Hi folks,

I'm actually in the process of detailing a pair of HO Bachmann GP9. It should be a relatively straighforward process

My goal is to paint and detail them as if they were among those few engines that survived in their old original paint scheme. The only issue about Bachmann paint job is that they used GP7 as model. It means "Canadian National" is centered on the carbody. GP9 hves the markings not centered. I could bother erasing and decalling new names but I feel it would make more harm than good.

I checked up a few historical pictures, but have some problem locating some details.

1) Horn. Where are located horn on those model (when they were still wearing the yellow & green scheme)?

2) Are stanchions black? Skirts seem to be black too with front pilot.

Thank you!

Matt

Hi Matt,

Not a lot of good photos out there of these are there. I found this one:

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.ph...462&nseq=3

Confirms the stantions are black, but I can't find any photos to confirm horn position.

Hope that helps some.

Cheers,

Kev

Thanks Kev,

Useful information!

I've found a picture showing the horn location beside the stacks between the dynamic brake and cab.

Matt

Matt...the horn is on the end of the long hood.....tons of pics here....go through each of the GP9 albums...plenty of green&goldloco pics

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Genetk44 Wrote:Matt...the horn is on the end of the long hood.....tons of pics here....go through each of the GP9 albums...plenty of green&goldloco pics

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Gene, thanks for the link, cnrphotos has been my favourite reference for years now.
I particularly like this one and will try to reproduce it as much as I can: http://www.cnrphotos.com/gallery2/main.p...emId=44288

Horn are located just behind the stack near the cab. Talk about a strange location!

I actually totally stripped the paint from unit 1725 and I'm seriously thinking about stripping 1701 too. And repaint them in CN wet noodle. THere's too much discrepancies on Bachmann rendition of Green and gold scheme. Color isn't right, most yellow stripes lack the thin black dividing lines and "Canadian National" isn't located in the right place. Erasing that lettering over louvers and doors won't be done without serious harm to the paint job.
When I stripped unit 1725, I found out it was rather thick. On the other hand, I was able to easily take off the numbers with a fine wet sandpaper and 70% rubbing alcohol. Also, I found out my Microscale decals aren't the same shade of yellow... Definitely a no go for me.

At this point, I need 3 GP9 to operate the layout: two in wet noodle, 1 in green and gold. I have a few options:

1) To strip paint my 2 Bachmann units, detail them and repaint them in wet noodle. A fairly straighforward job.

2) Get another Bachmann GP9 at lowest price possible, strip it, detail it and repaint in the green and gold. It would be a "good" occasion to boost my mediocre airbrushing skills. Honestly, if there was a class about airbrushing, I would be first to take it.

3) Get a pricey but fairly accurate P2K GP9 in green and gold, detail it, renumber it and call it a good deal once weathered.

Gosh!

On a side note, I must admit I was really pleased with Bachmann parts break up. It is really well engineered and easy to assemble.

I'll take a few pictures as I progress in this endeavour.

Matt

Sorry...i was thinking bell...duh.
Fortunately for me I'm not concerned about exact detail....I like to move the bells,add obvious stuff like big winterization hatches...but otherwise I don't worry too much about smaller details or exact colour shades...I tend to heavily weather my locos ...so I'm happy if they "feel and look" right.
But I do look forward to your progress pics.

Genetk44 Wrote:Sorry...i was thinking bell...duh.
Fortunately for me I'm not concerned about exact detail....I like to move the bells,add obvious stuff like big winterization hatches...but otherwise I don't worry too much about smaller details or exact colour shades...I tend to heavily weather my locos ...so I'm happy if they "feel and look" right.
But I do look forward to your progress pics.

I had the same mindset as you when I bought the pair: good enough, a few details and a good weathering. I think that's a good approach and the model lend itself to it very well. Unfortunately, the more I discover "errors", the more I see them; call it perfectionnism at it's worst! I presume I'm under Doctorwayne's "bad" influence to push my limits. Anyway, the price I paid them, I feel like I can experiment a little bit and improve my skills.

