Another impulse buy from eBay. I spotted this collection of detail parts going for a song so I snapped them up. There are about forty packets of parts, including several complete sets of Smokey Valley handrails.
Several of the parts are for SD50/60 locomotives, inluding a set of brass handrails, which will be perfect for my old school blue-box SD60 kitbash.
I also picked up a couple of Athearn GP60 Shells to use for the build, one of which turned out to be an in-progress Santa Fe unit which has already had a considerable amount of detailing time put into it.
The SD60 build will require only parts of a shell and it would be a shame to undo all that great work. I expect this locomotive will get finished off and painted instead of being hacked up, although I don't have any SF decals at the moment...
At this rate I will need to get a second organiser to keep my parts in, I've got a surprising amount of bits-n-pieces I've accumulated over the past couple of years, with all manner of small details west and Cannon parts in the box. Even with all those packets I still never seem to have the actual part I need at any time though!
I noticed this SD50 shell going cheap on ebay and picked it up for less than a tenner, it's an Athearn RTR and perfect as a replacement for the parted out Conrail 50 I have sitting on the 'to do' pile. The shell has clearly had a major collision with the floor at some point, but its in good shape apart from the walkways which have disintegrated. I already have a Conrail walkway and handrails, the long hood and other parts are the pieces I needed.
I really should get around to completing some of these rebuilds soon, it's getting crowded in the parts box! :)
Considering I am trying to slim down my collection I seem to be buying slightly too many new models!
This Kato SD40 was listed on ebay with a very low starting price, as I'm looking for parts for my SD39 build I thought it might make a good chassis donor so I slung in a bid and forgot about it until the e-mail popped up to say I'd won... for £22! That's a very keen price for a Kato and I fully expected the seller to decline the transaction, but sure enough it appeared in the post this morning.
Very nice it is too, one of the early release Kato models with the window packaging, this model predates DCC ready models and will need to be hard-wired with a decoder. The shell was originally Canadian Pacific but it has been repainted (without being stripped) into a Southern Pacific unit. The repaint is pretty good but I will probably strip the shell down and start from scratch if I do decide to keep the unit as an SD40.
Detail level is pretty good, but not up to the standards of the modern Genesis line, there are no see-through fans or other small details, and the walkway handrails are particularly chunky. The best thing about the model is the ultra smooth Kato motor and drivetrain. This model purrs like a kitten and I'm sure it's going to make a great addition to the roster, either as-is or as the basis for my SD39 build.
Ironically, the SD40 frame I ordered from the states turned up today as well, a part that cost over half as much as this entire locomotive! At least it gives me an alternative option for mounting my Railpower SD38 shell - another potential base for the SD390 project.
I managed to pick up an Atlas C30-7 on ebay for £30 - perfect for the Redbird project, and much more detailed than the Railpower shell.
This model was advertised as having a missing fuel tank, but I also picked up a box of assorted detail parts from the same seller and discovered the missing fuel tank was actually in the second lot. So I have a complete C30-7 ready for stripping and detailing.
The second lot was advertised as containing a railpower GP35 shell, which I though might be useful to swap with the Athearn RTR I bought recently (the Athearn RTR is based on the Railpower shell).
However when I looked at the GP35 shell it turned out to be a Kato GP35, not a Railpower, so I'm not sure what I will do with that one. I don't have any Kato spares, and there are no handrails or cab glazing for the shell. It is beautifully detailed with walkway tread and very finely cast details, so I will probably try to get it up and running some day, perhaps on an adapted Railpower chassis.
The rest of the lot was an assortment of whitemetal detail parts and some Atlas details, along with a stripped blue-box GP9 shell.
