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SDL-39


stock_2007

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Yes your all saying 'God not him again' :O anyway I was looking over some photos and found one of a Milwaukee Road SDL-39 I was thinking what would be the starting point of a mode of this loco? I know Kaslo once did a kit but they are no where to be found. As always any hints or ideas are always welcome

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Since the trucks are EMD export trucks, it might actually be easier for someone overseas to find a GM export model with the right trucks and wheelbase. Then cut up a GP39/GP38 shell to fit over that mechanism.

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Dear Mark, Staff,

 

Mark, as a NSW dweller, I guess I should have known that... :-)

(BTW, AFAIK, the "A-1-A" format is proto-related, the Frateschi model has all axles powered anyway... ;-) )

 

FWIW

 

http://www.auscisionmodels.com.au/422_class_page.htm

http://www.auscisionmodels.com.au/images/IMG_5544.JPG

 

http://www.tomshobbies.com.au/index.php/trainorama-products

http://www.tomshobbies.com.au/images/s14760.jpg

 

Of course, the cost of current Trainorama and Auscision locos is pretty steep,

and I'm not sure that they offer "trucks only" for kitbashing fodder?

(Maybe an eBay.com.au hunt is called for?)

 

Happy Modelling,

Aim to Improve,

Prof Klyzlr

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  • RMweb Gold

Your better off watching Ebay US and looking on there for the Overland model. As a matter of interest, the 10 EMD SDL39's served the Milwaukee Road and then onto the Soo after they bought the MILW. They then were moved to Wisconsin Central after it was formed but when Canadian National bought the WC, they were withdrawn.

 

I believe that they were re-guaged and all sold to Brazil.

 

Julian Sprott

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You may wish to do a post on the Menasha WI thread over on the Overseas Modelling forum as I know one that group has completed a model of one of these locos using a Kaslo body and a kit bashed Atlas (I think) chassis

 

Dan

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I actually had an un-made Kaslo kit given to me a while back... Sorry, I have now sold it on, but FWIW the chassis didn't look up to much - the bottom of the trucks seemed to be lower than the flanges of the wheels, for one thing, so I can understand it if someone has just used the body, on another chassis....

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Just picked up on the thread after a bit of prompting. As Dan points out I have finished an SDL39 after a lot of frustration over the last 5 years.....

 

It is a Kaslo kit but unlike most of their other products it was run produced for the Yahoo WC2Scale forum, with a chassis and sound decoder. Most of their bodies are designed to fit on a proprietary chassis. As F-Mad Unit says the drive was a problem with the keeper plate on the trucks being about 3mm thick and fouling anything in the "4 foot". I ended up using mine, WC 587, as a dummy until I started playing with a number of drive options last year.

 

I have used an Atlas RSD 4/5 chassis and trucks mainly cobbled together from the Atlas spares department as these don't tend to come up on ebay that often. I have added some additional pick ups on the trailing axle, which I screwed in (the Atlas pick ups are held in place by the truck side frames) and then added the Kaslo export truck side frames on top - the mouldings of these are OK but not a patch on the Murphy Models IE201's trucks. Shame they are OO. I slightly lengthened the body to accommodate the trucks as the clearances were a bit tight and changed the plow pilot and steps to Kato ones. The Kaslo ones can best be described as fragile. I then added the fuel tanks - cut down Atlas GP38-2 tanks.

 

The result looks good and runs smoothly although could do with some more running in. I may redo the paint job at some stage - 587 was fairly battered and I have attempted to capture the Milwaukee paint showing through the WC colours. I also need to add a few more details.

 

In terms of decoders I have used a Tsunami AT1000 EMD 645 turbo with a Railmaster speaker. This is a tight fit in what is a very short body compared to most EMD units.

 

Here is a picture I took last year when I was playing with the drive.......

 

http://www.flickr.co.../in/photostream

 

In terms of when you might see it, I will have it running on Menasha at Tolworth in November.

 

Reference materials I have found are as follows:

 

Model Railroad Craftsman - July 1972

Model Railroader - had some detailed plans

Diesel Era - January 1998

Latin Tracks - September 2008

Plus various other books

 

The latter was picked up whilst in Argentina 2 years ago and tells the story of the SDL39's export to Chile, where they have been re-gauged to 5ft 6 and fans are now flush with the roof to reduce their height. They have been repainted and renumbered (not in order) and are used around Santiago on most trains.

 

I would actually like to build another SDL39 and have all the Atlas parts to produce one. If John does come up trumps with a body I would like to know. Failing that I have a load of Cannon parts ready to kit bash one! It shouldn't take quite as long as it took to get 587 working! Oh and just for some more entertainment I am planning to produce one in N scale - the trucks should be delivered shortly.....

 

Chris

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Hi,

 

Thanks for the update.

 

I have just been having a look at WC2Scale (an excellent resource for anyone who models WC or simply wants to model WC cars) and someone has scratch built a pair of SDL39's. This is the link. They look fantastic and put my efforts to shame!

 

I am really tempted to have a go at this approach!

 

http://wc2scale.org/index.php/articles/9-locomotives/31-wc-586-sdl39

 

Chris

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  • 2 months later...

I have re-worked and repainted my Kaslo SDL39 since my last post. The truck frames are cut down Atlas SD35examples. It is also now painted as WC586 which I saw at Neenah Yard in September 2000.

 

It will be appearing at Tolworth this weekend on Menasha. Hopefully we will have it working on the Banta job. It has a Tsunami installed so sounds the part too!

 

Cheers,

 

Chris

post-4019-0-15223900-1352328544_thumb.jpg

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