Matt

Looking over some of those photos, it seems like the units built for CN also had the upper louver sets that normally appear on US GP9s deleted so they wouldn't interfere with the CN road name in the green scheme. This is another thing you'd have to deal with if you wanted to be 100% correct. On the other hand, looking at green-scheme CN GP9 photos, it seems like after a couple of years, they were so grimy that no two had exactly the same shade of green, which is one more reason I haven't felt too bad about leaving my unit in factory paint and matching the added details as best I could. (For that matter, I see in a few photos that CN exchanged louver doors among GP7s and 9s now and then, too.)

jwb Wrote:Looking over some of those photos, it seems like the units built for CN also had the upper louver sets that normally appear on US GP9s deleted so they wouldn't interfere with the CN road name in the green scheme. This is another thing you'd have to deal with if you wanted to be 100% correct. On the other hand, looking at green-scheme CN GP9 photos, it seems like after a couple of years, they were so grimy that no two had exactly the same shade of green, which is one more reason I haven't felt too bad about leaving my unit in factory paint and matching the added details as best I could. (For that matter, I see in a few photos that CN exchanged louver doors among GP7s and 9s now and then, too.)

Yep, I've seen the louvers location is partially wrong. And no, when I think about the hours I would spend on that to get a so-so result I prefer to keep my sanity (which is running low ). IMHO, I think the most important fact is that most important details, the ones a railfan with an average knowledge with recongnizes are there: it include a correct paint scheme, correct location of number board, headlight, horn and hatches. In that respect, louvers are VEEEERRRYYYYY low in my ranking. Honestly, I only noticed them when I tried to differenciate a GP7 from a GP9! Who cares? Not me! But I have problems with the wrong location of the company name... Honestly, why Bachmann bothered replicating a GP7 paint scheme on a GP9 mesmerize me... CN had hundreds of GP9 and only a few GP7. How can you pick up the anecdotal instead of the general? ;-) But I won't ask too much from a toy maker. I'm still happy the model itself is more than decent for my purpose.

About the green shade, you're right. Hardly an engine is identical to another after a few years. Climate, weather pattern, sun exposition, contamination, type of dust in the area, name it! and who painted it too. Anyway, just look at any consist on the rail with matching locomotives. You get all kind of color after a while. Just think of CP Rail Action Red can go real bad depending where and who painted it.

If I had to weather the stock Bachmann engine, I would fade the colors with titanium white before doing any weathering on it. It would help blend together everything. And also paint the frame, running boards and pilots in black. I'm curious, anybody did it?

And now for some excused photos:







If I feel ashamed to ruin a gold & green scheme for a black wet noodle? Honestly? Yes!!!!!!

Matt

I painted the frame on mine black, and added winterization hatch and Juneco spark arrestors. Can't find a good bell yet. Also added sunshades, tried several times to get the closest match to the Bachmann paint (the Floquil color is way off). Finally said good enough and blended it in with a light spray of grimy black on the roof. I may yet give it a brush wash of Polly Scale oily black. May also get the other Bachmann CN number, but not likely to do any repainting.
[attachment=15823]

Brace yourself folks!

I decided to use the old trick of using Solvaset to remove lettering without altering the paint... It works! Fast, easy, no mess, no special product... it just works.

I soaked the lettering in solvaset using a cotton swab. About 5 minutes. I think less is possible. Then using a scrap of styrene, I gently scrapped the lettering... Some use pencil easer and toothpick to achieve the same result.







Matt

JWB, check for Miniature By Eric. He got the right bell for your purpose. And try the trick I just did for the lettering, 20 minutes and you're done.

Matt

Hate to say this, but if I go as far as taking off the lettering, I'd go Central Vermont!!! I railfanned CV when it still had some green units.

jwb Wrote:Hate to say this, but if I go as far as taking off the lettering, I'd go Central Vermont!!! I railfanned CV when it still had some green units.

Just so you know, I tried removing the "Canadian National" label. A little bit harder, BUT, the black lettering is easily erased. One could just subtitute it for Central Vermont.

Matt

I did further test. In fact, you don't have to wait five minutes to let solvaset act. It almost instantaneous... I erased the cab number on the other side in less than a minute.

Matt