sd38-2 frame help

[Green_Elite_Cab]

I think it was made for the new frames. The old frame and shells mounted with the little tabs with holes, the shell I bought has no tabs. As for frame being blocked no if you look at the model top to bottom it goes shell, frame, then coupler, the screw goes through the coupler box and into the shell tying them all together. My shell just has nowhere for the screw to go.

Well, the old RPP frames have a nearly identical set up to that. This probably should not be surprising, since the "Current" SD45 is really a modernized RPP SD45, not the old one. Most RPP shells were originally intended to fit on the old Athearn mechanisms as replacements (you'll note the old GP7, GP35, SDP40 and SD45 all had "fat" hoods). The RPP were closer to scale than were some of the original Athearn.

RPP went away a while ago, but Athearn bought the tooling. You can still get the RPP parts through PPW/A-line (in the links I posted), but as long as the Athearn frame works, you're fine (probably could have saved a few bucks just buying the parts though).

My guess is that you need to drill your own hole into the shell for the screws, just be careful not to drill all the way through.