GP60 Build - Back on the bench at last.

I finally dug out the GP60's and got them on the workbench. Now I've got a proper modelling cave in the garage I can work on a build without taking over the kitchen table.

In the meantime I've acquired a Proto 2000 GP60 shell which I was able to use as a comparison.

First thing I noticed was that the models weren't as correct as I remembered, the horn looks too low on one of them and the cannon sub-base was definitely sitting on a warped walkway.

So, a bit of jimmying with a scalpel and the nose and sub base are off the model and ready to be re-fitted.  A small piece broke off the edge of one sub-base but it will easily glue back on.

I realised that I had glued them in place with the shell sitting flat, but due to the low pilot face that resulted in an upward bend on the walkway - the solution is to let the pilot face overhang the edge of the workbench when fitting the nose.

Second thing is that the horn looks too low down on the hood.  It came with a really tall looking horn stand that I thought was too big, so I just glued the horn directly onto the top of the hood.  Looking at it now I'm thinking the horn should be up a bit higher.

Athearn RTR GP35 - Project Locomotive

Another cheap geep for the Peoria project.  This one is an Athearn RTR GP35 in Western Pacific silver and orange livery. 

The ebay listing advertised it as a basket-case but this locomotive is actually in very good shape.  This is a reissue of the old Rail Power Products shell, with some extra detailing and see-through fans.  The chassis is DCC ready and it's a nice little model.  The only issues with this one are missing coupler pockets, snapped handrails and a front truck with damaged sideframes.

The previous owner has broken the sideframe mounting pins and then attempted to fix the problem by drilling holes through the plastic and using plastruct tube to refit the frames.  It's a bit of a mess of glue and plastic, so the easiest way to fix it will be a replacement truck (any Athearn GP7 or F7 truck will fit).  So it needs a little work, but for the price it was a steal.

Photograph of High Hood N&W #1309 from http://www.nwhs.org/

I plan to turn this loco into a high-hood N&W unit, the handrails will either be glued back together or replaced with brass wire and I will fit a Cannon high nose.

Rail Power for the Redbird?

While casting around for parts I picked up some more Rail Power Products shells on ebay recently and the first of them arrived this morning.  It's a Phase II GE C30-7 shell (Railpower part #60-501) designed to fit onto an Athearn u-boat chassis.

Mounting pin holes cast into walkway edge (lower left)

This shell dates from around 1989 and is one of the earliest models produced by the company, it is certainly on a par with the Athearn models of the day, although it does feature cast on mounting pin holes on the walkway sides to fit the Athearn frames, a feature that Athearn dropped after the SD40-2 in 1980. 

Other than some flash here and there, this is a pretty good basis for a 'four foot' model, but it may be a simple way to improve it for the N&W Redbird project. 

I have an Atlas B23-7 shell in the parts bin, so I'm thinking that with some careful cutting, it might be possible to assemble a composite model by splicing the Railpower hood inbetween the Atlas cab and radiator sections, the Atlas parts are modern and high detail, so the end result will probably look much more detailed than the Railpower shell on it's own.

Benson bits and pieces - bargains for the parts bin.

One of my favourite areas of any model railroad show is the secondhand sales tables, I'm always keen to pick up a bargain or a bag of bits for the parts bin and this weekends Benson NMRA meet was no exception.

The bring-and-buy tables were packed with all kinds of kits and bits, including a huge collection of 'O' gauge and a massive selection of Walther Amtrak coaches, along with the usual Athearn blue box and other assorted HO stock.

I picked up a number of cheap items that caught my eye, although all of them are very definitely going to be filed in the parts bin or added to the 'to do' list.

This Railpower SD60M (bizzarely painted in Warbonnet scheme) was a great deal at only £6, worth it for the trucks, plow and cables alone, I will probably strip the shell and rebuild it as a different roadname at some point.

This Dummy GP60 was only £3 and will make a good parts loco, or I may add a motor and sell it on.

A dash 9 shell minus one of it's fuel tank sides for 50p

Four DPM/Rix buildings for £9, these will clean up nicely to fill out my next freemo module.

A vintage Heljan/Con-Cor kit for a Ford C Auto Transporter.  All the parts seem to be there, including the transfers and instructions.  This was £3 but I'm already thinking that it might be too rare to build and perhaps would be best sold on to a collector instead.

There were several more items that caught my eye, including a number of Athearn blue box Railbox cars at £2 each, but I opted to save those for another day (i've got several on the to-do list already) and having reviewed the sheer number of projects waiting in boxes here in the house, I reckon I might need to do a bit of a spring clean and sell on some of the less likely projects before my next purchasing trip.

Norfolk Southern GP60 Project - Converting a pair of GP60M's

Here's an update on my next project.  A pair of Norfolk Southern GP60's  These will be converted from Athearn/Railpower GP60M's and detailed as Norfolk Southern #7121 & #7129.

Here's a picture of the prototypes:

Here are the base models:

 A basket case Athearn GP60M I purchased very cheaply on ebay, the engine has suffered some collision damage, the truck sideframes are gone and the cab is loose.  Because of the damage I was able to pick it up very cheaply.

The second locomotive will be based on a 'new old stock' Railpower Products GP60M shell and chassis kit I bought from MG Sharp models (one of the few UK suppliers for RPP).

The Athearn is a reissue of the old RPP shell, so both of these locomotives will have the same heritage.

I will be stripping the Athearn shell and ditching the cabs (if anyone needs a couple of GP60M cabs then I'm open to offers). :)

I've already purchased most of the parts I need for these builds, including the correct truck sideframes and various Details West and Detail Associates parts.

One of the pair will be built with a salvaged Athearn SD50 cab, the other will use a Cannon cab.
I will update on progress as these builds get underway.