Ya know, sometimes it pays to read what's there, not what you hope's there! When Kato's new release info came out, I thought they're bringing out an HO scale GP38-2. Well, someone pointed out to me that's SD, not GP. Sure enough, it is. The ony reason this is of interest to me is of course the hope of Kato also bringing us this model in N scale. Which, in turn makes me wonder - how easy will it be to turn this Kato SD-38-2 into a model of this SD39:
I converted a Kato SD40 into McCLoud River 38 a while back. It's not a perfect match but the feel is there.
I know that there was recently an article in a magazine about converting GP38's to GP39's. The principle would be the same, however it depends on your level of detailing... At the lowest level, an SD39 would be very similar to an SD38, the main exception is that the 38 series was normally aspirated (dual stacks) however, the 39 series was turbo charged (one large turbo stack). Turning an SD38-2 into an SD39 would not be easy: the Dash 2 (-2) series is built on a longer underframe; an SD38-2 would be a good basis for an SD39-2, not an SD39. Harold
