Fnny how I got back into this part of the hobby and into this scale again.I currently have 6 HO loco projects I am messing with.My dash 9 has it's own theard so I will keep this one to my GP units The first one up is this KATO GP35.It will be de turboed and derated to 2,000 hp.The headlights will be moved to the nose and the 36" fan will elimanated.I have not decided if I am just going to remove the fan or remove the fan and move the forward 48" back.The railings are removed because some former owner decided to glue the shell into one piece,and I decided to remove the raiolings before I tried to seperate the body pieces.The operation was a sucess but there is a lot of work ahead and the railings are safer in the box.



Not much showing in this rear view except the absence of railings.Hopefully there will be operating ditchlights on both ends.



Second project is ECO-1 I have had this bluebox Athearn so long I'm not even sure what it is "but" I think it is a phase I GP50.Mods so far are angled radiator grilles and a GP 60 dynamic brake blister.At tghis point in time I have absolutely nothing but time in this project.



I don't have a clue as to what I can use for the fans but I want some large ones like the ones on the SD70Ace.

There you go fooling around in the wrong scale again Catt!

Ain't no such thing as the wrong scale in this house.

Thought I would toss a couple more projects into this pot starting with this one.First up is a "before" picture.Shell is from a old TYCO Midnight Special Baldwin RF16.I have had this thing so long I can't remember if it ever was a complete loco.Chassis is a Proto 2000 GP9 that may or may not be DCC friendly.



Here is the newest pic taken after a good soak in 91% alcohol to get ris of the MS graphics then sprayed with Krylon rattle can Ruddy brown primer.The old gal already looks better.Next step will be to close up the origonal chassis mounting holes and open up the steps which you can see are modeled closed.

Nuther days prgress.According to pictures I've found there should be one more step under the cab doors.I'm not sure if I want to try that or leave it like this.I could not believe how many pictures I looked at before I found a profile shot of the side of these units.

Nice progress Catt, I always liked the look of those locos. If they had ever run those on the Murphy Branch that might be what the NM would be running now instead of it's venerable ol' GP7.

I'm curious to see it painted as the REAL thing. This prototype always sounds like a toy to me because of cheap train set.

Matt

Matt,I've seen a A-B-B-A consist of Tyco Sharks painted PRR and they look good..The B units was kitbashed and the drives was Hobbytown.

Shark's looking good Catt! I've always liked those.
Ralph

Brakie Wrote:Matt,I've seen a A-B-B-A consist of Tyco Sharks painted PRR and they look good..The B units was kitbashed and the drives was Hobbytown.

Wow! A real eye-catcher!

It was certainly an incredible sight to see them in real when they were new back then. The design was so bold!

Matt

Tyson Rayles Wrote:There you go fooling around in the wrong scale again Catt!

Mike,John just likes to work in the Horribly Oversize scale like I do.

Beside that I find the Horribly Oversize scale a mite easier on my old eyes lately.

"Beside that I find the Horribly Oversize scale a mite easier on my old eyes lately."


I used to think that Larry but the larger the scale the more detail you need to include for it to look right. I work with O at work and N at home and find the N wayyyyyyy easier as a lot of things my eyes would have a hard time seeing in HO or O don't even exist in N scale!

RF16 now has proper side frames and I now have $2.00 invested in this project. $2.12 actually forgot the state's 6%.



Next two projects are something resembling the RF16 fuel tank and the bottom step under the cab doors.

Spendthrift!

Just a small update on the GP-35/38-3 project.I just finished installing the ATLAS GP35 short hood with headlights and filled the handbrake slot (will replace with a brake wheel.In the process of doing this I got curious as to whether I could use the KATO interior in the ATHEARN bluebox geeps.The answer is definately .I just need to clip the right angle tab off at it's base and solder the leas to the contact plate directly.So now I need some KATO cab interiours (I can see some resin casting in my future.



Next project will be to de turbo the unit and re-rate the HP to 2,000.