Conrail GP18-#7498 Complete

Here is my first attempt at painting and detailing an N-Scale diesel. I posted a question a while back asking what color the walkways should be and it sparked a little debate as to black or blue. From the pics that I could find of this specific unit, it appears that they are blue, so that's what I went with. This is an older Life Like unit with the open pilots. I filled in the pilots and replaced the yellow window glazing with Crystal Clear liquid after painting. I added a few small detail parts and am pretty happy with the way it turned out. The biggest inaccuracy is the size of the Conrail logo. It should be smaller but I couldn't find decals to suit this particular model. This engine really runs great. It's as quiet as any atlas diesel I have and almost as smooth. (It doesn't have flywheels). So anyway, here are the pics

 

Looks good, I have one of those GP18's around and it is a good little moter.
Kevin

 

Really looks nice. Good detail parts, too.

I notice the horns are on the engineer side of the cab, Cotton Belt style for GP20s.

I thought the GP18 plastic frame was not so good, but the LL SD7 plastic frame is a great engine. It will just crawl with a little tweaking. Maybe my plastic frame GP18s need more breaking in.

 

I love those Horst Air Filters, nice work on the engine!

 

Thanks for the comments. I totally missed the fact that the horns were incorrect. I'd have to pull them off, fill and sand to correct. I think I'll just leave them and chalk it up to be a newbie at this. My next attempt will be a Atlas B30-7 in traditional Burlington Northern black and green. Still a fairly simple scheme but a touch more challenging.

 

Looks awesome! My older-run LL GP38 (mech like yours) is a champ. It even runs better (quieter and smoother) than most of my Atlas units. So good, in fact, I installed a decoder in the unit.

 

Nice work. I have a few GP18s that have been retro'd back to GP9s with the Gold Medals Kit.

 

Thats a great first job. You should have seen my first attempt at painting (also a Conrail GP18 by the way). You would laugh.

 

Thanks again guys for the inspiration. I can definitley see myself doing a few more custom paint jobs. I just can't figure out why the undecorated units cost as much as the decorated ones!

 

What?! They didn't cost as much before. They used to be a few dollars less anyway.

 

Great job!

 

Thanks for the advice!

 

Jimmy Great looking GP18.

I was wondering if those GP20 type fans could be replaced with correct 48" flat fan from JnJ?

I been thinking about GP18 project for some time.Of course I also thought of using a High Hood GP18 for a phase 3 GP9 by using those 48" fans.

 

I don't see why you couldn't shave those fans off and replace them. I was a bit hesitant to put too much effort in this only because I wasn't sure that the Life Like unit was worth it. But like i said, this is a really nice running unit. I actually spent more on the paint and decals alone then I did on the deisel. (It was an E-Bay win). The only issues that I saw with the shell are the handrails are a bit oversized and it had open pilots. A little sheet styrene will take care of the pilots. I'm not a rivet counter, so I'm not sure as to the overall accuray though.

 

Jimmy,I'm not a rivet counter either..

I think I will order those fans and see about finding a cheap GP18.

Thanks!

 

When masking, I use Tamiya Masking Tape for all the edges:
TamiyaUSA.com - Masking Tape

After the tape has been applied, use a pencil eraiser to push the tape into all the crevaces. I then apply a light spray of semi-gloss to seal the tape/mask line. This will result in a laser sharp paint line.

You can also use blue painters tape which wont attack paint as much as generic masking tape. I use this when covering large portions of a shell fter using the Tamiya tape on the paint seperation line becasue blue painters tape is a lot less expensive.

 

I really didn't expect to get this much response to my post. Thanks everyone for the comments and great advice.