Maybe I'll get around to starting mine in two years- if they're not retired by then!
But the -2B's are safe from the dual modes. However, can't say the same about the CNJ units, -2As, FH-2s, and F40's...
My Model Railroad: Tri State RailMy Photos on Flickr: FlickrMy Videos on Youtube: YoutubeMy Photos on RRPA: RR Picture Archives
...a mere two years. Perhaps another two and I'll have it painted and decaled!
-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/)
Wow, talk about rising from the dead!
Great Work!
BTW, I never got around to this project. Don't know if I ever will either...
WCfan ns3010: Are you going to keep bothering me until I get it exactly perfect? And then you're going to measure it to make sure that it's perfect.While I'm at it, should I weather it until every piece of dust, every bit of grime, and every splotch of oil are exactly like 4218? And should I program the sound decoder until the horn matches the exact pitch of 4218? But seriously, I'm willing to compromise on this. It will probably not end up on display at a train show or in a museum, or be sold. The only time that people (besides me) will ever see it is in pictures. Look at my F40 for example. None of the cuts line up, I didn't cut the HEP doors on the hood, and the rear wall is COMPLETELY wrong. But do I care? Nope. I like you enthusiasm in your projects, keep that up! I hate to ruin it; I only want to save you some time, money, and a GP40! But you can't just take the SD45 flares and throw them on a GP40, first the SD 45 flares are all wrong, but you don't seem to mind that...but that wasn't my point in the first place! On the SD45 there is a "seam" between the DB and the radiators, let’s say you cut it there. On the GP40, there is also another seam between the DB and radiators; lets say you cut the GP40 radiators off there. If you put the SD45 radiators where the GP40 radiators where, you'd just barely have enough room for the SD45 radiators. You'd also still need to add a HEP fan too. Ok now lets say you wanted to make more room, and you cut the SD45 radiator right off at where the SD45 radiator starts, and you cut the GP40 right up to the back of the DB (Not sure how to explain it, but it's where the DB goes back to the body, flush you could describe it). If you did that you might be able to just barely fit the HEP fan in. Also not to mention that the SD45 radiators go down a little farther than the GP40s. That extra 1/2 an inch is very important as it gives room for the HEP unit and some porch room. Again, I don't want to kill your enthusiasm, I just want to save you some time and money.
ns3010: Are you going to keep bothering me until I get it exactly perfect? And then you're going to measure it to make sure that it's perfect.While I'm at it, should I weather it until every piece of dust, every bit of grime, and every splotch of oil are exactly like 4218? And should I program the sound decoder until the horn matches the exact pitch of 4218? But seriously, I'm willing to compromise on this. It will probably not end up on display at a train show or in a museum, or be sold. The only time that people (besides me) will ever see it is in pictures. Look at my F40 for example. None of the cuts line up, I didn't cut the HEP doors on the hood, and the rear wall is COMPLETELY wrong. But do I care? Nope.
Are you going to keep bothering me until I get it exactly perfect? And then you're going to measure it to make sure that it's perfect.While I'm at it, should I weather it until every piece of dust, every bit of grime, and every splotch of oil are exactly like 4218? And should I program the sound decoder until the horn matches the exact pitch of 4218?
But seriously, I'm willing to compromise on this. It will probably not end up on display at a train show or in a museum, or be sold. The only time that people (besides me) will ever see it is in pictures. Look at my F40 for example. None of the cuts line up, I didn't cut the HEP doors on the hood, and the rear wall is COMPLETELY wrong. But do I care? Nope.
I like you enthusiasm in your projects, keep that up! I hate to ruin it; I only want to save you some time, money, and a GP40! But you can't just take the SD45 flares and throw them on a GP40, first the SD 45 flares are all wrong, but you don't seem to mind that...but that wasn't my point in the first place! On the SD45 there is a "seam" between the DB and the radiators, let’s say you cut it there. On the GP40, there is also another seam between the DB and radiators; lets say you cut the GP40 radiators off there. If you put the SD45 radiators where the GP40 radiators where, you'd just barely have enough room for the SD45 radiators. You'd also still need to add a HEP fan too. Ok now lets say you wanted to make more room, and you cut the SD45 radiator right off at where the SD45 radiator starts, and you cut the GP40 right up to the back of the DB (Not sure how to explain it, but it's where the DB goes back to the body, flush you could describe it). If you did that you might be able to just barely fit the HEP fan in. Also not to mention that the SD45 radiators go down a little farther than the GP40s. That extra 1/2 an inch is very important as it gives room for the HEP unit and some porch room. Again, I don't want to kill your enthusiasm, I just want to save you some time and money.
