Finally off the back burner
A few years ago, I bought a locomotive shell on eBay. A nice Rail Power Products B23-7 shell, to be exact. After paying for a money order, US exchange, and shipping, I had a shell for less than I'd have to pay at a store here, if one could even be found in a Canadian store anymore. I figured I'd get an Athearn U-series chassis and power the shell with that.
Later, I found Bill's Hobbies here in North Bay was closing. 50% off sale, so I dropped in. No U-series chassis, but he had an undecorated Walthers GP9 for sale. At full price, I wouldn't have touched it, but at half price it left the store with me. I figured I'd paint it for RaiLink. No good. The shell was too wide and had a minor crack in it.
So, here I was with a shell with no chassis, and a chassis with no shell. I thought about using the chassis to make a Canadian National GMD1 roadswitcher. After all, the GP9 and GMD1 have similar truck centres. But, the trucks are so different that the kitbash would have been problematic.
And that's when it hit me...why not kitbash the B23-7 shell to fit the GP9 chassis?
A few searches on Google and a question to a Yahoo group told me that it would be difficult, but not impossible. So, out came the X-Acto knife and the Dremel and I was off to the races.
Or so I thought... Shortening the shell took a lot of cuts and body putty. It's not quite done, but I am going to have the rear radiator done soon. The doors are done, but the front grills will either have to be built from scratch or taken from another shell. I'm ditching the RPP cab for a nice Hi Tech Details one, and Utah Pacific stanchions should finish off most of the shell.
The chassis has been a pain. Tonight, I spent about 2 hours cutting, filing, and fitting the Walthers chassis into the shell. Finally, I got it to fit in. Now to cut the fuel tank down to size and put air tanks at both ends. I'm going to have to get a set of Athearn blomberg sideframes, because the Walthers ones look like toys. The motor is a nice piece of work, but I might replace the universals if they become a problem.
Oh, and this is the first locomotive kitbash for me in about 12 years. It's been a loooong time.
When it's done and painted, I'll post a few pictures on the site.
Later, I found Bill's Hobbies here in North Bay was closing. 50% off sale, so I dropped in. No U-series chassis, but he had an undecorated Walthers GP9 for sale. At full price, I wouldn't have touched it, but at half price it left the store with me. I figured I'd paint it for RaiLink. No good. The shell was too wide and had a minor crack in it.
So, here I was with a shell with no chassis, and a chassis with no shell. I thought about using the chassis to make a Canadian National GMD1 roadswitcher. After all, the GP9 and GMD1 have similar truck centres. But, the trucks are so different that the kitbash would have been problematic.
And that's when it hit me...why not kitbash the B23-7 shell to fit the GP9 chassis?
A few searches on Google and a question to a Yahoo group told me that it would be difficult, but not impossible. So, out came the X-Acto knife and the Dremel and I was off to the races.
Or so I thought... Shortening the shell took a lot of cuts and body putty. It's not quite done, but I am going to have the rear radiator done soon. The doors are done, but the front grills will either have to be built from scratch or taken from another shell. I'm ditching the RPP cab for a nice Hi Tech Details one, and Utah Pacific stanchions should finish off most of the shell.
The chassis has been a pain. Tonight, I spent about 2 hours cutting, filing, and fitting the Walthers chassis into the shell. Finally, I got it to fit in. Now to cut the fuel tank down to size and put air tanks at both ends. I'm going to have to get a set of Athearn blomberg sideframes, because the Walthers ones look like toys. The motor is a nice piece of work, but I might replace the universals if they become a problem.
Oh, and this is the first locomotive kitbash for me in about 12 years. It's been a loooong time.
When it's done and painted, I'll post a few pictures on the site.
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