I have this Walthers Trainline Santa Fe GP9M I bought a while back and since I don't model Santa Fe, I never really had a use for it. I decided that I want to turn it into a normal GP9 or a GP7. I have never custom built a locomotive before so i was hoping to get some pointers so I don't royally screw it up
The correct shell to start with would be the Athearn (blue box)shell for the GP-7/9 would be your closest match
Catt The correct shell to start with would be the Athearn (blue box)shell for the GP-7/9 would be your closest match
The blue box Athearn GP7 (not 9) is a widebody, is it not?
Would that be a problem?
Ed
A Front Range shell woud probably be a better choice than the old Athearn widebody.
Turn it into a normal GP9. All normal GP9s are painted for one railroad or another. The paint job is the first thing anyone sees. First pick the railroad you want to paint it for. Find a good color photo of your chosen road. Look for decals for your chosen road. You can do the paint job with just rattle cans, although an airbrush is nice if you have one. Clean the surface of the shell with hot soapy water, rinse well, dry thoroughly. Spray the lightest color first. Give it a good dry before masking for the second color. Make it the second lightest color. If you put masking tape over not-quite-dry paint, it will pull the paint off when you remove the tape. Burnish the edges of the tape down very firmly otherwise the new paint will leak under the tape. Repeat for all the colors. The undercarriage and the truck sideframes will look good painted with dark gray auto primer.
Details. Each railroad tended to have their own little details. Tool and battery boxes fixed to the deck. SP used to install steam locomotive style head lamps in place of the factory installed automotive style sealed beam head lamps. Snow plows. fancy horns. And more. Find some photos of your chosen road, go over it with a magnifying glass, and go to work.
The model will look better with glass in the cab windows, a crew, and head lights. You don't want the headlamps to shine out thru the cab windows. A constant lighting circuit is just four diodes and 1.5 volt bulbs. Bulbs look better than LEDs, they have the right yellow white color, LED's are too blue. I don't do directional lighting. Should the locomotive fail to move when you open the throttle, look at the headlamps. If the headlamps light the locomotive is getting juice. For this trick to work, you want the light showing in your direction to light up. With directional lighting, Murphy's law says that the lamp you can see is the one that is off.
It's best to finish all the detailing before you paint.
Good luck. Post some pictures.
David Starr www.newsnorthwoods.blogspot.com
Thank you for the advice. I don't think I'll be to do the lights just yet. This is my first time doing this. I model Canadian National so i'll start looking at pictures of their GP9s
I'll se what I can do.
.
From your post I could not tell your skill set. If you feel comfortable with it, I would go with the Front Range shell and Rail Detail Products handrail kit.
Have fun!
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Thank you all for the help. I have decided to model a gp9rm. I have stripped the paint off but i need some advice on getting the old cab off of the body.