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Did a little more digging on the history of the only two GP35's CN purchased. As I indicated in one of my posts, I saw photos of these units that made it appear (in some pictures) that there was no dyanamic brake fan present. Found this little nugget: "All units delivered with dynamic brakes. In later years the units had their dynamic brakes disconnected, and dynamic brake fan removed and plated over." So, focusing in on my modelled years (1976, 77), I think I'm good with keeping the fan in place and maintaining "protoypicality" for either of these. I also spied an evilbay "Buy it Now" of detail parts tonight including at least 6 diesel sunshades. The blue box Athearn unit didn't have those and I'd like to add them. Only other thing I could add is a destinctive plow. The same website called it a "rock pilot" plow, which was specific to CN locos. Might explore finding one.
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Got the airbrush out and gave the entire GP35 shell and railings a coat of Black - actually Polly Scale Brunswick Green. I like the faded black, kinda of an ebony gray - which is what you get with a locomotive outside for a couple of years. In this case, the original paint jobs were done in 1969, with 4001 getting the zebra scheme (and a new dip) in 1975. I'm still in the throes of which paint scheme to model - both will need this black base coat, but the red's a little different depending on which scheme - the zebra stripe gets a full red cab, the older "big CN" scheme gets red only to the front face of the cab. Since I still don't have the blessed bell, I won't be painting the red until that's installed. I'm also going to at least drill the holes for the grabirons (those are also still in the mail) before I put the red on.
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Got my grabs today in the mail (Tichy drop type). Went through several #80 drill bits, but eventually got all of the grabs installed. Except for a couple on the long hood, I'm going to glue them all in from the inside of the shell before I hit them all with some paint. Still no bell delivery. I may reconsider a darker black for the shell - Brunswick Green was probably a bit too faded.
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Todd,
DRWayne passed a tip about chucking those bits long so they had more flex. I always thought chucking them short was better and I broke a lot of bits Long is better. I also found that one of my pin vises will chuck into my power screwdriver/drill and I am able to hold the drill base flat on the bench and hold the model where it needs to be drilled. I was able to put grabs on 4 locomotives and never broke a bit and they were the cheap bits to boot. I have a mini drill press but it is sometimes difficult to position the model for proper hole placement but it sure is great for drilling fo a 2-56 tap for couplers.
Charlie
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Thanks for the tips, Charlie. I recalled your suggestion with the power drill, but didn't catch that you actually put the pin vise into the chuck of the drill, which is brilliant and something I'm going to try next time. My problem with chucking long usually leads me to bending the bit at a sharp angle since I probably lack the patience to "let the bit eat".
