This is an early version of the General Electric EF4 "Little Joe" purchased by the Milwaukee Road. Originally these units were delivered with fully functional cabs on both ends of the locomotive. This particular model captures elements of the earliest EP/EF4 models delivered, appropriate for Milwaulkee Road up through the early 60's, South Shore 800s up until 1983, as well as the five units operated in Brazil until 1999.
About the kit: This is a major upgrade to our earlier design, designed to get your Joe
running with minimal effort. Order the
accompanying chassis and you'll be able to drop in drive-train components from any Kato SD90 locomotive: Worm gears, bearing blocks, drive shaft & motor. The wheels and gear towers from the SD90 will then drop into the Little Joe truck frames. Two options exist for providing power to the motor from the trucks. Lastly you'll need some spare 36" wheels (Intermountain preferred) for the pilot trucks. On a scale of 1 to 5, 1 having no mechanical inclinations at all, and 5 being model builder who isn't afraid of hacking and slicing a locomotive chassis, I'd rate this project as a low 3 for difficulty, maybe even a high 2. An average modeller willing to try should have no problems building this kit.
Watch a video of this kit in action.
Pantograph mounts are spaced to fit Kato GG1 pantographs as drop ins, as well we have
fixed pantographs available if you're having trouble getting your hands on GG1s. Lastly, we do have a project under way, developing an in-house 3D printed articulated pantographs due some time Nov/Dec 2018. Stay tuned for details on those.
Shapeways modeller
SteamMonster was generous to provide a meticulous step-by-step pictoral guide to his build using a a donor Kato GG1 chassis conversion. Take a look
here! (
http://s7.photobucket.com/user/63Hofnerbassman/library/Shapeways%20Little%20Joe%20build?sort=2&page=1)