HO Scale EMD SDL39, sort of...

[Traintresta]

Well, I was going to buy some scale trains SDL39's, but seeing as though I had collected the parts for making one I thought I'd get on and do it instead.  It's fairly well advanced right now so here are some progress photo's.

 

This started with an Athearn RTR GP35 that has been shortened to sit on an Atlas RSD-5 chassis.  I was originally modifying the trucks based on some old work I had done to shorten some Stewart Alco trimount trucks until I measured against the side frames to find the longer spaced axles didn't need shortening, so at the minute it sits over the spare Stewart trucks I had.  I will actually just get another pair of trucks to use as the Stewart trucks fit under anything that has enough space and will take an Athearn/Proto GP truck so they are slated for another project.

 

The black doors are recovered from a scrap Athearn GP38-2 shell as I made a mess of cutting up the long hood, I also had to replace the radiator grilles, roof and hood end with Cannon & Co parts.  The donor shell had a dynamic brake hatch so I made a non-dynamic hatch with more Cannon parts and plasticard, and I also used a Cannon cab as the Athearn one didn't seem to seat right.  As you can see there is a little porch at the rear of the long hood, I think mine is slightly longer than that on the prototype, but I like the emphasis on this one-sided feature and I haven't worked from plans,just photo's and a known length between pulling faces.

 

I did manage to squeeze a couple of 10gram weights into the non-dynamic hatch, I'll measure this and see how it compares to my heavy Proto units once I'm in a position to work on the guts.  It should run nicely having the reliable Atlas motor and mechanism.

[F-UnitMad]

Excellent stuff - and with the added satisfaction of "all my own work" over & above opening an R-T-R box. 

Personally I also find it easier to weather a model I've kit-bashed, detailed & painted myself - I'm always a bit reluctant to start mucking up an R-T-R model.

The 'mix & match' nature of EMD locos helps a project like this; some years ago now I modified a Weaver O scale GP38 into a GP40 by using Atlas spares - an SD40 long hood and battery boxes, and GP35 dynamic brakes blister. 

Edit:- there's a tenuous link here, as the SDL39s were Milwaukee Road locos, which ended up in the Soo Line "Bandit" black patch scheme like my GP40 here, before, if I recall correctly, most if not all of them went on to be Wisconsin Central machines.

Which is your model going to be?

Edited July 23, 2021 by F-UnitMad

[pH]

43 minutes ago, F-UnitMad said:

Edit:- there's a tenuous link here, as the SDL39s were Milwaukee Road locos, which ended up in the Soo Line "Bandit" black patch scheme like my GP40 here, before, if I recall correctly, most if not all of them went on to be Wisconsin Central machines.

 

One was wrecked while still a Milwaukee unit. The other nine went on, as you say, to Soo and Wisconsin Central. Once Canadian National had bought Wisconsin Central, they were sold to Ferrocarril del Pacífico S.A. (FEPASA) in Chile and re-gauged to 5ft 6in.

 

https://www.railpictures.net/photo/520343/

 

Edited July 23, 2021 by pH

[jasond]

Excellent nudge to the SDL39 side-on pic, thanks pH.  Quality Sth Am pics by Alejandro ... wow, nurse, another tea over here.

Jason

[Traintresta]

I haven't yet decided how I am going to paint this, I am not modelling the Milwaukee Road but I am modelling CSX in Florida, I've just always wanted one of these.  I'm tempted to paint it SCL black or freelance it, haven't decided yet.

[Traintresta]

WHAT? and WHY? I hear you ask...

 

Well, about seven years ago I modified some Stewart C628 trucks for an SDL project as I had found out that they fit under Athearn GP's without any bolster modification, so long as the fuel tank was short enough for them to fit.  I had worked out that the long wheelbase needed to be shortened by a scale 2", but that the shorter wheelbase was only a scale half inch out.  So I set about modifying some Stewart trucks.

 

The Stewart trucks already had a hole in the truck towers for the first gear that linked the centre axle to the rear axle drive so it was easy enough to do.  This being the case it looked as if Stewart used these trucks (or intended to) for a three axle truck with even axle spacing so the holes were pre-set for the switch that just required a different gear set and pick-up strips to keep the wheels at the new spacing.

 

I digress.... years later I came to do the same to an Atlas RSD4/5/ chassis and over time that scale 2" become an actual 2mm in my head, so I set about hacking away before stopping to check the spacing... Long story short I messed up one truck before I realised, and now I have reversed the process.  I could, if I wanted to, re-site the axle gear to have all axle drive but I am not going to bother and settle for a 5 axle drive on this model, but I will add pick-ups on all wheels.

 

The point of this model was to use a suitable frame to make an easy modification for the SDL39.  It has kind of become a monster of an idea as I built the rear platform on the body (a little too long I think), it interfered with the swing of the rear truck, so I shifted the chassis about 1mm forward.  However, the trucks would have looked un-evenly spaced so I toyed with the idea of mounting the Stewart trucks on this chassis as they have slightly more clearance at each end, because the pivot centre is closer to the tower assembly.  Instead I chose to modify the Atlas truck to be set-up the same and then re-sited at as far back as I could so that the two trucks are in approximately the same position relative to the pilot frames, but the rear truck is able to swing freely.

 

Here it is in progress.  If I ever do another one of these, I will check, before I build the rear platform, that it doesn't interfere with the truck swing because the RSD4/5 chassis is the perfect fit.  Scale wise, it has a wheelbase of 30', which is 1' short of the prototype but requires less cutting at the pilots than a GP7/9/18/20 chassis.  A proto GP7/9/18/20 chassis would work well with Stewart trucks but there would be a lot more milling involved to cut the fuel tank down and get the shell to fit.  You would also loose the benefit of weight inside unless you started with a proto GP30 shell.

[Traintresta]

End of day update...

 

Fuel tank is piece together from a cut-up Kato SD40 fuel tank from my bits box.  It's not completely fitted yet so it looks a bit low.

[Traintresta]

So having hacked away at the chassis and added a Dash-2 fuel tank I decided to halt and re-think my approach.  I made a bit of a mess of the frame and the tank hangs to low so I have ordered a new frame and will probably use a spare proto GP18 tank I have to fix this up.

 

All i not lost however I will use the bolsters from this to mount Atlas trucks on another Athearn frame for a future project.