After years of drooling, I finally managed to find a U50! This particular unit was in GN paint zip, and had suffered some abuse at the hands of a previous owner. The cab was cracked, the back of the sill was cracked (and very sloppily glued back together), the paint was patched with a totally different shade of green, and it sounded like a vacuum cleaner. It took some TLC and paint stripper but, I have a decent starting point for an SP unit. The first tasks will be to move the side steps to the proper positions, and chop off those foot-thick handrails. Then I can begin detailing this ugly monstrosity
Great work! Hope to see some pics on the progress. This one already looks like it is in SP paint!!:teeth: Looks mean!
Looks like you have done a nice job! Your work on this unique model will be well worth it. I look forward to seeing a finished copy at some time in the near future. But I must ask; what's wrong with a GN U50? ;-) Your efforts remind me of one of my first N-scale locomotives. It too was a Con-Cor model, painted for Great Northern; a PA-1, of which I'm sure GN had many! It had been sold to my parents as "new". Except for the fact there was a divot where the headlight bulb had melted the plastic, and the drive-train was so clogged with cat hair and grease it could hardly move, this model was almost like new. My dad and I set about to make a silk purse out of this pig. It was stripped, disassembled, cleaned, some modelers Bondo applied, and repainted in yellow and gray. For an abused, then resurrected Con-Cor model, the pig ran pretty well for many years. Unfortunately, I never finished the decal work before she was surplused. I only hope the railroad I traded it to has found a good use for it, and was able to finish the incomplete decorations.
Ain't nothing wrong with that, so long as you can keep the prototype police at bay.... Welcome to Trainboard!!!! In my estimation, noting's wrong with a GN U50... Pardon the poor light, but here's a pair I did for Grey One:
I really wish I could justify getting a "monster engine" for my line but these things ran about as far away from Boston as you can get.
Not much progress... I also cleaned, lubed, and tweaked the mechanism, with great results. It runs 1000 times better than it did when I got it I want to replace the side ladder. Does anyone know if the BLMA freight car ladder is the same size?
A bit of work on the front end: I still haven't figured ot how to do the nose door (scribe lines or thin styrene?) and the anticlimber. And, I need to get it ready for paint. The undec black is awfully hard to photograph mg:
Looking great! I added a door on my model out of thin styrene with added luvers. Anti-climber was a cut down/modified BLMA anti-climber.
Anthony, The front side ladders are scratchbuilt from .010x.020" styrene- wire rungs would have been more appropriate, but I took the easy way out so they would match the stock ladders at the rear. The grabs are a mix of BLMA grabs; 15" on most of the loco and 18" on the pilot. I think I will use a BLMA freight car ladder for the side hood ladder, but I'm not sure yet. I think that covers all the ladders
Unfortunately, I haven't made any progress on anything lately. Once I figure out the nose door and right side front ladder it'll be ready for some paint.
What size did you make the door? I think I'm going to scribe mine. Then, when I inevitably screw it up I can put a styrene door over it
Not much work done. Added MT couplers, scribed on a nose door, painted the whole loco gray. Still a LOT more to do on the nose alone. By the way, does anyone know what the little lights on the top edges of the nose were used for, and what color they were? I'm thinking of lighting them up- there's enough room in this loco for a big fancy decoder and lots of lighting effects
Class lights. Green for section following, white for extra, red when running in reverse, unlit when a scheduled train. (BTW, I hope those brass ties on the walks will be thinned some... ) Bob in IDaho
