Big Blue has inspired some purchases

[TMo]

The bashing has begun!  I took out the vertical supports for both pilots (starting with a pair of cutting pliers to take out the major pieces followed by a Dremel with a sanding wheel to take it down to the left of the back of the pilot.  I also sanded off the back side supports for each of the handrail holes.  

       

Tried it out for fit, and it didn't (as I expected).  The shell thickness at the bottom edge (all the way around the shell) is a bit too beefy to allow the shell to slide nicely over the chassis.  the cutaways in the front and rear to accomodate the steps at each corner are also a slightly different profile that the Athearn design (and that's what's forcing the shell's porch to bend upward in the photo below.  

   

For the first problem, I could either carefully remove plastic thickness with a Dremel (delicately!), or shave off each edge of the metal chassis (probably a lot less delicate).  The step issue can only be resolved with removing some metal from the chassis, so after very little thought, I'll be cutting metal.