I'm not quiet sure if it's a world first, but definitely one in "my world" The loco is made mainly from brass, basically 2 Zthek SW1 Switcher joint together. Chassis is a heavily modified AZL GP7, which I had left over from some unsuccessful stripping.... Lot's of details are added: grab irons, free standing hand railings, snow plow, liftrings, MU-hoses, louvres, airtanks, fueltanks casted in resin, correct width of the cab, correct window width, etc. Don't ask me how many hours I have spend on this loco, a lot. Haven't counted actually how many times I soldered and de-soldered the shell... The loco is not 100% to my own quality standard, future ones will have some improvements. From the next shell I'm going to cast a resin shell to be able to offer a bit more cost effective version. The loco runs smooth due to the coreless motor, my loco is still missing the lights, will be added at some time, a DCC decoder should fit in the cab. Unfortunatly the orgin was not a huge sales success, only a few units were build for GN and Southern. The apart from those the loco is possible in BN and a few private owner paint schemes. Enough talk, here she is:
Gerd, Another fantastic model and in the prettiest paint scheme! I think there is a guy on TB that has kitbashed a NW5 in N scale. There used to be HO brass models available of both the NW3 and NW5. I had the former, looked great but was an awful runner. John
Taken to the next level........ This is in my top 5 all-time favorite loco's, and you built one in Z!!! Amazing!! What's the address I send the blank check to?!!!!
Here we go, another GN NW5, this one is for John Lundy. It's No. 2 in in small series of 3. Another, weathered version for Gunnar Haeberer will follow soon. That's it, no more. For a lot of reasons. First, this loco is a challenge from A to Z, don't get me wrong, I like challenges, but not 24/7. This loco has it all; the shell made from 2 Zthek SW-1 frets, the heavily modified or better slaughtered AZL GP7 chassis, the paint job, the decals, especially the single stripes...everything took forever and required some (long) breaks to bring the patience back. Therefore this loco project got stretched longer and longer, not what I want. On the other hand I would design a new shell in the meantime. Having now some experience which etch designs this would be the way to go. But the NW5 is or was not really popular, either in real life or as a model. Same with the chassis, wouldn't use AZL Chassis in the future, they run well out of the box, but don't pull things apart or modify...My big hope is Lajos' modular chassis what we should see soon, right Lajos? O.K., enough winching. Here some pix:
Hi Gerd, All I can say is WOW! The NW5 is my favorite prototype loco and now it will be my favorite Z scale loco too. Sorry that you won't be doing more, but I know they are time consuming to make. I am fortunate indeed to get one. Thanks, John
