Hello all! Anyone have any Life Like GP20's shells, parts or complete locomotives they would like to sell? Thanks Cam
I have one that is the non-DCC version that I've started detailing. I'd give up the chassis if I could find a DCC-ready chassis! Is there a source for parts? Any good deals out there?
I've got a whole bunch of them, if I can find them in all the boxes from my move. I probably have some shells too, as I used the LL mechanisms under Bachmann F-7 shells. I'd like to make a few bucks from them, to finance the expansion of the Portsmouth Branch into my expanded basement, whether that's here in Ohio or in Alabama. Folks seem to want to buy them for the $20 or so I paid for them ten years ago, but I think that's not a fair price. Best to contact me at peterknolan@gmail.com. I'll also sell the F-7 conversions, which have hardwired TCS decoders, for about $40 each, $30 without the F-7 shell. The decoders fit into a void between the mechanism and the shell, so this conversion wouldn't be right for a DCC narrow hood. Prices are negotiable, as I am out of touch with today's market prices.
Be careful. I bought some extra new DCC versions thinking I could update my older units, only to find that the old bodyshells are not a drop-on fit on the new mechs. I'm sure there is probably a way to do it, but it's not as simple as swapping shells.
Thanks Mark for letting me know. I made that faulty assumption based on other Kato and Atlas models that have that ability (SD40/SD45/C30-7). I'll just keep with the mechanism it came with and convert it to DCC.
The new chassis is slightly longer than the old one, however getting an old shell to fit on a new chassis doesn't take too much work. A little grinding on the ends of the chassis and inside the shell did the trick for me. -Mark
Mine run too well to ever think of parting with them, I love em. Mine are the first run DC style which is my thing anyway.
Luna, NM ranks right up there with Gakona, AK (or anything along the Tok Cutoff), as the most remote place I have ever driven through on a sorta-paved road. But it is beautiful out there.
The GP20 wheelbase is one foot too long for the F7--as it was in the prototype. That may not sound like much, but it does a visual mismatch, and some clearance problems with the stirrups and curves under a radius (11"?) that I did not experience as my minimum radius was 18". But it is an easy fitting of shell to mechanism, and a decoder tucks neatly into the space between the GP20 mechanism and the F7 shell.
