CNW "Crandall Cab" Conversion for Railking E8 Locomotive (UPDATE with Premier Scale Crandall)

I don't know how I missed this until today.  Another unique piece for your railroad.

Ken, do you know if the width/ height is same as a scale B unot?

Is this a resin print, looks like it? 

Could you modify the file easily to be just the cab, that way it could be spliced to a scale B.

@Trainguy Ken posted:

My latest creation is yet another oddball locomotive never before seen in O Gauge-- the Chicago and North Western's "Crandall Cab" E8.                                                                                                           

OK.......let's see.....CREATIVITY......COMPUTER SAVVY.......INVENTIVENESS........MECHANICAL  and  ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING.....etc., etc

Great fun work Ken.   thanks for sharing sir.

Another great custom project Ken.

Bob

@coach joe posted:

I don't know how I missed this until today.  Another unique piece for your railroad.

@Dallas Joseph posted:

OK.......let's see.....CREATIVITY......COMPUTER SAVVY.......INVENTIVENESS........MECHANICAL  and  ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING.....etc., etc

Great fun work Ken.   thanks for sharing sir.

Thank you everyone for the kind words!

@NHVRYGray posted:

Ken, do you know if the width/ height is same as a scale B unot?

Is this a resin print, looks like it?

Could you modify the file easily to be just the cab, that way it could be spliced to a scale B.

---

The width and height of this Crandall body are very close to scale. The variable factor would be the height of the frame and trucks of the donor locomotive-- I'm not sure if scale E8s would be quite the same height as the MTH Railking E8 frame that I used, particularly since the Railking trucks themselves are underscale.

Yes, this is a resin print-- I picked up a resin printer last summer and have been using it quite heavily for the past 6 months. I still use good old filament for mechanical parts like the Crandall's pilot, where flexibility and strength is more important than surface finish.

It would certainly be possible to make a conversion kit containing just the Crandall's cab and the new pilot-- that is how the prototypical Crandalls were made, as is clearly evident from the paint-shop photos. Of course, that would require taking a saw to a fully painted and detailed locomotive body, which is a bit more involved than backing out some the screws and dropping the frame out. To make things more complicated, most B-units that I've seen are dummy locos, so you'd either have to cut up an A-unit or add motor trucks to a B-unit. I have some ideas for how to design a full-scale body kit if there's sufficient interest.

Great job. I have attached the templates for a full O scale Crandall Cab conversion. I don't recall if it has the cutting instructions, but it should be pretty straightforward. Credit to Dennis Eggert for making them up.

Congratulations, Ken.  I am pleased to inform you that your personal record has been awarded ten merits for ingenuity and expertise in creating computer-printed car bodies for E2A and B, as well as C&NW Crandall Cab E8, O gauge model locomotives.  

While up to thirty demerits may be assessed for any incident of rules violations, we are constrained by the Brown System of Discipline from awarding more than ten merits at one time, and then only for truly exceptional performance.  Merits are awarded only upon approval by the Vice President - Mechanical or the Vice President - Operations.  Were it not for the aforementioned constraint, your work would have earned you ten merits for the E2's and an additional ten for the Crandall Cab.

One of my customers was kind enough to lend me a MTH Premier E8A from his collection so I could design the full scale sized Crandall Cab E8. She's a mighty big locomotive!

Dismantling the donor frame was easier than expected-- four body screws and 1 connector harness. This particular locomotive has compact Protosounds 3.0 boards which makes for a relatively roomy interior. The original headlight brackets won't line up with the new shell without heavy modification (which I won't risk with a borrowed locomotive), but the old cab interior works surprisingly well.

I started by making a mockup of the electronics in Fusion 360.

Once I had the mockup, I superimposed the semi-scale kit over the top of it and started cutting, fitting and tweaking. After quite a bit of CAD work, I had a four-piece body that was the proper scale length. I colored the sections so you can see where the divisions are. This is necessary to squeeze the 18" long body into my printers.

Here's a close-up of the Crandall cab itself with the new pilot added. This does have a truck-mounted pilot, based on the semi-scale model, but modified to fit the larger Premier scale trucks.

The whole kit, printed out in UV-cured resin (with the pilot in sturdy ABS), looks like this. The front and rear sections screw into the E8A's original screw holes, while the two center sections tab in between them. The pilot reuses the original truck screws to mount in place.

Here's what the locomotive looks like fully assembled onto that Premier E8A frame.

Here's a view from the rear. The PS3 engines have a panel with all of the run/pgm switches on them that is accessible through the open vestibule door in the kit's rear.

Here's a video of the rebodied locomotive running on my layout. Man those PS3 sounds are nice!

Although I developed this locomotive conversion kit for a specific customer, I know that several others have expressed interest in this project, so I'm going to print a couple of these. Please send me an email if you would like to reserve a kit for yourself.

That is one ugly loco - which means that you have captured the look of the prototype. Good work. Heck - maybe there is a market for it among hardcore CNW fans.

Nice. Waiting to see it painted.

I have an oddball B unit, I like oddities, so what better to do with it.  Not a C&NW person, but they are odd.

@Trainguy Ken posted:

One of my customers was kind enough to lend me a MTH Premier E8A from his collection so I could design the full scale sized Crandall Cab E8. She's a mighty big locomotive!

, I know that several others have expressed interest in this project, so I'm going to print a couple of these. Please send me an email if you would like to reserve a kit for yourself.

My two cents Ken ,  possible use of household window screen could be used for the ventilation slats glued inside of the body !?!   🤔      There is plastic screen , metal screen and if I remember there was a fine screen on the Amazon site.

Everything is looking good Ken