Looking really good so far. After seeing this thread I've decided to build my own E. I'll be watching this thread closely.
Thanks for the comments folks. I received a few more parts from Atlas today and couldn't wait to get started on the next few steps. Today, I attached the numberboard/headlight/windshield area to the brow. As I mentioned earlier, while filing the short hood, I chewed up the windshield pillar. Instead of just leaving it on the cab in its beat up shape, I cut it off. I used one of my spare cabs for the windsheild pillar, and used the upper portion of the windshield frame as well. I then used another donor cab to cut the numberboard and headlight area for the brow. I have noticed there are a few who mentioned they may attempt this in the future. Take advice from me... cut this area away from the cab with an EXCESS of material in all directions (Cut from further back on roof, sides and nose) and slowly file the material away. If you dont trust your hands to this delicate process, order a few more spare cabs the practice on, etc. As I filed away material, portions of this area got more and more fragile and therefore require more and more care. I then fixed these areas to the cab and allowed them to dry. If anyone is wondering, I use Gorilla Glue Super Glue to fix all the plastic to the cab. A little dab holds like concrete and stands up to any amount of filing, etc. Furthermore, I learned to use this stuff during my last kitbash, as stripping the shell with alcohol erroded the simple Testor's stuff causing me to have to backtrack in my work. The one downfall with superglue is the set time, as this stuff hardens up almost instantly at times. Anyway, I have some more filling and sanding to do to get the brow area to flow correctly. Also, I plan on filing protruding body lines from the SD60M brow area, as the E's is smooth.
For a putty, I would highly suggest Squadron Green Putty. It holds better, sands better and is easier to work with and made for plastic models. Do a search for Squadron Models, they are a large plastic model company. The Testor stuff is just re-labeled Bondo filler.
Thanks for the advised Jim, I will look into that. I have heard of Squadron's stuff, but the filler was available at my local Wal*Mart so I just picked it up. Its decent to work with but the set time can be lengthy. Ok, more work to report. I filed down the numberboard/headlight area tonight. I also took some time to correct some things that I have missed. I looked at my cab over and over again thinking something just wasn't right. Then it dawned on me. The SD60E cab has an upward slope to it and a pretty substantial overhang above the long hood. So, using .20 styrene, I bolstered up the existing roof. Sheesh just when I thought I may be getting ready to paint and decal this freakin' thing. Because there was some airspace, I injected some filler between the styrene and the existing cab roof, just to make things a bit more sturdy for handling. This way nothing will crack or chip if the loco is picked up by the cab area or suffers a drop (I do have a curious 4 year old in the house). I then drew my attention to the longhood. The old SD60 long hood has a blister about the intake. For some reason, I missed the fact the the old blister was cut off for the SD60E and the area was flattened to make room for the F unit fan. So, I popped the fan off on my model, lopped off the blister, and used .20 sytrene make the graft. I filed it at an angle to give the styrene more of a 3-D effect, and then mounted the fan using the same method I mentioned earlier. I also got the rear fan towers ready for BLMA details. Finally, I made a modification the the dynamic grills on the side of the longhood. I did this by cutting the grill at an angle with my exacto and then peeled it away from the side. I have to locate to more grilles to go around the fan on the longhood, and am wondering if anyone can suggest a vendor that sells them. You can sort of see them in the below pic.
Last night, I got to work on the roof of the cab. I left things off with a layer of filler and let it dry over night. Today I got to work sanding things down again. It was getting hard to tell when things were flush because there was such a mish-mosh of grey, white and black, so I sprayed the cab with quick layed of flat black. There are a few more spots that need work, but the black definately helped me identify them. -Josh
Work continues on this project. I decided to take the fan from the f unit off of the intake blister, and mount up a tapered fan from a GP38-2 shell instead. The new fan is a bit larger and looked a bit more like the proto's. I then painted the long hood and cab with a gloss black. I am pretty pleased with the paint job. I had a little trouble with gloss on my last project. The mistake I made was putting way too many coats on the shell. This time, I made sure to lay one coat. It is a bit too shiny, but once I add decals and details, the paint should flatten out with some dullcoat. Does anyone know if there is a brass layover for the dynamic fan? Can anyone suggest horns for this unit... looks like 2 forward 3 rear. Also, is there any parts available to replicate the antennas on the roof?
Horn - BLMA #224 Grille - BLMA #66 (This has the big 60" fan but comes with 3 53's for the rear and I think these have 48's) St. Clair's - BLMA #92 If you want to replace the rear 3 fans and they are 48's, use BLMA #81 thru 86. Refer to an overhead shot to see which of those fans you'd need
As a bit of an update, this project has stalled a bit since I wasn't 100% satisfied with the work I did on the cab. An thanks to shapeways, I will be able to finish this project eventually. I will update with the finished product when I have time to finish it. Crescent Cabs http://www.shapeways.com/model/1257590/ns-6900-crescent-cab.html?li=productBox-search
There are quite a few makers of the sinclair antennas. Trainworx, Miniatures by Eric, but the nicest are available direct from Sandro S. on this board. He makes all three of the sizes you need for this engine.
