Hey folks. For whatever reason, I have been bit by the SD40-2 bug. I'm not sure why, although my hunch is that these little babies were built as long ago as 1972, and they can keep up with a lot of the modern motive power of today. Anyhow, Norfolk Southern began taking some of their high-noses (and low noses) and converting them to the safer "Admiral Cab". The main difference being the thickness of the metal as well as the slight angle of the windshield for reduced glare. According to AltoonaWorks.info: "The Admiral Cab retains the basic look and feel of a standard EMD cab, the exceptions being sharper angles, angled center windows, raised numberboard section, and under-floor air conditioning. The most important difference isn't visible externally. The nose portion of the Admiral cab is made of one inch thick steel vs. the quarter inch steel of the original EMD cab. This increase in thickness creates a safer environment for the crew in the event of a collision. The Admiral Cab weighs 12,500 lbs compared to the 3,500 lbs of an EMD cab and comes delivered to Juniata in one piece." When I visited the Juniata Shops a month or so ago, I noticed a line of high noses waiting. I am a bit of a fan of the high noses so it makes me sad to know they are a dying breed. Info about the Cabs: http://www.altoonaworks.info/rebuilds/admiralcab.html Units being rebuilt with the new Admiral Cabs: http://www.altoonaworks.info/rebuilds/ns_sd40-2a.html Anyway to get on point here. My slight (ok BIG) obsession with the SD40-2 has me craving more builds. I have built a high nose (NS 3314) from a Kato shell and Atlas parts, so I figured I HAD TO HAVE a few Admiral Cab Units. For this project I will be using bnsf dash 8's Admiral Cabs on Shapeways (has there been a better innovation for the hobby than 3d printing?). I am currently awaiting my cabs, so for now I stripped two shells down. Dead BNSF paraphernalia- bnsf dash 8's example of modifications to make the cab fit. I will be building NS 3319 (straight fin grilles) and 3214 (chicken wire grilles). Unfortunately I have no pictures of these units just yet as apparently 3319 was just finished and I cannot find photos of 3214 since it was finished. Anyway, I will be documenting the build as I go. Thanks for looking! -Josh
Josh, BNSF Dash8 and others are making beautiful thinks with shapeways. Enjoy the project. Can't wait to see the results!
Things have been crazy lately for me personally. My family enjoyed a vacation in Virginia, I have been working on some job prospects, and my work schedule has been crazy. I am also in the process of starting a new HCD layout, but have been taking my time since Code 55 still seems to be rare these days. I did however, manage to receive two admiral cabs from Shapeways. After inspection they really are very nice and look great! I gave them a quick sanding to shave away the lines from printing to even the surface for when I am ready to paint. My first step was to get the long hood trimmed down for the cab. Quick measurements and a sharp Xacto made it pretty straight forward. I also shaved off the molded grab irons and sanding the area down a bit. Next step was to get the walkway/sill area trimmed down for the cab. Below is a pic of what was shaved off to make the cab fit right. This was how the cab sat at first. As you can see from the picture, I had to file the rear a bit to get it to sit flush. And I went ahead and added grab irons and cab shades. I was given prior heads up by bnsfdash8 to be careful drilling as the cab is just slightly brittle, but I had no issues. It looks like I will be experimenting with adding stanchions and railings from scratch since the front railings had to be cut to get the cab to sit right. There are also still some cab fitment issues that I need to make minute adjustments to, but for now, I'm going to bed.
Try printing the holes to mount your detail parts. I have be doing this with scale 1" diameter holes. Even if you have to open it up with a #80, the chances of damaging your shell are greatly dismissed because its "pre drilled". I do this on all of my cab and hood conversions!
I designed those cabs with all the mounting holes to install the grabs and wipers. I always give caution though as the material can be brittle and subject to breakage. The model is looking good so far! Can't wait to see more.
