We'll last night at 11:00PM I officially finished GP30 #974. If you have not been following the posts on how I built and painted this in the Inspection Pit, here is a photo. I started with an Atlas GP30 and added BLMA cut levers, MU's, Grab Irons and JnJ Wipers, Shades, Lift Rings, Speed Recorder and Precision Craft Air Hoses. The engineer or 'Vern' as he is called was installed with a little bit of work to the cab. The story: In 1964 in the town of Galesburg IL, a famous picture was taken in which a line up of past and then present CB&Q locomotives were lined up. The GP30 was at the time one of the roads newest "motors". This picture was to celebrate the 100 years of the CB&Q. 42 years later this locomotive is still working the rails as a rebuilt Morrison Knudson GP39M and is now wearing Cascade Green and black, lettered for BNSF as #2824.
shame on you Jim, shame on you... ...what were you thinking to give all the secrets of custompainting to the public ? now all the attraction and glory is gone and everybody knows it is no wizardry anymore... just kidding - you did a great job with your step-by-step description and I've learned also something new I've never tried before, well done...
Outstanding work. If you ever get tired of it just send it to Tucson and I'll give it a great home with other Q power.
Very Nice Job BNSF7173. What number bit do you use to drill the holes for the detailing parts? I have a set where number eighty something is the smallest bit but on the parts package it states that a #93 should be used. Has anyone ever used or seen a #93 drill bit. I would love one (#93 bit) because the smallest drill bit make too big a hole for the parts, it's an eye sore. verse
I have not seen a #93 but yes it would make things a bit better. I used an #80 and this was not a problem with most of the parts. A nice thick CyA helps as well.
This is where I get my drill bits. I use a 87 mostly for my grabs. The smallest are 97's. These aren't cheap, but I am very happy with mine. http://www.smallparts.com/products/descriptions/dsn.cfm
Can't wait to see it at the Galesburg Railroad Days Train Show! Fantastic work. I will have the display case in the College library all ready for you. Give me call on the telephone. Can't seem to get anything but a busy signal on your home phone.
I read somewhere about using guitar strings for small drill bits. They are cheap and work quite well for drilling plastic. The smallest size commonly available is .008", I'm not sure what drill bit that compares to but it is small enough for anything I need to drill. Cut the string to a convenient length and drill away. Awsome job on the GP30!!
Jim, magnificent! Probably the only item that would increase the model's realsim would be a Z-scale coupler. Too bad its a GP30 hunchback. :teeth:
Excellent work! Once my layout is set up I will strive to this level of work. I agree you don't see many engineers in n scale locos. jeff
Thank you Bob, the MU's are from BLMA. You can see them here: http://www.nscaleblma.com/BLMA100.html These are all I'll use now as they look better than anything eles I've used and you only have to drill one #80 hole per mu.
Thank you Matthew, on my home layout I do just that since my B&M stuff doesn't wander past my basement. Soon all of my custom painted rolling stock will be converted to body mounted Z couplers. Looks like my wife Tina will be stocking Micro-Trains soon, so we should have a good stock of couplers.