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Kitbashing the Weaver O Scale GP38-2


DaminKeenan

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Hi Everyone!

 

As per Andrew's request, I've started a new topic here regarding using Weaver's O scale "GP38-2" as a starting point.  I put GP38-2 in quotation marks because the model appears to be combination of GP38 and GP38-2 detailing.

 

So anybody who's kitbashed the Weaver or has a question about doing so, please post away!

 

Thanks,

Damin.

 

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I am wondering firstly what parts you've used to do your updates. Right now I am looking for suggestions for the handbrake on the Gp 38-2. Any ideas?

 

I'm using a variety of parts from Precision Scale, Des Plaines Hobbies, and P & D Hobby.  As well as some 3D printed parts from Shapeways that I designed when I couldn't find what I wanted.  My project isn't really a rebuild, I'm just detailing it to match the photos of the prototype unit.

 

The model is the older version with a large Pittman motor, a chain-drive, and a drive-shaft running between the two trucks.  Because of the drive-shaft, I won't be replacing the fuel tank, although a smaller more be more prototypically accurate.

 

The locomotive is a dual-decoder setup; with a 4-amp Digitrax decoder handling the motor, and a 1-amp Tsunami providing the sound.  Lighting is split between the two decoders.  The Digitrax handles the lights on the frame whereas the Tsunami handles the light mounted on the body.  This allows me to have just a 2-wire cable, with a plug connection, running between the two.

 

I'll try and get some work-in-progress photos tomorrow morning.

 

Thanks,

Damin.

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Damin,

 

Have you considered using a tower drive for your GP 38-2,that way you`ll have a clear underframe between the trucks and fuel tank.

As your probably aware PD Hobbies sell them complete.

 

Also if your not going to pull long trains, then you could get away with just one driven truck,leaving room to detail the cab.

A set up i`ve used on a GP9.

post-19751-0-75136500-1380204312_thumb.jpg

 

Brian.

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I didn't even know that "Weaver" made two rail! It's all three rail crap in my neck of the woods (if it's "O" it's Lionel compatible, d'oh).

Neil Young has a lot to answer to.

 

Best, Pete.

 

Hi Pete,

 

I won't get too upset at ol' Neil and the 3-rail crowd.  Lots of 3-rail stuff can be converted into 2-rail without too much difficultly.  And the association with the much larger 3-rail market means more stuff gets made than would otherwise be feasible.

 

Thanks,

Damin.

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Have you considered using a tower drive for your GP 38-2,that way you`ll have a clear underframe between the trucks and fuel tank.

As your probably aware PD Hobbies sell them complete.

 

Also if your not going to pull long trains, then you could get away with just one driven truck,leaving room to detail the cab.

A set up i`ve used on a GP9.

 

Hi Brian,

 

I've though of that.  And I may pursue that idea in a future project.  Right now I'm hesitant to start something that I don't know if I have the skills to finish.

 

I don't like the idea of removing power from one of the trucks.  I prefer that all of the wheels be powered.  Not only does improve the pulling power of the engine but it makes cleaning the wheels easier.  With both trucks powered, I can set one end of the engine on an alcohol soaked paper towel and let the wheels spin as the other end picks up power.  When I'm done, I just flip the engine around to do the other end.  With non-powered equipment (like rolling stock) I can just push the car over the towel.  But that's hard to do when one of the trucks (the powered one) isn't free-rolling.

 

Thanks,

Damin.

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  Right now I'm hesitant to start something that I don't know if I have the skills to finish.

 

Hey Damin,

 

I know exactly what you mean..........

 

post-19751-0-82204400-1380215733_thumb.jpgpost-19751-0-55431800-1380215713_thumb.jpg

 

This was a little project i started over a year ago now!.

I got as far as shoe horning some atlas trucks into the chasiss,and making a start on taking off various details.

The truck idea was,i thought quite good at the time,but boy did it take some work.

And i`m still not sure if it was worth effort.......

 

Brian.

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Andrew,

 

Thanks for the link,i have`nt looked through the espee.railfan site in quite a while.

I was going to go with a more upto date version (2005) of the SP units,ie patched/re-painted as UP units.

I had picked out two GP38-2`s that worked the Anahiem area on locals;

 

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=118471

 

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=550690

 

I`d be keen to see your progress pictures,epecially the ones to do with the underframe rails.

I could`nt make my mind up wether to use styrene or brass sections for these.

As for my GP 38-2,it`s more of a as and when project,because i`m building a HO layout at the moment.

 

Brian.

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Sorry I'm a bit late to this thread, by the looks of it... ;)

My conversion of a Weaver GP38-2 was to a GP 40, and to do so I used Atlas spare parts - an SD40 long hood (shortened slightly) and under-cab (battery?) boxes, & a GP35 dynamic brakes blister, which needed a bit of extra plasticard to fill the gap, visible - just! - as white in these 'undecorated' pics. Black parts are Weaver, Atlas are grey.
SDC10558.jpg

SDC10561.jpg
(excuse my lad's 'Thomas' stuff in that last pic!!) The Weaver long hood is next to the loco to show the differences - fans, blister etc.

The white filling piece of plasticard is more visible here - next to my Atlas GP35
SDC10564.jpg

The Weaver model has short fuel tanks. Going by the photos I had at the time, I thought the Ex-MILW GP40s had longer tanks, and made some out of brass sheet, overlaid on the Weaver one. Note cut-out for the drive shaft.
SDC10568.jpg

SDC10567.jpg

I may have been wrong about that though, but at least the longer tanks help obscure the drive shafts more..
SDC10566.jpg

I can't recall if that's the motor it came with, or if that's a replacement Pittman I got off Ebay.

