Chop Nosing a Geep

[John M Upton]

I have been amassing, repairing and overhauling Proto 2000 GP's for some time now and a recent acquisition prompted me to take the refurbishment a tad further.

 

 

This is a early release GP18 which had the unprototypical grooves in the cab roof line for the sunshades which means that the cab is effectively useless:

 

 

Having got the chassis working again, the bodyshell sat on the shelf for sometime whilst I decided what to do with it and I decided to be drastic.

 

Now that I have finally found a supplier of US HO detailing parts etc who doesn't charge a mortgage for postage (TMR in Ontario, Canada) I added a Cannon & Company kit for a new cab, also a low short hood to my order.

 

Removal of the original cab and high hood was fairly straightforward once the glue on the securing tabs had been broken.

 

 

The removed hood and cab go in the spares box but will be donating some small parts to this project. 

 

The Cannon & Company cab kit is a very nice kit, comes with some alternative parts and is moulded in grey plastic.

 

The existing Proto 2000 long hood requires a slight modification with the removal of the cab end section with the groove where the old cab slotted in.

 

The cab was assembled last night and is sitting loose on the chassis.

 

 

The kit for the nose is also crisply moulded in grey plastic and comes with a myriad of small parts.

 

Assembly in progress with grab rails sourced from the donors original nose and the spares box.

 

 

Hoping to have the nose completed by the end of the evening. 

Edited April 10, 2023 by John M Upton

[John M Upton]

Nose assembled:

 

Loose fitting to the chassis frame shows it to be a little short and with gaps visible underneath the sides.

 

 

I shall break out the plasticard and filler in the morning...

[Traintresta]

Early geeps had a longer nose than that of the GP30 onwards. It might have been better to have started with on of the longer noses like the 116” snoot. I think the Canadian 105” nose would be an almost perfect fit but they are hard to find as I think it was Smokey Valley who make them. 
 

Several prototypes installed a new electrical cabinet behind the cab that pushed the cab forward, this in turn allowed the new nose to fit perfectly but I think many of these also used a new cab sub base, which, may be more work than you are looking for. 

[John M Upton]

Cannon & Co do a slightly longer nose and I ummed and ahhed over which one to order!

 

I am looking for a local workshop style conversion look to the finished model, sort of one day the two local mechanics went and lopped off the cab and hood off an old (but newer) demic and then bolted it onto the GP18 frame.

 

Some of the home grown nose/cab conversions in real life are quite imaginative!

[John M Upton]

A slither of old Athearn Blue Box GP nose inserted between the Cannon & Company nose and the cab looks about right:

 

[John M Upton]

Only just returned to this project, a couple of demics being restored and a new shed plank to display all these locos on jumped the queue.

 

All the bits are on the shell now including head lights that at the last moment I realised it hadn't got!

 

A date with the primer later this morning awaits:

[Traintresta]

The number of times I’ve built a cannon can and forgot the lights! 
 

looks like it’s coming on and will look the part when completed. Is this freelanced?

[John M Upton]

10 hours ago, Traintresta said:

The number of times I’ve built a cannon can and forgot the lights! 
 

looks like it’s coming on and will look the part when completed. Is this freelanced?

 

Yes, a freelance job, one of the great things about US HO is you can go to town with fictional short lines and liveries.

[Traintresta]

It is one of the advantages but it also has many pitfalls, you can easily fall into the 'one of everything' trap and get distracted by unnecessary projects.  Speaking from experience so now I stick to a prototype theme but have a wealth of knowledge of things such as chop nosed GP's from researching almost every variable conceived.

[John M Upton]

I have tended to specialise now, in particular concentrating on Proto 2000 GP's which can be picked up cheaply as many are often sold as spares or repair due to the well known cracked gear issues, have decent detail and lend themselves to customisation and bashing almost ad-infinitum.

 

As a result I have amassed a fair amount of spare parts and am well adept at fixing gear issues so restoring them is quite satisfying, more than simply opening a box and plonking on the track that many do with brand new models.

 

 

[long island jack]

what's your fix for cracked gears, trying to find replacement gears for a proto GP, with out any luck

[Rich_F]

3 hours ago, long island jack said:

what's your fix for cracked gears, trying to find replacement gears for a proto GP, with out any luck

 

I think Athearn gears/axles fit Protos Geeps as well. @John M Upton might be able to 100% confirm though!

[John M Upton]

Two options, the replacement wheelsets from Walthers (expensive and difficult to obtain in the UK) or Athearn part number 60024 (I think) which are replacement gears for their SD40 etc.

 

Pull the metal wheels off the gear (should be loose if cracked) chuck old gear away, you will need to enlarge the hole a bit with a drill bit by hand as the Proto axle stubs are a bit wider than the Athearn ones the gears were made for.

 

Press on the two halves of the wheel sets, ensure the rotating square nut still rotates and drop them back into the bogie trucks.

 

Availability of the gears is an issue but try these guys in Canada:

https://www.tmrdistributing.com/presta/index.php

 

Postage is a lot more reasonable from Canada than the US!

[long island jack]

Thanks, i've searched everywhere in UK, used my last packet of SD40 gears, got another GP to do!!!

[John M Upton]

I have a GP that will probably require gear replacement when it is called into the works soon so I may put together an illustrated guide which may be of use to other members here.

[John M Upton]

Painting, a non specific coat of dark green:

 

 

[Traintresta]

I’ve always enjoyed my locos unpainted, especially with the addition of cannon parts, but there is something about seeing it come together in a coat of paint. 
 

what’s the freelance railroad for this one?

[John M Upton]

I have done a separate How To  thread on Proto 2000 GP cracked gear replacing: