PCM E8 and Kato E8

[Mark5]

I picked up one of the PCM E8s in SOUTHERN recently (cheap!!!).

The PCM E8s are decked out in SOUTHERN's black "tuxedo" scheme used from the late 50s to the early 1970s.

The KATO E8 is decorated for SOUTHERN's 1950s green and white scheme.

The tooling is very nice, and really "dates" the Kato tooling. I have not run it yet so no comments there yet.

Although most of the lettering is crisp and excellent, I am disappointed in the gold border between the Black and Gold - very "fuzzy". I plan to contact PCM about this sometime this week. If this is normal I won't be getting a second one ...

The other part that jumps out to me is the "lip" on the pilot - it looks hand painted. :-\



Also, the way the headlight lenses are mounted looks odd to me.



Thats it for now - sorry for the crappy pix.

Mark

[bbussey]

Does it make the Kato shell appear dated because of the molded-on grab irons?  Even with the molded-on grabs, based on your photos, I like the detail on the Kato shell better.  The cab side windows and cab door windows on the Kato unit look more correct to me, and the pilot area is better.  The Kato horns also are more fine.  The area behind the lenses on the PCM unit could benefit from some black paint, which would hide where/how the lenses are mounted to the body.

[wcfn100]

I had originally stayed away due the the door headlight and the pilot height.  I finally broke down and got a CB&Q due to the fact that MS doesn't sell (or I couldn't find) CB&Q E7/8 decals in the red stripes.  I had wanted an E7 but they still had the old sound/dcc system.

It has been hinted that Kato will fix their CB&Q E8s by losing the DB and do them in the red stripes.  Time will tell.

The PCM came with a second "closed pilot" which was a nice find opening the box.

And FWIW, the Kato shell's mold line looks terrible in those pics, but know that the PCM has a visible line too. It comes down the side of the nose and follows the angle of the front side window.

Jason

[Packer]

The area behind the lenses on the PCM unit could benefit from some black paint, which would hide where/how the lenses are mounted to the body.

Painting that area silver or grey would actually be prototypical

[sundowner]

Looks like BL/PCM got a five year old to hand paint the shell. 

[Sokramiketes]

The cab side windows and cab door windows on the Kato unit look more correct to me,...

PCM mistakenly left the E7 style cab windows on the E8 models.  That's why they look funny. 

[sizemore]

I dunno, the details on the Kato look cleaner. The PCM looks like a cleaned up Life-Less E-8 with a corrected nose. The PCM pilot is less than desirable. The grab irons look disgusting! And the paint is horrible too. I'd rather just detail up a Kato E-8 shell!

The S.

[DKS]

I dunno, the details on the Kato look cleaner. The PCM looks like a cleaned up Life-Less E-8 with a corrected nose. The PCM pilot is less than desirable. The grab irons look disgusting! And the paint is horrible too. I'd rather just detail up a Kato E-8 shell!

Agreed. If I was in the market for an E, I'd take the Kato. The anticlimber on the PCM is an embarrassment.

[Mark5]

Does it make the Kato shell appear dated because of the molded-on grab irons?

Probably the etched grills. ;D I have to admit I'm not much of an E unit person, I don't model SOUTHERN and the only E units I remember as a kid were the SOUTHERN ones.

The cab side windows and cab door windows on the Kato unit look more correct to me, and the pilot area is better.

I see what you and Jason mean!

The Kato horns also are more fine. 

They are also different horns ... probably neither is correct. Southern E8s had air resevoirs on the roof IIRC ("torpedo" tubes!).

Here's a pic:

http://southern.railfan.net/images/archive/southern/e_units/sou2923.html

The molding creases in the Kato F and E nose are highly annoying to me. Not a problem on the Kato Fs I will be painting since I can sand them out.

But for SOUTHERN which I don't really model, I wanted a decorated unit. I have no interest in custom painting anything other than N&W. I bought this really on the cheap (less than $50) but I was hoping the finish was at least decent. : - given that the shells are the same on the sound units. If I had paid the list price for this with DCC and Sound ($199.99) I would be really pissed about the finish.

I wonder how this thing runs ... gotta set up the Unitrak loop when I get a chance.

Mark

[Bob Bufkin]

They can be tempermental as hell on track.  Runs much better in DCC than DC.  Least little bump or gap and it resets the sound, etc.  Sure makes you go back and redo trackwork.