P48 for Cotton Belt: Roster addition SW1200

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Big Train James

Big Train James

Western Thunderer
Atlas sd35 trucks would be more appropriate. I believe there is a change in appearance after the 35 series.

Not sure how adaptable a gp9 frame would be. There's quite a bit of difference between the gp9 frame and the sd9 frame. Notably the louvered doors along the full length of the SD9. I think these might be battery box covers. At any rate, the gp9 has quite a bit of different detailing. It might work, or might be enough work that starting from scratch might be preferable. Might be useful for the pilots though.
 
Yorkshire Dave

Yorkshire Dave

Western Thunderer
I've had a look at the Sunset SD9 - looks good but alas the reservation list has closed (phew! saves £££'s). I could reserve on 'standby' but there may be no guarantee I'll end up with an SP bloody nose version. SP seems to be a popular road along with UP and Pennsy.

I am, however, tempted by another GP9 to finish as a SP chop nose variant with 48'' radiator fans but I've an ATSF U23B to build first......:)
 
Big Train James

Big Train James

Western Thunderer
Somebody will have the sp available. There are dealers that order.

If you're talking about the late gp9 order remember that the nose is actually the sloped gp18/20 production nose rather than a typical flat chopped nose rebuild. The last SP gp9's were the only low nose production versions.
 
Yorkshire Dave

Yorkshire Dave

Western Thunderer
Just out of the paint shop.

The loco was airbrushed a week ago with a Vallejo acrylic mix of Dark Sea Grey and Light Sea Grey to get as close as to SP Lark Grey as I could and left to dry.

Then came time to paint the 'bloody noses' and 'red wings'....:eek:

I had a set of Microscale decals for SSW but only the lettering turns out to be useful as the 'Red Wings' of the 'bloody nose' livery turned out too small i.e. suitable for a low nose loco, not a high nose GP9 :(. What to do..... in the end I made my own masks.

To do this I searched my HO decals box and came across a Microscale set of 'red wings' suitable for various models. This decal set was scanned and enlarged to 1/4'' scale. I also purchased Artool Products Ultra Mask in order to make my own mask for airbrushing.

058 GP9.jpg


The scan was pasted to the masking film with Pritt Stick and I cut around the 'red wings' template. At the top is my scan and the masks are at the bottom. The masking material is a light translucent grey. In this case I was masking the grey on the loco in order to airbrush the Accuflex water based acrylic SP scarlet which I had in my paint box.

059 GP9.jpg


The results. There remains a bit of tidying up with the grey where the red had bled but this is no problem as the loco is going to be weathered SP style i.e. very dirty :D.

060 GP9.jpg
061 GP9.jpg

Once the paint has hardened I give it a coat of gloss varnish ready for the decals. There is still plenty of detailing to do on the cab, sill and pilots. Followed by the trucks.
 
Jordan

Jordan

Mid-Western Thunderer
Ha ha yeah, you got me there!! D'oh!! :oops: :)

As you were..... ;)

*edit - note of explanation: for a Soo Line GP9, it would have to be non-dynamics, regardless of if it had torpedoes or not. There, hope that's clear to members not familiar with US 1st generation diesels!! :) ;)
 
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Steph Dale

Steph Dale

Western Thunderer
Dave,
What are you going to do about the radiator shutters? I assume they go on the shell from inside?
Looking good though, it's nice to see it coming together so well. It's been floating about for a while!
Steph
 
Yorkshire Dave

Yorkshire Dave

Western Thunderer
Steph Dale said:
What are you going to do about the radiator shutters? I assume they go on the shell from inside?
Click to expand...

They do install from the inside. They're painted lark grey at present and will be installed once I have weathered them. I'll also have install additional half height bulkheads in the cab to prevent seeing the radiator grilles when looking in the cab which is evident from the photographs.

Still plenty more to do.... Handrails, MU connections, air hoses, cab wind deflectors, cab windows, number boards, lighting, drop steps, couplers, uncoupler lift bars and the chassis.
 
Yorkshire Dave

Yorkshire Dave

Western Thunderer
'Raw Water' is natural fresh water e.g rainwater as opposed to treated water such as drinking water or radiator water with added coolants or inhibitors.

So do you use water to re-hydrate dehydrated water :p ?
 
Steph Dale

Steph Dale

Western Thunderer
I remember 'dehydrated water tablets' from some survival training I did. Does that count?

Dave,
I suspect you're putting sound in, so how and where is the sound enclosure going to fit? Does this also mean that the radiator shutters are going to need some form of backing?

Steph
 
Yorkshire Dave

Yorkshire Dave

Western Thunderer
Naturally it'll have sound. The photo below shows where the enclosure will go and will be as wide as the hood and almost to the hood roof.

066 GP9.jpg

The radiator shutters are below. Being an etch the individual shutters are narrow and when closed there is still a gap. One way to rectify this is to cut pieces of paper larger than the shutter and glue these the shutter so when closed there is no visible gap. The shutters will also have a backing.067 GP9.jpg
 
Jordan

Jordan

Mid-Western Thunderer
Must admit I thought that about the shutters; that 'as etched' they can't actually depict 'fully closed'. Still great details, though.
 
mickoo

mickoo

Western Thunderer
Jordan said:
Must admit I thought that about the shutters; that 'as etched' they can't actually depict 'fully closed'. Still great details, though.
Click to expand...
They can but you need to change the style of etching, Dave's are one etch with all the blades on so there has to be a gap between each blade to allow them to twist.

What you need to do is make two layers, the front layer has all the odd blades on and the rear layer has all the even ones on, then each blade can be made wider; when you join them back to back you can then get blades which overlap.

You have to be careful with the pivot points though, if you place them in the middle then the rear blades will sit back the thickness of the material, so you need to offset the rear blade pivots by the material thickness. In reality what you do is offset half the material thickness on the front and half on the back, that way the pivots don't look too far out of place and all the blades line up nicely and overlap nicely.

MD
 
Yorkshire Dave

Yorkshire Dave

Western Thunderer
Jordan

Jordan

Mid-Western Thunderer
mickoo said:
They can but you need to change the style of etching, Dave's are one etch with all the blades on so there has to be a gap between each blade to allow them to twist.

What you need to do is make two layers, the front layer has all the odd blades on and the rear layer has all the even ones on, then each blade can be made wider; when you join them back to back you can then get blades which overlap.....
Click to expand...
Yes, I realised all that Mick ;) & as you went on to describe, the 'two layer etch' isn't as straightforward as it would appear at first.
Anyway if Hornby could do an opening/closing grille on it's Class 50, I don't think it should be beyond the wit of our P48 Brethren to make these grilles fully operational, should it..?? :p :D
ducks for cover whilst sprinting to fire escape..... :)

PS that GP9 has been on the Weathering Shop (a.k.a. Rustbucket) forum too. :thumbs:
 
Yorkshire Dave

Yorkshire Dave

Western Thunderer
Jordan said:
I don't think it should be beyond the wit of our P48 Brethren to make these grilles fully operational, should it..?? :p :D
ducks for cover whilst sprinting to fire escape..... :)
Click to expand...

If I really had the inclination I could make the shutters work but fortunately, life gets in the way ...... beer, wine, sailing, inter alia .......:D
 
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