Puddlejumper's photo thread

[Puddlejumper]

Well yesterday I decided to get my RF&P GP7 put together. It is a 2nd edition LL Proto 2000 unit. First I find that the long hood coupler won't fit due to an interference between the body and the frame. After about an hour of messing with the unit I take a straight edge to the chassis and find it is bent. Ok, so I have to disassemble the unit to straighten the chassis. Well I manage to break 2 solder joints so now I have to resolder them. Then I manage to break a tooth on one of the axles while disassembling the trucks. Luckily I have a Proto BL2 for parts, so now I switch the axles and wheels and now I can put the unit back together. What? The coupler box still won't fit! After all is said and done I had to trim the hood mounting tab off the long hood and VIOLA it fixes the interference and it all fits together nice and the coupler box goes in fine. Oh, wait a minute, why are my Kadee #5s too high for the standards gauge? Kadee recommends the #5 for this locomotive... oh well i'll save that for another night.

2.5 hours to get Kadees mounted on a locomotive that is supposed to be ready out of the box, and they're the wrong height at that.

Well, here's a bad pic of a pain in the butt loco, but it sure is pretty in person!



Dave