I made some progress, I thought so, this week. A bit of advise, when you modify something it tends to change more than you might have thought possible. The nose handrails on this GP50M are a hybrid of brass and plastic. With the M cab it changed a bunch too, not only the end rails, anticlimber and sill, but I also had to figure where the hand brake would go, as the factory hand brake was in a bazillion pieces now occupying space in the Mesa county land fill. Now, any engineer will tell you, why dont they put the hand brake inside the nose on these safety cab units!! I could have simply suggested this as well, but no, I could not be that wise or simple, I removed a door on the E side rear hood and modified a DW hand brake assy for the hand brake, OK that was settled. Then, well, those Hyatt truck journal boxes would have surely been changed to the no maintenance Timken boxes, OK so now I drill out all the boxes for DW roller bearing castings. Then, here we go again, now how are you gonna mount the lower shock mounts? Then I surgically remove the Hyatt designed lower mounts to accommodate the Timken boxes (why do I do this?), I dont know, but I am told there is medication that can help. Maybe high voltage applied in a precise manner? I tall mount our 5 chime Leslie just ahead of the cooling fans, OK, no modification needed for that, whew. Then I went to mount the basic shell to the frame, yep! that miserable safety cab has changed how the shell sits on the frame, I am a Union guy, but at this point I am wondering why did you use this safety cab? OK so, now I fire up the mill to fix this, and its a simple solution. I then modified the pilots and frame to use the coupler boxes to hold the shell/frame assy together, this was only slightly annoying and not miserable at all. So, with all that done I painted the shell, frame and trucks, do all that paint and decal work. I use maybe 1/2 dozen different decal sheets from Microscale, (and some of my own) on this, I do enjoy putting the high voltage, lube oil check here, engine start switch, engine water fill, fire extinguisher, EOT deadhead rack builder trustee plates and so on decals, it can be graphic heavy. Anyways I give you the power shell/chassis as QA&P 787 GP50M, ready for a final gloss coat, then some glazing, lights and weathering, that will round out the roster at 4 GP50/60 race ponies for the QA&P, TOFC shooter. A long ways to go still. Thanks for taking a l@@k ):
Where did the widecab come from? It looks like it could be a 70 series locomotive. Have we seen the other three locomotives that go with this? It reminds me of the ATSF GP60Ms, but are there any B units to pair with this one? It sure is an interesting locomotive, and that black and yellow paint scheme is pretty slick too.
Thanks Trainiac, Either a SD60, 2 window or SD70, I'm thinking it was a surplus SD60M, 2 window cab. Here are the other Geeps. I was thinking of a B unit too, but B units kinda "hamstring" you, especially on a small RR like the QA&P. That DEMO GP60 is just gonna stay in the EMD paint.
Run 8 Tom. Great build! Brings me back to the days of 4 axle power on the transcon when the NYCLAC and WSPALT trains had them out of Chicago. Ya have to add crew packs in the dash. Although I doubt Details West sold something like that High ball old buddy!
Holy smokes aren't you right Grunt!! I miss that too. Those GP50/60's would pull more faster than, some might think. They was going "Jessies". And they sounded right doing the deed. HHmmm, crew packs, now you got me thinking.... Please carry on Sir.
I printed up some water bottles and the ubiquitous red cooler for some NS power, but I haven't come up with a way to make crew packs. https://pbase.com/mecrharris/image/168514605 I think the four axle mentality is what drives BNSF to buy all those C4s. They do alright on that ZWSPALT but it sure does suck when you get them on something heavy.
Tom, your GP60 demo looks great! I missed the double neck fuel filler on mine. Where did you get that part? Maybe one day I'll build 5 and 6 to go with my 7....
Thanks Ryan!That double filler is a Details West part, dont have the part number, it is in the 300's I think. That cooler is sweet, and those water bottles, thats great detail.
I hope to get around this modeling funk I am in lately, and post some new images as well as videos. Please carry on my friendsa