I am in the process of building a B23-7 using the shell mentioned above, although there are quite a few things about it that do not match the prototype engine I modeling, there is one thing that has just about forced me to trash the project, this I did not notice until I was half way into the project; the end pilots measure out at nearly 4.5 inches thick!!! Short of just cutting off the ends and rebuilding from scratch, any one got any ideas. I've already had to remove the radiators and replace with the radiator from an Athearn, the cab was replaced with Hi-Tech[which by the way is a nice kit! BUT it does not fit the shell. And I've got a bit of filling to do. Oh well, the life of a modeler Later Dieselbldr
Afraid there isn't much you can do short of replacing those pilots; I cut the pilots off an RPP(actually more Cannon than anything else)SD45 I'm doing, and replaced them with pilots cut from an Athearn GP38-2. Big improvement, especially with A-Line steps. I'm also doing a B30-7 using the RPP shell as a starting point, although I've left the pilots alone so far. The rest of the body hasn't been as lucky; the cab is a modified Hi-Tech (yes, they are very nice kits, except the headlight housing is a tad undersized), the short hood is from an Atlas C30-7, and the long hood is a shortened Atlas C30-7 hood. I've thought about making new pilots for this one out of styrene sheet, using scale drawings and pics as a guide.
Well I spent last evening cutting off the pilot, I saved the face of it and thinned it down to scale "close". I started this morning building the front deck part using an old piece of a Cannon switcher wall. so far so good, I have the A-Line etched steps ready also. will post a pic when its done Dieselbldr
