Jon, that looks really great, nice job, I can't seem to count the rivets now that it's painted, hmmm, SV never made any trucks for it, you used Athearn. Your best bet is to find some scrap sideframes and cut them off to put on yours. I think Walthers omitted them for tighter radius You put enough work into it to worry about changing trucks. Waiting for the finished model pics...
Here's some shots of the loco with the decals on. In the end, the lettering decals were so small that you can virtually read whats on them, so I went for shapes and colours. I still don't know why half of them are where they are, but who cares. ou will also notice the borrowed P2K GP9 Blomberg trucks with 8 clasp brakes. They still need some fitting and detailling but I think they make the difference. Now for some truck detailling and weathering. Jon
WOW!!!! I had a really crappy day at work today. I came home, fired up my computer; checked out this story on this from start to finish article on this beautiful locomotive. You know, I feel so much better now. Thank you so much for making my day alot better. Trainboard and its' contributors are a great bunch of people.
Jon, you went and outdone yourself. What a job. I won't count any rivets - Now I want to see a NYC RS-32!!!! -
<font color="336633">Nice model you done there, its the kind of thing I love to do myself. I have always rather fancied a GP15 on my Burlington Northern layout but could never decide witch make to go for, I was going to go for the Smokey valley one with a proto 2000 GP7 chassis (they are sooooooooooo cheap on ebay!). But all my loco modeling has come to a halt at the moment until my layout gets up and running, no point in having loads of locos and nowhere to run them..... </font>
Matthew, that's exactly what I had to do as well. I had to stop with the detailling projects and force myself to start the layout, but I keep getting Drawn back to the locos.... I still have to weather and glaze this puppy. Jon
I have two Frisco GP15-1s from Wathers Trainline, and a GP15-1 kit from Smokey Valley for the Frisco model. I've had to add details on the Walthers model (nose Gyralite, lift rings, rotary beacons, cab sunshades, plow pilots), but I would still have to add 'em to the SV kit. I took the "wuss" route by getting the Trainline models, but they run just fine (I may want to swap out trucks to get better details), and they MU well with my Athearn GP38-2s. Matt, a suggestion- get a Frisco GP15-1 from Walthers and stencil in the BN initials and road number as a "transition" scheme. That Conrail model is a dandy!!!!
<font color="336633">How well do those Trainline GP15's run? The only trainline loco I had was a B40-8 which has been set asside to be cut up into a B32-8 (if I can ever find a Railpower C32-8 shell.
Surprisingly, Matt, they run well. I have two Trainline GP15-1s and one GP9 (it's the rehashed Model Power GP9 shell on a better drive with better handrails). They're all decent runners, considering the price. Not Katos, but not Tycos either. Only thing I changed on the chassis was to get rid of the plastic Kadee wannabes and put Kadees on 'em- on the GP15s I used a long-shank Kadee fore & aft, so as to clear the plow pilots I applied to each end. If Walthers still has 'em, they're real cheap. Also, you could find one at a hobby shop or online- or even on eBay.
My Walthers GP15 is an excellent runner. I currently have a MRC diesel soundchip installed. I found a cheap option for the correct trucks(with the right number of brake shoes) - Athearn's F7 truck sides. It was staring me in the face all along. Jon
Two of the GP15's I have run well. They're pretty quiet. The third is a beast.....It growls and squeaks, I got it on eBay cheap so I'm not complaining. Can't you easily remotor them with Kato motors??? Walthers did offer them in BN at one time if I'm not mistaken.....I have no idea why they stopped producing them.
<font color="336633">I think I shall end up getting one from ebay as there are not a great amount trainshows round my neck of England that sell American stuff.
<font color="336633">Thats Walthers for ya, only produce something once and then in 5 years time maybe do it again...........
Hi Jon. Love that SV GP15-1 loco of yours. What Glue did you use to build it? Super Glue, ACC. I bought a kit of this model last year from a Chap in Melbourne, Victoria to put together for CONRAIL. Put the main body together with MEK, but havent looked at it for a while, so I hope its still assembled. Haven't got around to buying a cab for it yet, but looking at yours I think it might be easier to use an Athearn GP38-2 cab, rather than get the Cannon one, & as for the drive unit, the guy i bought it from suggested kitbashing an Athearn GP38-2 mechanism, but judging by your building methods I think i'll go for the walthers mech. What handrails did you use. Hope you dont mind all my questions. Great photos too of your built unit. Thanks.
I finally got this loaded up. It's not the greatest picture but, it's good enough for now. California Northern GP 15
Thanks Alan! That loco is my pride and joy. It was the first engine I really kitbashed by adding the nose bell and all the grab irons, etc. I was once asked if it was brass, which made me feel quite good. Now I just need to finish the other two so I can really run some CFNR trains! I was wondering why you add grabs before painting? I was always told to do it after. Not that it seems to matter!
I add grabs wherever possible before painting to avoid getting glue on the paintjob and having to paint the grabs later. The only ones I leave off are the ones which will interfere with applying decals. Jon