Oh, I don't know if it was all THAT hard... A work in progress:
http://home.comcast.net/~oltmannd/NJTGP40PH.mht
Its not ripped off if you know the value of it.
Alex
Guilford Guy I didn't want it anymore. My friend wanted it, and had 10$ in his wallet. It was already missing some detail parts. I don't regret it at all!
I didn't want it anymore. My friend wanted it, and had 10$ in his wallet. It was already missing some detail parts. I don't regret it at all!
You would've been alot better off selling it on ebay or to a hobby shop. I would assume that somebody wanting to kitbash it wouldn't mind missing detail parts. With an original price of $235US your friend must have been very happy indeed. You got ripped off really, REALLY bad.
I would never sell something like that for $10 regardless of the circumstances. Why'd you do that?
If only I knew... I sold my 2-10-2 for 10$ at Springfield. That's like half the price of the decoder that was in it.
Here's my first real contribution. It is my first major MRR project and after about a year of procrastinating I've finally started. I started off with a bachmann spectrum 2-10-2 and I am kitbashing it to make it look more like this.
I have all my parts. What I will do includes:
-changing the cab
-Changing bell, marker lights as well as adding elesco feedwater heater w/ pipes
-New paint (I won't be doing that)
...and a few other things.
And here's what I've got so far.
This is the top half of the loco on my cradle. If you are wondering what happened to the headlight, the numbers were shaved off with a hobby knife and the number plate below it was filed. It will be used as a mount for the new one after painting has completed. I am starting with the more simple things first. I am trying to get the feedwater heater correctly mounted. Not quite sure if it has been resessed deep enough into the boiler though.
Your thoughts?
We're on page 4 again?!?!?
I've been working on something as of late: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lQP64vwbbU I aslo figured out how I'm going to light the one in that SD40-2. I'm going to get some MV lenses and .02 fiber-optic strands. 2 of the .02 strands will fit into the holes for the lights on that athearn engine. I don't really plan to put up a video of each engine that I do lighting or sound installs. But that SD40-2 will since it's going to have both a beacon and custom installed sound when it's finished.
Vincent
Wants: 1. high-quality, sound equipped, SD40-2s, C636s, C30-7s, and F-units in BN. As for ones that don't cost an arm and a leg, that's out of the question....
2. An end to the limited-production and other crap that makes models harder to get and more expensive.
Thanks guys! You've successfully forced me into doing this the "right way!"
Actually, I guess it's not really that hard. I'll chop off the rear wall and radiators from the GP40, and the radiators off the SD45. There are three "sections" on the SD45 radiator, and I only need two of them. I'll splice in 3'3" scale feet of the SD45 (0.37 real inches) into the geep. I'll scratchbuild that section of the rear hood and the rear wall, and add the Cannon hood doors. Then I'll take the remaining "section" of the SD45 radiator and add that in. Build a roof for that portion, add the HEP fan and all other details, and it's done. I'll try and move the rear truck back on the frame. If that's not possible, then I'll just have to slide the entire shell forward (on the prototype, the frame was extended and the rear truck was moved backwards, but the front truck was in it's original position). I'd also have to add working ditch lights, and all the NJT specific details (I don't think there are many, the only think I can think of are the K5LA and the strobes). It would be nice to have working marker lights, too, especially since I want working headlights, ditch lights, and markers on my cab cars (when I get any, but that's a whole different project).This photo (not mine) is a great help, and it shows many of the details. You can see how the radiators are divided into two "sections" (there's a cross through it), and there is a third "section" that is the HEP radiator.
But this project won't be coming for a while, so I don't need to worry about it right now.
With the GP40MC project I used a GP40X end because it was closer than the SD45, and if you want your model to be EASIER you should extend if half an inch. Right now using your GP40 shell it would look okay, except the rear sectionof the radiators should cut short about 1/4 of an inch. Get a Cannon High Hood kit and modify it slightly (add a small square of styrene where its missing). Detail it with Cannon Doors and add the SD45 radiators. This would be under 10$ for a much more correct way of doing it. You can always splice in part of the SD45 sill to extend it.
