechs like? Any pictures of the mechs?

[Powersteamguy1790]

I'll take Kato E-8's anytime. Now, those are E-8's.:lightning::lightning:

Stay cool and run steam......

[dascrab]

I'll give the worst first..
They have a truck mounted pilot and the body detail is bit overly high. The good news is that they are made by kato and are strong pullers. If you have a nice donor pilot, it can be mounted onto the con cor body easily enough. I will agree with Powersteamguy though. The Kato brand is better.
RICK

[atsf_arizona]

Yes, go with the Kato E8s. Definitely best of breed.

[AB&CRRone]

Any pictures of the mechs?

Here are scans of the mechanism. Typical 3-piece frame construction.





Ben

[r_i_straw]

The good news is that they are made by kato and are strong pullers.

The first ones were made by Kato, however when Con Cor and Kato parted ways, Con Cor got the tooling and they are now made in China. Old tech, not state of the art. But if you can get them cheep, they are rugged and will grind away for hours.

[AB&CRRone]

The first ones were made by Kato, however when Con Cor and Kato parted ways, Con Cor got the tooling and they are now made in China. Old tech, not state of the art. But if you can get them cheep, they are rugged and will grind away for hours.

The one in the scan is from a mid-1990's run, undoubtedly the made-in-China version. And "grind" is very descriptive. I bought three in order to get two mechanisms for an AB consist that ran well together. This one is the third.

I never owned one of the Kato built E8's. I did have Kato built and made-in-China PA's and the Kato built ones were superior.

Ben

[oldrk]

Does the pilot snap off of the front truck and could it be mounted on the shell?

[AB&CRRone]

Does the pilot snap off of the front truck and could it be mounted on the shell?

Not sure it can simply be snapped off. It could be removed at least by cutting but mounting it on the shell would require a shim to keep it from riding "high."

Ben