What changes would be required to nake 2 NS SD60's from the Rail Power Products shell/chassis? I would start off with the P2K SD 60's but I want to do the work myself
It all depends on how highly detailed you want your models to be. If you are into super detailing like I am, I would still start with the Life-Like P2K model. It has enough of its own flaws but it is still a better starting point than the Rail Power shell. But, for the Rail Power shell I would add the following parts depending on the level of detail you wish: Cannon cab and sub-base kit Cannon 88" low short hood Cannon hood end Cannon anticlimbers Cannon angled blower housing Cannon dynamic brake grids Cannon dynamic brake intake screen Cannon inertial filter screens and hatch Cannon radiator grilles Athearn Genesis or Train Station Q-Fans Smokey Valley handrail stanchions or railing kit Detail Associates turbo stack wire grab irons lift rings horn firecracker radio antennas (see below) ditch lights on both ends snow plow(s) (see below) coupler lift bars MU hoses MU covers on pilots bell It also depends on exactly which units you want to model as to what details you want to add. NS 6550-6675 were built with a bi-directional control stand and had the long hood designated as the front. These units have a snowplow on each end and are equipped with a 3900 gallon fuel tank. The 3900 gallon tank is smaller than the tank on either the Rail Power frame or the Life-Like model, so you should shorten the tank to model these units. NS 6554-6563 and 6641-6665 are equipped with Locotrol radio equipment for use as radio control master units. Externally, these unis have a conduit running from the cab roof back to the top of the engine compartment where two additional firecracker antennas are located. NS 6676-6700 are equipped with a single control stand with the short hood designated as the front. These units have a single snowplow on the short hood end and have a 4800 gallon fuel tank. This large tank matches the Rail Power frame or the Life-Like model. These units also have the later recessed brake wheel on the short hood, a part that is also available from Cannon. NS 6697-6700 are equipped with ICE (Integrated Cab Electronics) and this can be identified externally by the large bulge on the right side of the low short hood. I also strongly recommend the use of ShellScale decals for both the NS lettering and the numberboards. And Microscale diesel data for the safety and warning decals. This should give you the basics. Let me know if you need any further info and I will help if I can. Chris Toth
With the P2k model, the low short hood should be replaced with a Cannon part as P2K made the the nose too short. The rest of the body is pretty nice and it's just a matter of detailing it to whichever unit you are trying to model. As I mentioned before, fuel tank sizes are different between early and late orders, as well as other details. One other noticeable problem with the P2K model is the trucks. The sideframes stick out way too far and this should be addressed for a nice looking model. See the thread on this farther down in the HO forum...there is some good info on how to accomplish this. One other thing with the sideframes. They come with Timken roller bearing boxes, while the NS units used Hyatt boxes. You can replace these with Detail Associates parts. That about does it. Chris
<font color="336633">Those Cannon Parts do add up to quite a bit of money but are probably the most important ones in my mind. </font>
The P2K short hood is one scale inch too short. I cannot see the difference myself and have choosen to keep the P2K short hood on my SD60. Replacing the brake wheel makes a big difference (the P2K one is too big and kinda wimpy looking) I've added some pictures to my P2K truck improvement thread: Topic: P2K SD60 truck improvement One last note - the P2K chassis is such an excellent runner I would start with it.i
one last question How would I convert a Dash 9-44CW into a Dash 9-40CW? Sorry I live on the west coast so I don't have much info on modeling the NS. [ 12 February 2002, 03:05: Message edited by: BNSF 9965 ]
To accurately model the NS Dash 9-40CW units you should start with an Athearn phase II Dash 9-44CW body shell with high numberboard cab. The NS units have the phase II body (staggered air intake grilles at the rear of the long hood) like BNSF, but they don't have the "Gull Wing" cab that the BNSF units use. Athearn only sells powered units with the phase II body and "Gull Wing" cab, so you will either need to get the BNSF version and replace the cab or buy the whole shell from Athearn direct. The part number for the correct Athearn undecorated shell is No. 49505. Once you have the correct body, the first change that needs to be made is to fill in the low mounted headlight and add a high mounted headlight between the numberboards. In addition to the normal details that you would add to the model (grabs, horn, bell, antennas, etc.), I strongly recommend adding the parts in the Details West No. 230 and 273 detail kits. These have a ton of parts specifically for detailing these models. Hope this helps and let me know if I can help further. Chris