Well, I had benched this project for a little while since work got crazy. But with a little time off, I focused some time on this. I recently sprayed down the cab and long hood with primer. There are some subtle differences between the model and the prototype. Due to the difference in cabs, it was necessary to install custom hand rails since they are bent differently. In order to get the cab to fit right, I had to lop off the old handrails. I grabbed some stanchions from Gold Medal Models. I have never done this before, so it was a learning experience. I am not interested in re-doing the whole loco just yet, so I am going to install these and see how they mesh with the stock Kato handrails and stanchions. I have .080 wire for the rails, but they are A LOT thinner than the Kato ones. So I might go for the next size up to see how they look. While installing the stanchions, I put a bit too much pressure on the cab, cracking it on the short hood. Luckily it was an easy fix, but a good reminder to me and anyone else using shapeways stuff... IT IS FRAGILE! My model did not have anti-climbers, so I had to make some changes to the porch and add .40 styrene to duplicate the anti-climber. I measured them to be about 12mm x 2mm. Looking at the picture below, it looks a but too long, so I may shave it down a bit so its not quite as awkward looking. I also cut out the fans to get ready for BLMA parts. I have been waiting on my LHS for them to arrive. Lastly, I worked on fitting the cab a bit more snugly. After some time and frustration trying to get the cab to sit flush with the porch, I realized the drop grab I had installed was poking out on the inside causing the cab to sit crooked. I filed them down and think the cab fits just fine now. Thanks for looking -Josh
Thanks Reese. Without your cab I wouldn't have bothered. Ok, so I got a few more things done so I can ready for paint. Tonight I tackled adding details to the pilots. For the front I added: cut levers, mu hoses, an air hose, and added some bracing to the anti-climber as per the proto. I still have to add a rear fan grab, ditchlight housings and fan grilles, but i am waiting on parts. If I have the motivation, I will use the down time to get my other admiral cab SD up to speed, and maybe I will paint and decal them together. I haven't found a wealth of pictures on these just yet, so i am having trouble figuring out what kind of roof junk I need (antennas, horns, etc). Anyone have an idea? Neat pic I found on google
I managed to get the rest of the body work done. I added a slight peak to the anti-climbers (thanks ns737). I used a semi-gloss black for the basecoat. I have had a harder time getting decals to stick to flat black, and since these locos are still very new, I figured a bit of shine would be good. Obviously once I finishing adding decals, I will use a dullcoat to hold everything. This is what I have for tonight. Still a ways to go, but I work third shift this week, so its time to get ready for work. I still have a bunch of things to do before this is done. I have to had grab irons, fans, an antenna, horns, window glass, paint the details, etc. Thanks for looking.
Thanks for all the kind words folks. I had some more time tonight to add some more details. I decided to designate this little baby 3327. I've found a few more pictures to work from so that was the main reason for the change. I have also decided to attempt to add brake lines to the trucks using the .080 wire. I haven't started that yet though. It looks pretty straight forward though. I'll have some more pics as this progresses.
As I mentioned, last night I added numbers and a few decals. Tonight, I tried my hand at adding brake lines to the trucks. I used .008 wire and a styrene jig to make the brake lines. I then used my #80 drill bit to drill into the brake cylinders to mount them. I did not paint them just yet since I need to pick up some black paint. It also makes it easier to see in the pics. I'm going to let the glue set overnight before I make the final adjustments, but so far the lines don't interfere with the movement of the trucks! Pretty neat little project. Pics: I'm sure they won't be noticeable to the layperson, but I'll know they are there so I guess that counts for something. Forgive some of the gaps in the walks and cab, I must not have pressed everything down before I took the pics.
The other day I made a trip to my LHS and picked up some parts and paint I needed. I worked for several hours tonight, and still have a little way to go. I managed to intall and paint the fan grilles. I painted the hand rails and other details as well. Finally, I masked and sprayed the numberboard flat white. I'm still waiting on the 2002+ Horsehead logo decals I need to finish the white stripes on the walkways, I need to paint and install the fans, and I have a few other finishing touches to accomplish. One thing I am very pleased with was painting the tank: With very little paint on my brush, I managed to paint the tank fill "oval" on the tank without slopping paint everywhere else. I don't know if I could do it again if I tried! Thanks! Josh
Josh, Next time it may be easier to attach your handrails if you solder them before you paint. My attempts have show glueing just doesn't cut it. The build is looking really good so far.
Thanks for the tip. I'll have to use paint thinner on the top to take the paint down. I may be able to try it tonight
****** Does anyone have a suggeston on what kind of horn NS 3327 has? I looks like a five horn jobby, but I'm not well versed on my horns. Thanks! ****** More work tonight as I push forward on this project. I added some more decals and painted some of the details. I also added ditchlights that I picked up from Shapeways. I decided to just put clear plastic lenses in the ditchlights and steer clear of attempting LED's since I had bad luck with them in the past. I also decided not to add ditchlights to the rear porch since they won't be seen much anyway. Hopefully the pics don't look too washed out, but the bulbs in my kitchen are more "natural light" than in my workspace. Still need to add: -MU Hose -Horns -Window Glass -Fiber Tubes for headlight -Rear numberboards -Plow -Couplers -Decoder I have been taking pics with my iPhone and it shows. When I finish this project, I plan on using my Rebel for better pics. Thanks for looking. -Josh
