Repairing a Life Like E8 Cow Catcher

[Chef Waardevast]

Hi All

I just finishing converting a Life Like E8 Santa Fe Ho loco to DCC and I accidentally dropped the loco much to my disappointment. As a result I chipped the cow catcher (see image below). I don't know where the missing piece is unfortunately. Does anyone know a fix for this or where to buy a replacement?

Best regards
George

 

[Rico]

Hmm that’s a tough one!
Other than finding a cheap donor unit best bet might be 3D printing or resin casting?
You might be able to fabricate a patch from styrene too.

 

[Chef Waardevast]

Hmm that’s a tough one!
Other than finding a cheap donor unit best bet might be 3D printing or resin casting?
You might be able to fabricate a patch from styrene too.

Thanks for the post. You know a 3D printer may not be a bad investment. As it happens I own a few E8s and noticed I had a spare guard for some reason in one of the boxes. That was a stroke of luck. I will try and repair the old one now that emergency is over and I have a replacement. Thanks for the suggestion

 

[skyliner]

Those are called "pilots" or in some cases "snowplows" depending on shape. If you have Proto 2000 locomotives, many of their E-units came with two sets of pilots to provide some customization depending on the railroad. I think my CNW E8 from them came with two slightly different shaped pilots.

For replacements, Cal Scale made one in brass, here's one on Ebay:

HO PARTS Cak-Scale Brass Pilot w/Cover for F-Units & E-Units, New | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for HO PARTS Cak-Scale Brass Pilot w/Cover for F-Units & E-Units, New at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

Details West makes a cast snowplow version, but it may not be appropriate for yours, I don't know if the ATSF ever used this style on their E8s.

HO scale PARTS locomotive Details West PL-160 snow plow EMD E F unit pilot | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for HO scale PARTS locomotive Details West PL-160 snow plow EMD E F unit pilot at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

Detail Associates also made a "passenger pilot" in HO:

HO Scale Detail Associates 2214 Diesel Passenger Pilot CAB Units for sale online | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for HO Scale Detail Associates 2214 Diesel Passenger Pilot CAB Units at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

And I thought Details West also made an E-unit/F-unit detail kit that included a pilot...but I can't seem to find any pictures of that online, so I might be mistaken. I've been at several hobby stores over the last couple months looking through boxes of detail sets; I wasn't looking for E-unit parts, however, but I seem to remember seeing something that included a pilot in that shape. In any event, these replacements would likely require some fitting to attach to your locomotive.

 

[Chef Waardevast]

Thank you so much for the post, I live in Australia the term cow catcher was used in the early days it may well have changed since but pilot sounds much friendlier I can assure you. I really appreciate the suggestion I will certainly follow this up as having spares on hand will always be handy.