CN SW1200RM kitbash project

Mike VE2TRV Mar 21, 2010

  1. Mike VE2TRV

    Mike VE2TRV TrainBoard Member

    4,867
    12,439
    92
    A while ago, I posted something in the "What's on your workbench" thread about kitbashing a "SWeep", Canadian National's own 1:1 scale kitbash of a SW1200RS and a GP9, repowered with a 1350 hp 12-645 engine.

    I found a couple of shells at a train flea market back in February, and proceeded to cut them up and sand/file/grind them to fit together. This being my first kitbash job, I neglected the old carpenter's adage of "measure twice, cut once":

    [​IMG]

    I added a piece from the remaining part of the GP9 to make up the missing length in the long hood (the gray part). You will also notice that I ground down the roof fan for the dynamic brakes - CN removed them from the GP9 hood, including the grills on the blisters:

    [​IMG]

    Now all the parts are ready for assembly. I also approximated the changes in the cab windows at the back, and added/approximated the characteristic Canadian number board/headlight assembly, using the ones cut off the other end of the GP9:

    [​IMG]

    Put together, along with some fine grill where the dynamic brakes used to be:

    [​IMG]
     
  2. Mike VE2TRV

    Mike VE2TRV TrainBoard Member

    4,867
    12,439
    92
    Now to painting.

    A coat of primer and it looks better already:

    [​IMG]

    And painted, ready for decals and touch-ups and detailing:

    [​IMG][​IMG]

    All things considered, it's not shabby and I am very happy with these early results.

    It's going to get the big CN noodle on the side and numbered 7100. In prototype photos it's the only one where the cab on the hood side is black instead of red (less masking off to do... :) ).
     
  3. Mike VE2TRV

    Mike VE2TRV TrainBoard Member

    4,867
    12,439
    92
    Today, I applied the decals.

    [​IMG]

    I filed down the metal tabs on the underframe to about 1/3 their original height to help ease the shell over it - it's still a glued-together unit and thus far from being as solid as the original.

    Some extra detailing remains to be applied, and the handrails. I have the ones for the ends, from the SW9 shell, but the GP9 shell was devoid of handrails. I bought some 0.025" music wire at the LHS yesterday just for that.

    Now I have a unique beast in my zoo. :D
     
  4. Tbone

    Tbone Permanently dispatched

    657
    15
    18
    Very nice Mike!!! :thumbs_up::thumbs_up:
     
  5. Wolfgang Dudler

    Wolfgang Dudler Passed away August 25, 2012 TrainBoard Supporter In Memoriam

    3,794
    352
    49
    Looks like a project with much fun, enjoy it.

    Wolfgang
     
  6. Mike VE2TRV

    Mike VE2TRV TrainBoard Member

    4,867
    12,439
    92
    Thanks for the kudos, guys! :)

    Yes, Wolfgang, I'm having a lot of fun with this. It's giving me a taste for this kind of work. Looks like I'm going to be hunting for spare shells at train swap meets and shows... ;)

    I've been doing a little snooping around and I've found just one reference to anyone else who kitbashed this beastie, dating back to 2007 on another board. At the time he was waiting for parts to finish it, but basically he used the same starting materials as I did.

    So I would probably be just the second one to build this! Third if one counts CN... :D
     
  7. Krasny Strela

    Krasny Strela TrainBoard Member

    121
    1
    15
    Dave Lisabeth of the CN SIG in Sarnia made a HO bash of 7102. A picture of his SWEEP is in CN Lines Issue #51. He worked for CN as an engineer and died in a workplace accident in Nov. 2006.
     
  8. Mike VE2TRV

    Mike VE2TRV TrainBoard Member

    4,867
    12,439
    92
    Ask and someone will answer. Thanks, KS. :)

    Though it's unfortunate news that the creator of that one is no longer with us, and in such a tragic manner.
     
  9. Krasny Strela

    Krasny Strela TrainBoard Member

    121
    1
    15
    Mike V.,
    No worries.
    ps Looks like another for the "its a small world" folder. My names Mike as well, I was born in Montreal (looks like just a year after yourself), and have just gotten back into MRR after a 25 year hiatus. I'm also focusing on CN, but in N (though previously in HO) and now live just north of T.O.
    cheers
    Mike D.
     
  10. Northeast Fan

    Northeast Fan TrainBoard Member

    27
    0
    8
    That looks like the kind of thing I like to do. It turned out very well.

    Bill Banaszak, CEO of the NYA&W
     
  11. Mike VE2TRV

    Mike VE2TRV TrainBoard Member

    4,867
    12,439
    92
    Smaller world still. The VE2TRV is my ham call sign. I'm also a "Mike D."

    Spooky. :D
     
  12. cmstpmark

    cmstpmark TrainBoard Supporter

    394
    1
    20
    Nice work. As you have found, kitbashing can become infectious. I started on an Athearn GP7 as well. Seems old Irv mixed some majic pixie dust into his plastics that makes modelers want to start cutting, and gluing and emailing Details West.

    I caught the bug from Phillip Cohoon, my best friends dad who modeled the GTW in HO. He grew up on the Port Huron-Detroit line, and like many Detroit kids, rode GTW suburban trains in his youth...and snuck into the yards...got great photos...and chased by the RR cops. He was working on converting yet another Athearn GP7 into proper GTW format (horns, bells, winterization windows) and painting it in the blue and orange I saw so much of on the local rails in my youth. I watched him work on it for months and thought, with my 11 YO mind, that it was way too much work for that. Now, as I, "finish" my 5th kitbash (you never really finish) on a loco (OK 4 locos and one doodlebug) I have to chuckle. As great as the new factory engines are, I still have the need to think about what I would change..cut off...file down...drill...putty...sand...drill....putty..sand again....sand again...primer..sand again...sand again...paint...@#$#$@!!!...strip...sand again....everytime I look at the trainshow or online. Like I said, it's infectious.

    On that note, I found a few 1:1 locos still in the blue/orange livery roaming the rails in Kalamazoo and Dee-troy-it (Thank you for the lessons Canadianphonics, Ron MacClean).

    Mark
     

Share This Page