What you're trying to do is fit 4 radiator fan sections in the place of 3, and doing it this way you wont have to worry about squishing all of it into the loco. You do not need to extend the frame. If you cut the sill and extend it 1/2" with the SD45sill spliced into it, you will be extending past the rear truck 1/2 inch. buy cutting the tabs, you can move the shell forward on the frame 1/4" so that there is only a 1/4" discrepancy on either end.
Alex Out
ns3010 Are you going to keep bothering me until I get it exactly perfect? And then you're going to measure it to make sure that it's perfect.While I'm at it, should I weather it until every piece of dust, every bit of grime, and every splotch of oil are exactly like 4218? And should I program the sound decoder until the horn matches the exact pitch of 4218? But seriously, I'm willing to compromise on this. It will probably not end up on display at a train show or in a museum, or be sold. The only time that people (besides me) will ever see it is in pictures. Look at my F40 for example. None of the cuts line up, I didn't cut the HEP doors on the hood, and the rear wall is COMPLETELY wrong. But do I care? Nope.
I like you enthusiasm in your projects, keep that up! I hate to ruin it; I only want to save you some time, money, and a GP40! But you can't just take the SD45 flares and throw them on a GP40, first the SD 45 flares are all wrong, but you don't seem to mind that...but that wasn't my point in the first place! On the SD45 there is a "seam" between the DB and the radiators, let’s say you cut it there. On the GP40, there is also another seam between the DB and radiators; lets say you cut the GP40 radiators off there. If you put the SD45 radiators where the GP40 radiators where, you'd just barely have enough room for the SD45 radiators. You'd also still need to add a HEP fan too. Ok now lets say you wanted to make more room, and you cut the SD45 radiator right off at where the SD45 radiator starts, and you cut the GP40 right up to the back of the DB (Not sure how to explain it, but it's where the DB goes back to the body, flush you could describe it). If you did that you might be able to just barely fit the HEP fan in. Also not to mention that the SD45 radiators go down a little farther than the GP40s. That extra 1/2 an inch is very important as it gives room for the HEP unit and some porch room. Again, I don't want to kill your enthusiasm, I just want to save you some time and money.
My Youtube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/JR7582 My Flickr Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wcfan/
Different hood doors.
That's still close enough (for me, anyway)...
That's still half an inch...
GP40PH-2Bs are 62'5", only 3'3" longer. That will be one of the things I can compromise. Three feet in HO, is what, a quarter inch, if even that? And I'll need to add one more fan (3 rad, 1 DB, 1 HEP).All this info is taken from a thread that I found on another forum (the info is legit, taken directly out of the loco's ops manual).
There's slight differences. I'm not a rivet counter, but I won't just buy a GP40X or GP40-2 and say "good enough." On my F40, I could have simply chopped off the rear platform, but instead, I decided to rebuild it the correct way (although I must admit to comprimising, which causes the quality to suffer).
And besides, I like kitbashing an modifying.
Or you could just buy a GP40X.
Since you're talking about SD45s, it got me thinking...I've always wanted a GP40PH-2, but didn't want to have to kitbash one. But then I realized how easy it is. So I'm thinking of kitbashing a GP40 (w/ dynamics) with a SD45 (all I need is the radiators, so I'll get a cheap one off ebay). Basically chop the flared radiators off the SD, and throw them on the geep, and it's done. 4218 would be nice to have...
Nope. Body work is modifications such as high hood conversions, or kitbashings.
Does re-numbering count as body work?
I am, money is low. No longer doing body work because it takes too long. You know that first hand. I need to order another bottle of cascade green.
Your painting that Lehigh Valley RS3 into a Lamoille Valley RS3, right? I dunno how you can paint an RS3 into an RS3??? Regarding those SD45s, best bet is to call them and find out. If they have any BNs left I may go and get another one and re-number it. *hint, hint*
hint, you did mention you were doing decal/paint work to raise some funds somewhere.
Yeah, I'm hoping they are still available. Maybe I can work out a deal with Yoshi. I have the decals, and paint, just need the locos. My hope is to finish them by Hartford, so I can run a set of EPIC WINs and have everyone be like "oh he's so cool!"
I'll keep thinking that.
ANYWAYS...
I need to strip the LV RS3, and the CCRR S4, and paint the RS3 into RS3, and the CCRR into better CCRR paint.
Jordan, the new scheme looks a bit better.
GG, I have 3 (okay, one's an F45) but I ain't selling them. Trainworld has P2K SD45s for $30 bucks. A steal for an engine that runs as good or better than atlas, and can pull over 100 cars. IIRC, they weight 24.8 ounces, or over 1.5 pounds.