Hello Everyone. Just thought i would let you in on my upcoming project. I am going to be Custom Building 2 Norfolk Southern GP59's. I know there are only 30 or so of these units and NS has all of them. I am going to be building 4624 For myself and 4641 The Operation Lifesaver unit probably to go up on ebay. Some questions i have though since no company makes a gp59 only a gp50. What makes a GP59 a GP59?? obviously i will be using the closest thing which is the Athearn GP50 and go from there. Thanks
and compare. The first thing I notice comparing the 50 to the 59 is the 59's engine room is two doors shorter, the traction motor blower duct is farther back from the cab and there is a larger space between the engine room and radiator on the 59. The dynamic brake is similar to a GP60. Seeing these, I'd try to find a Proto 2000 GP60 to start with since:
a) according to the Wikipedia article, a 59 and 60 share a frame so it has the right wheel base instead of the too short GP 50 frame (a GP 60 is 7" longer and has a 13" longer wheelbase)
b) I don't have one but I think the hoods are removable from the walkway which will make the engine room changes easier since most of the long hood will be scratchbuilt to get things in the right place.
Athearn's GP60 isn't a good starting place because they fit it too a GP50 frame which is too short.
That is what I'd do since I like to make models as close a representation of the real thing as I can. Other people can be happy with something close and the best part of the hobby is there is room for both.
As an aside, I'm working on a model of a BN GP50, starting with the Athearn model. So far it has been cutting off things that are wrong, the stepwells, radiator grills, battery box doors, traction motor blower duct, inertial grills and jack pads so I can make the sills straight.
I drew on it the cuts to make, it doesn't look too hard but requires some very careful cutting, especially between the radiators and the doors. For that cut, I'd use a razor blade and make lots of shallow cuts so I wouldn't loose anything to the kerf of a saw blade. The vertical cut behind the doors, cut 4, should be in the flat area so it is easy to patch and sand smooth.
This is my favorite part of modeling, the cutting and pasting, and I sort of loose interest in the detailing since I know I can do that.
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