I have been looking at Amtrak's GP40 TC's for a while now, and I am confident in can make the shell for it with some Kitbashing, and scratch building, but I am completely lost on what frame to use for it. The GP40 and GP40-2 are too short, and I think the SD40 Frame is too long. Any ideas?
You could always give a look if there is a Tomytec chassis which gives the correct, or close enough for trimming, truck spacing. Then it's just a matter of adapting Atlas parts to use with the frame and adding weight. Of course, it is always wise to see what other people have done in other scales when starting a project.
are you shure the sd40 is to long? if i was doing that unit i think the sd40 frame is a good start. to see if it would work.
i see you was in the syr ipms. i was to a long time ago. my planes where at the airport display all the time
The GP40TC has a length of 65' 8" with truck centers of 40' 6" while the SD38/40 has a length of 65' 9-1/2" with truck centers of 40' exact. The truck bolster tower on the model Blomberg B truck isn't tall enough compared to the Model Flexicoil truck, resulting in a tight fit because the bolster tabs can't clear inside the frame. Thus the gears would probably not engage. You could try stretching a GP40 mechanism the same way Ron Beardon, aka U18B, stretched a RS-3 mech to get his U25C and SD45 years ago to get the results! Trevor D.
The other issue is that the Kato SD40 gear towers are off center which would result in a stretched wheelbase. Then there would be the problem of milling down the sides of the Kato frame to fit the narrow hood width of the Atlas GP40s. The truck centers of the Dash-8 40B are 40' 2" which is close. That chassis is narrow enough for a GP40 shell to fit, but I imagine you will need to mill the ends of the frame shorter. On the plus side, the chassis will take the Atlas/Kato AAR-B/Blomberg-B/Blomberg-M/Floating-Bolster trucks with no modifications.
I'd also like to do one of these, though I'd like one in it's original GO Transit colours. This project, for me, seems a little closer now that the decals are available again. The prototype was built on a SD40 frame so that does look like a logical first step but it doesn't look like the truck centres work out as well. Though it's in HO there is a great build thread on the GP40TC over on The Diesel Detailer forum: http://dieseldetailer.proboards.com/thread/4898
