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Grills for scratchbuilt E8 locomotives


rbrown7713
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Well, I did some investigating and found Rich Garich, of Garich Light Transport, and talked to him on the phone.  He is a very nice man and told me the whole story about the making of the E-8's.  He told me that 30 of them had been sold before he and his partner had a falling out.  His partner was not interested in the E-8 and so the E-8 portion of the business died.  He told me that the grills were made by Echo Mountain by Jim Oliver and is now deceased.  He also told me that the grills have a line the full length etched into them for bending but still has to be bent with a brake.  I found out that the original silicon molds still exist for the E-8.  They were, before the disagreement, going to also make, E7's.  He was also involved in making some 1" gauge locos.  He also told me that he is modelling some fish belly rail. He also told me that the original pattern maker of the E-8 was a pattern maker for Hot Wheels.  He told me a bunch of other stuff, but I will let him tell the story if he wants.  That is about it, and It was a very interesting conversation and I enjoyed it.  Bob.

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Chuck, I just got an email from Garich and he said that yes, he only made the horizontal for two Burlington E8s and I have one.  All of the rest are vertical.  Both the vertical and the horizontal are the standout type and  have the bends in them with the tabs.  If I was installing from scratch, I would use a small mill bit in a Dremel and cut the slots.  I took a closer look at my E8 and that is what it looks like.  More like a slot cut with a Dremel by hand  and about a .020 slot.  He sent me these two pictures.  The last picture is my design and the grill fits into a pocket, a pocket that the Garich does not have. Bob.

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I am curious Chuck.  Your Garich kit that you have, what number and name is scribed on the inside?  It also should have an emoticon also scribed.  I am just trying to figure out if it is actually a Garich produced kit and not a copy. Please send me a picture of the shell, Bob.

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I took a closer look at my Garich shell and I see what you mean, there is just enough recess to place a flat grill, my mistake.  However, they were only designed to install a standoff grill, whether they be vertical or horizontal grills. Bob.

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It is official.  The original Garich E8 locomotive, "GARICH Light TRANSPORT" mold is on the way to me.  I located it about 2 weeks ago and have purchased it.  I have relized that I will have to make molds for a lot of other parts to make up one loco, but it will be fun. I will send pictures when it arrives.  I have found that 30 of these locomotives were sold before the co. went belly up.   Bob.

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Here's my inscribed numbers...both shells are the same...

 

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I had to strip all the paint off because it was screwed up big time...The second shell is out in the blast cabinet.

See no holes for grills.

 

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See I like the Plano grills better than the original Garich design. Plano grills are flat and horizontal bars are same size as the borders bars.

What I've been thinking is if I use the Garich grills would just remove tabs then bend sides and end 180 deg. instead of 90. Then glue into shell with that removeable glue. 

Grill recess in body is approx. .012 - .019 deep. Grills are .009 thick...remove tabs and fold sides completely over would make grills say .018 thick. Mount flat in recess and have maybe .003 - .005" protrusion BUT they wouldn't be flimsy. Grab a loco with hand over the top and lift...grills won't crush in with that ill conceived stand-off design.

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I talked to Plano and they remembered me from 2004 when I bought some flat grills from them for my E8.  They asked me how they fit and I told them that they fit well.  The flat grills that they would have to make for the Garich would have to be about .020 wider than the ones that I bought.   They also said that they would have to make new patterns because the old ones disappeared.  So, I told him that I would get back to him  with the new measurements and I also asked him about making an extra long design for a B unit.  He will parbably sell these things in sheets so maybe we could go in together to make it cheaper.  In part of the deal with the mold, I promised an A AND A B unit as part of the deal, so I will also be making a b unit. I just found a section of the old grill and laid into the groove and it fit perfectly.  How is that for modelling 1:32 scale.   The grill is .747 inches by .0075 thick, no grooving is required. Let me know. Bob.

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On 9/18/2020 at 9:46 AM, rbrown7713 said:

It is official.  The original Garich E8 locomotive, "GARICH Light TRANSPORT" mold is on the way to me.  I located it about 2 weeks ago and have purchased it.  I have relized that I will have to make molds for a lot of other parts to make up one loco, but it will be fun. I will send pictures when it arrives.  I have found that 30 of these locomotives were sold before the co. went belly up.   Bob.

 

Gonna be interesting to see what condition the molds are in as my 2 shells show the inner mold being damaged as there's irregularities on the inside from every side window to bottom of shell. Like the mold was ripped getting it out of the windows. 

 

Did he happen to have the 2 pilot molds?

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It hasn't arrived yet, but I will let you know as to the condition of the mold.  Should be here in a couple of days.  I might have to make a mold for the pilot, that wasn't included.  I am also having some other parts sent to me, so lets hope there is a pilot in the package. Bob.

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I just checked and yes, I am being sent a pilot which I will  make a mold.  After thinking about it, the inner mold being flawed,  it might have been that they had to remove the inner mold in sections to get it out, it's called mold lock.  I don't know but that is what it sounds like, I will let you know.

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That's interesting on the mold lock idea!

 

On the grills it all depends on what they look like...if they look like the Plano design then great! How many grills to a sheet?

 

The pilot, I have these but was wondering if he ever made the streamlined version?

 

 

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That is the one that I will be making a mold of.  I keep talking to Kieth at Plano and it is very hard to get information out of him.  I sent him a picture of the fan shrouds and the dimensions of the shrouds are correct, but he failed to tell me if they were like the picture, as there alot of different types of shrouds.  Now he is saying that he can't do anything until next month, so I don't know.  I feel like trying another company, but I don't know which one. I will get the mold in a few minutes and will take a look at it and post it.Bob.

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