Ken, You didn't send me an e-mail so I was sure you figured it out. Silly, almost child like our approach to this type of censorship. You have to wonder, what are we thinking? I just finished an ABA set of early Kato, Santa Fe's in the blue pin stripe and the cigar band. Oh, do they look good. Sorry, no pictures I have them copyrighted and I can't share them here. Someone might steal my pictures...LOL By the way....I'm in need of some early Kato, Santa Fe, B units in the paint scheme described above. Looking to purchase.
Update Well it is time for a progress report! I have followed the Verne Niner approack to the Intermountain F units, and have converted about 50 locomotives to the Unimates for the internal couplers between units. I have placed a set on my test track to see how they look, and I will have to say, I really am happy with the closer spacing! Now only 60 more to go.......
They are thinking "These people pay us, so we won't let anyone talk about any other retailer because no other retailer exists. Also, since they are paying us, there will NEVER be any bad reviews just cause they pay us--oh and let us know if there is a problem and maybe we will try to help work it out" I might have paraphrases a little--that is not intended to be a direct quote.
Katman, oops Kermat (The frog?) It is what it is and kind of sad to boot. Oh well! That won't stop me from telling you, if we need to communicate...see signature below. David aka DCESharkMan, you are ahead of me. I've been busy custom fitting, building, whittling, farting (that part not so good) the front coupler assembly. I don't have the right coupler but that isn't going to stop me. I came up with...using a MT box. I took off the lid as the parts went flying. I whittled the box down to just the coupler height with room to swing. Pulled out a McHenry (Now don't be telling anyone about this ok?) Placed "IT" in the box upside down...oop's. Turned it right side up and mounted it to the front of the locomotive. Now it's finally...at the right height. Uglier then sin and way over sized...this just won't do... but I can run it, until my order for the Z scale coupler arrives. In a year or two. Budget restraints. In the budget, do you have any older Kato, F7's, Santa Fe, freight blue "B" Units that you can send me. Whew, took me a half hour to type that. I can switch them over for you and then send you pictures. Grin! No, all kidding aside. Do you have any you want to part with? Looking to purchase. I need to finish off a set of these old timers. Ok if the signature doesn't show up here my e-mail address is: hpwrick@yahoo.com
Rick, I do not have any extras, and am in search of the same locomotives you are. Between the Kato and Intermountain units I am still about 16 A units and 22 B units short of what I need. I did rattle off another 20 locomotives, but then my fingers gave out. Holding the tiny parts isn't as easy as it used to be. I will try more later, but I am also almost out of Unimates. I have 25 more sets comming, but they are not here yet. Guess I will just have to make due by installing more decoders. Comming up next is the lighting package detail where I will be adding surfacemounts to the Mars and the headlight for independent control. In fact, in keeping with ATSF, it will use a dual color Mars, White and Red.
David, Gosh, golly, gee-whiz. Seems we are in the same shape....of things. No problem. Someone out there is most likely willing to pony-up and sell us what's we need. Your fingers got tired? Try 11 more years on those fingers and you might notice they are starting to shake a little. Never mind hurt! I said with a frown. What's with this stuff of getting old...er. That's one bad three letter word.
When I get it all figured out and working, I will start up a post in the DCC forum with the step by step instructions.
Rick, If only you knew how much damage my body has endured over the years....Yes I am starting to feel old. The hands and fingers already shake a bit my friend. But I am trying to feel a little younger every day. On a more better note Rick, I have a friend in Washington State that was able to track down several sets of the Blue Freights so I now have 2 ABBA consists in the blue freight scheme, I only need about 16 more ABBA sets to get close to what I need. Most of these will be either the Cat Whisker or the Cigar Band. I want to have 6 ABBA sets in each scheme. I may end up re-painting all of my UP locomotives..... Fortunately for me, the same friend in WA is also a very talented custom painter. I have told him to keep an eye out for more of the ATSF sets for you. PM me and I will get you hooked up with him. Status Update - All of the IM F units are converted and it is on to the Kato units. I have my 100 short shanks here on the desk, so there is no time like now to get started. In counting thingd up, I think am still about 100 or so short to doing them all.
Hi, all, You'll find that the factory coupling distances on the Kato E8 and PA1 are different than the F7/F3. Using short shank Unimates on both ends of two back-to-back Kato E8 and PA1s, the coupling distance is a little bit too close, the ends actually hit each other on curves. In order to get the proper distance, i.e., not *too* close together, I went to asymmetrical configuration, i.e. short shank on one and medium shank on the other. Here's a description: http://home.comcast.net/~atsf_arizona/Close-Coupling_Kato_E8_and_PA1_using_asymmetrical_Unimates_by_John_Sing.pdf I hope this helps!
