I'm working on custom painting some shortline locomotives, and need a good source of undecorated GP9's. The shortlines I'm after got their GP9's from the Southern Pacific, so a model specific to that company would be acceptable as well. I need good models, preferably easy to work with, but well built. I will add minor details such as lights, bells, etc.. Price is sort of an issue here, but I can be flexible. Thanks in advance.
The Proto 2000 GP9's are probably the best of the bunch. They come in various phases. The old Front Range Geeps are not too bad if you're willing to change the fans out. The Front Range bodies are available from Proto Power West. They also make a power chassis for the engine with several different motor options. Atlas makes a great Geep but its a GP7. All the above have Scale width hoods.
The Front Range GP9's had a great body with very good detail. The trucks on the other hand were junk. The bearings were too close together making the Geep look like it was walking a tightrope. Athearn trucks cured the problem. The addition of road specific details to the Front Range body and Athearn type B Blomberg trucks will result in a good locomotive. I also recomend using wire handrails in place of the rubber ones.
Overall, you're better off with the Proto2000 GP9s- I have a Phase III in SP colors, and it looks nice. However, since it's a factory paint job, it's missing details such as the lighting arrangement, but some Details West parts will take care of it.
Well, all the locomotives I plan on modeling have a lot of road-specific details on them, and I'll probably need a stripped down model of a GP9. Later on I'll be needing a decent GP8. Here are a couple of reference photos, if that would help me find a better model to get: GP9 Reference 1 GP9 Reference 2 ^Both are the same locomotives, in the second picture I intend to model only 2 of the 3. I'm also working on this GP8: GP8 Reference 1 GP8 Reference 2 As you can see both will require a lot of additional parts, especially the GP9's because they are ex-Southern Pacific, and retained all the details from them. The GP8 is an old IC Geep. I ordered a Proto GP9, and an older Athearn GP9 (blue-box). I hope to get them shortly.
Be advised the Athearn Geep is actually a GP7. A kind of fake GP9 can be made by removing the two louvres under the cab retaining the one on the walkway. The tall louvre under the rear of the dynamic brake blister needs to be removed too. Remove the lower half of the louvre at the end of the long hood. The Athearn hood is about a scale foot too wide. I have run Atheatn units with those of scale width hoods and most don't notice the difference.
One thing that I've found about the Front Range Geeps is that the plastic used is styrene and glues up really well without having to resort to exotic glues. Because of that, they are also easy to cut and sand. This is handy if you have a lot of chopping and changing to do. They have no cast on grabs. They have a cast on grab mounting flange and a hole under that to drill out. This minimizes that sanding that would be required to get rid of the cast on grabs of other models. The cab and body assembly separates from the walkway. This makes a number of superdetailing operations easier. As Mr SP says, use Athearn trucks. I think Athearn makes the best trucks. They properly duplicate the heavy, cast and chunky look of the real thing. I never really cared for the Athearn GP7. While I have a lot of Athearn locomotives, the overall dimensions and the heavy cast on details really turned me off that model. The plastic of the shell is quite a bit thicker than the Front Range Geep and makes cutting through it harder. Here are photos of a Front Range Geep that I am working on at present. As you can see, the details are not too bad for the age of the mold. Even the see through fans grills are well done. They do lack visible fan blades but that is easily rectified.
Thank you verse2damax. Another thing that I should add is that the Front Range body shell is held on to the frame by the couplers so disassembly is easy. I always end up breaking at least on of those Proto2000 tabs that hold the shell on to the frames. The p2K units are great runners but the later Front Range with the Mashima motors and substituted Athearn trucks were just as good. An Proto Power West drive is even better. Not only that, they have shells available by themselves so if you mess your loco up, you can always get a replacement shell.