Detailing, paint & weathering finished the job - best of all I didn't need to buy a sheet of Milwaukee Decals!! :D

MILW-specific details included the bell on the Fireman's side behind the cab, and the numberboards on the front sides of the dynamics blister. The plow was a brass casting, and the all-weather window a brass etch from Roland Marx in Germany, courtesy of Colin Stewart of Inverness.

That's all, folks!!!
SDC11010.jpg

SDC11012.jpg

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Very nice,

 

I remember admiring this loco at Armitage a couple of years back,and trying to figure out who`s hood section you`d used.(i`d already asked a ton of question`s about the F`s!  :O)  

 

Brian.

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Just to add a note of caution about the 2-rail Weaver Geep (with apologies to Trisonic Pete who can't get ANY 2-rail at all...)

 

Weaver seem to have done two versions. The first, with plastic chassis, central motor, drive shafts etc is ok as the pilots & end steps are molded with the body. Only real downside is the plastic handrails.

The second version has metal handrails, metal chassis & twin-motor drive, but - & it's a big BUT - the body is derived from the 3-rail version. The pilots and steps are a nasty metal casting, and the handrails only drop to frame level, not to the bottom of the steps.

 

Buyers beware.... ;)

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I have to admit that, a few years ago, when £1 was worth $2, & shipping costs from the US were reasonable, I used to be very glad of 3-rail stuff.... it was so popular in the US it kept the 2-rail prices low due to lack of demand!! :D

I had several of my locos & some stock from Ebay.com - often I was the only bidder.

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Re my brass tank "overlays"....

I used fairly thin brass sheet. First I removed the plastic tank and placed it end-on on the brass and scribed round it for the two new ends.

After measuring the tank width required I cut two rectangles to form each side - its easier to do two seperate sides than one whole piece. I then roll them to shape very carefully using nothing more than some steel bars and a workbench vise. Take it steady, a bit at a time, and keep checking them for fit over the plastic tank. Once both sides are done I soldered them to the ends with the plastic tank trapped inside. This sounds daunting but it can be slid to the opposite end to that being soldered, to avoid heat damage. I cut the ends out slightly overlarge, to allow for a strong solder joint and filed the profile down to match the sides after. Because of the gaps I think I actually managed to solder from the insides for a strong joint.

I have a feeling I filed down the bottom of the plastic tank so that the brass overlay isnt too low underneath and catches the rails at all, but I cant recall exactly what I did.

I refitted the tank using the lugs on the plastic tank, then centered the brass tank and ran superglue in to glue it to the plastic tank. Crude but it works!! The only thing I haven't done properly is represent the gauges & sight glass on the tank. I dont know if detail castings are available? I know some modellers really go to town with detail and will fit the filler caps, pipework & so on, but I'm not that meticulous myself - & of course having never set foot on US soil I have never seen a US Diesel "for real", so I dont really know enough about some detail aspects to get things spot on.... life's too short anyway....!!!!

 

Hope that helps. ;)

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Brian;

Sorry for the delay in getting pictures to you - they simply never happened last weekend. The wearther was miserable and I had a bone in my leg, and probably industrial diease also. Just never managed it.

I'll get the model out tomorrow morning (there's actually supposed to be some decent weather this weekend - i.e. not raining, not freezing and maybe some sunlight too...) and upload them to the site this weekend for review.

 

Internestingly I noticed that without the Pittman motor mounted the frame has a decided bow to it that suggests this is built in to take the weight of the motor without overloading and therefore bending the frame downwards under use. My original plane then of modelling the frame in plastic may now change to building a support in brass, and then dressing it up from there. I'll simply screw the brass frame dress-up to the plastic frame and use the brasss to stiffen the plastic.

 

Any thoughts from others who've done this or similar?

No problem in the delay Andrew,i quite often find that time get`s away quicker than i think it has and life never seem`s to play ball when you want it to either!

 

Intresting observation on the Weaver frame,i`ve got a couple of undecorated ones and never noticed the bow. 

As for the underframe,i`d thought along the lines of using some H section styrene of the right size,and just bonding it in place.

 

Brian.

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F-UnitMad,

 

Damin had mentioned in the first post three avalible sorces for detail castings;

http://www.precisionscaleco.com/

http://pdhobbyshop.com/

http://www.desplaineshobbies.com/store/department/23/Railroad-O-Scale/

 

You could get carried away detailing the underframe with the bits on offer,but that said even just a few details will make a big difference.

Brian.

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Just in case anyone thought that I'd gone MIA, I decided to take a break from panicking -- err, I mean getting the layout ready for this month's show -- and post a few pictures of my Soo Line GP38-2.

 

Here is a picture with the cover off showing the two decoders and the wiring...

 

100 1992

 
Next are the results of my first attempt at simulating peeling paint...
 

100 1993

100 1994

 
This is still very much a work in progress.  The next step is to apply the lettering and final details.  Then some drybrushing and finally a few washes of rust and grime.
 
BTW, I've got less than two weeks to go.  Yikes!
 
- Damin.

 

 

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Looking good so far.

 

When you come to sort out the fuel tank,will you be replacing the molded air tanks that are attached to the frame?.

 

Brian.

 

I'm planning on keeping the original fuel tank for now.  I need it to hide the drive-shaft that runs between the trucks.  I know that P&D has parts that can be used to eliminate the drive-shaft, but I don't want to get that complicated now.

 

I can always come back and replace it in the future, if I ever change my mind.

 

Thanks,

Damin.

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If I may, what is the steam loco in the background?

 

It's a Weaver 2-8-0 that I picked up off of Ebay several years ago.  It came out of the box a few weeks ago to have a Digitrax DH465 decoder installed.  It's currently awaiting the installation of a new front headlight after some idiot (me) broke the original trying to replace the bulb.

 

Thanks,

Damin.

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