This is what I've been up to...

This is the second stab I've taken at getting the roof line right on a Southern Railway GP30 high hood. The trick is getting the angled roof line to start in exactly the right spot.

The first attempt I made at this engine, I didn't want to alter the Atlas roof line of a low nose GP30, so I just cut and glued on a high hood, painted, and added the decals. This time, I altered the roof line to (hopefully) get the overall "look" of the GP30's high hood correct.

To create the new roof, I carefully cut the nose from a Bachmann GP50 and filed it down to better match the width of the Atlas low nose GP30 shell. I filed away the excess material of the roof and added styrene to the resultant gaps created in the process. Putty was added, and a lot of sanding later, I painted it on a cold winter's day. (BIG mistake.) After realizing I had over sprayed the model, and learned a valuable lesson, I completely stripped the model with 91% isopropyl alcohol. I repainted it with grey primer, a suggestion made by another modeler, which showed all the imperfections that I just couldn't see before. More putty, more sanding, and more primer later, this is as smooth as I could get the work accomplished. I painted two coats of Tamiya semi-gloss black, glued the bell assembly on (and yes, I just realized through these pictures that I glued it on crooked), and am waiting my order of Southern decals to arrive.

This is where I'm at now. These close up pictures show ever flaw in both the first and second attempts that you just don't see from a foot away. Still, I'd like to get the sanding absolutely perfect. I feel I over sprayed the grey primer, though I was trying to get as light a coat on as possible, as evidenced by the loss of details on some of the exhaust grills. The coupler needs work, and the trucks are sort of weathered but will be reworked. The yellow was added to the handrails using a paint pen and as steady a hand as I could muster.

I can already see places I'd improve on...and am already contemplating a third attempt at this engine. So please, add your comments, critiques, and suggestions.

Thanks!

Lookin' pretty good, there, Flyboy! More power to you!

That "N" scale stuff is pretty small to be making those types of modifications on! I applaud your sense of adventure and the success you've managed to achieve!

Good looking job!! I agree with Camelback in that doing that level of work on a "Normal" scale lokey is above my paygrade... and I like the "sun-faded" look on your paint job. Well Done!!!!!

Bob

I'd decal it and run it as is, because I think you did just fine on it. Remember, the photos are going to show every flaw, but I had brass that should have showed PERFECT in photos and it didn't, but to the naked eye when in the yard or running on the layout it looked just fine. I think yours will look just fine once decaled as well and any flaws will be a lot harder, if not impossible, to see.

I think they look fine also, and second biL's comments about doing the mods in N scale - too miniscule for me to try that, but you did a fine job! Remeber, we are alwyas our own worst critics. I'd be proud to run that baby on my layout if I was in N scale.

Many thanks for the comments guys!

Hopefully, the Southern decals will come in the mail any day now and I can get started on that phase. The top of the roof where the hood joins the shell blended in perfectly, and fortunately, you'd see that more than the sides of the nose as the engine runs the rails of the layout. So I think all in all, I'm happy with the way it turned out, and I've learned a bit more of how to kitbash something like this. This is my second try at kitbashing something together, and hopefully, it will turn out well with the decals applied. Granted, this isn't exactly as tough of a job as I've seen so many other people take on...all I did was cut and glue a high hood on a low nose engine and added putty. Not exactly rocket science. The challenge was working on something so small. And I think the biggest improvement I could make the next time is using an airbrush to paint. I know it would produce a better and lighter coat of paint and therefore hide less detailing on an Nscale engine. Next time.......

Well, thanks again for the encouragement and comments. Please, feel free to add your critiques of the work, I'd like to know the areas I need work on to improve my skills on projects like these.

Here's the latest updated shots...I sprayed on the white stripe instead of using the Microscale decals that have an "aluminum gray" and gold stripe. The Microscale stripe color seemed too dark to me, based on the pictures I've seen on line. So I masked everything off and spray painted the stripe by hand. (One of these days, I'm going to learn how to use an airbrush.) Hopefully tomorrow, I'll get the rest of the decals on and touch up any white over-spray areas near the cab.

Is it starting to look like a Southern GP30? Sorta? Kinda? Almost?

that's awesome!

Yep! For what it's worth, I like it.

A couple of weeks back I took out my N-gauge set to take pics of the N-Scale Big Blue car tour....I'd forgotten how tiny those trains are... hock:

To attempt doing what you're doing on those little buggers would drive me up a wall and down another...

That loco is perfect as far as I'm concerned. (For a steam guy, I'm a sucker for high-hood diesel units...Got an SD-7 and a GP9..)...

So...let's see so' more...!!!

Some decals added...and a comparison shot of my first attempt with this latest attempt at getting this engine modeled accurately.



Unfortunately, this morning I noticed that the gold stripe shifted during the drying process last night. Next time, I'll take more care to remove almost all the surface water/micro-sol from the decal. That gold stripe is equal to a hair's thickness and would easily rip. Maybe the decals were old, maybe I didn't let them set enough before trying to place them...but they sure ripped easily. I might also try to place another gold decal over the top of the existing one, or remove it completely and try again. There's still a lot of other decals to place on the Southern engine...and maybe today I'll get to that. And there's a number of places I want to touch up the paint. But at least, it's got numbers and a name on it! Once it gets done, the glossy top coat (needed for the decals) will be covered in two coats of dull coat. That should improve the overall look of the engine. The NS version has two coats of dull coat and it really improved the look of the paint job...so I'm hoping the same will hold for the Southern.

Great work Mark---you must have excellent eyesight and finger dexterity to be able to work in N-scale---with my "sausage fingers" I'd be in big trouble

Few more shots from around town...

Tom, Kevin, Gus and Nutbar, I appreciate the comments...thank you.

You're so right about the size of the parts...they're tiny alright. The smaller decals, and that %^%#@(*% gold stripe, were a challenge to affix. I've put decals on Nscale engines before, but that was mostly UP/SP and NS/CR "patch" jobs, not a wholesale engine redo like this proved to be. Even that first GP30 high hood build had NS decals which were decidedly easier to affix.

The model clearly needs a coat or two of fine dull coat spray...and once the rest of the decals are placed, I'll get that put on. With each pictures I see about three different things that need a bit of touch-up or work. (I need to stop taking close-up shots!)

Herc Driver

You know until I just read this thread I had no idea that GP30 units came in High Hood variants.

All the photos I have seen in TRAINS and Model Railroader have shown Low Nose units, but the era seems right so maybe I had just never taken notice of any High Hood GP30 units.

Learn something new everyday, I guess covers this one.

Great work and thanks for sharing.

Mark