Fitting cab on Atlas GP-9

[thomasjmdavis]

I have quite a number of "never ending" projects.  One such project is a pair of GP-9TTs that I have been endeavoring to paint, decal and detail for Grand Trunk Western.  Anyway, I think they have been painted 3 times (and stripped twice) and 4900 has been decalled twice and 4901 will be 3 times, since a couple of the decals broke up on application in try 2.  Spent some time after paint job #3 researching on exactly how these units were painted in the summer of 1956 (post renumbering, but prior to being painted to match the 1957 order (4900) and 1958 (4901) order of GP-9s.  Added several details, such as the nose bell, CN style horns and winterization hatch (all from Details by Eric). 

Anyway, I am as close to done as I ever get with a project like this (at least with 4900), and I put it together and.....

I can't get the cab to fit correctly- (see photo)

The other side is worse- the little clip on the bottom of the cab was under so much stress when I pressed everything together that it broke off.



With the body separated from the frame, I don't see anything obviously wrong- no lump of paint or dirt in the slot the cab fits into, the clips on the hood clip onto the underframe and walkway.  Anyway, I am open to suggestions and any help greatly appreciated.

[tehachapifan]

It's been a while since I had one of mine apart but, if I recall correctly, the piece that locks the cab onto the sill piece is actually an extension of the clear side window piece. This part appears to be available thru Atlas....at least for the "Master Line" version.

[thomasjmdavis]

Russ- true for the newer Geeps, but in the older ones (these are older bodies) the clip is on the cab itself.  The newer parts can be interchanged for the older ones (a new cab with new glass will fit in the same frame as the old cab with the old glass- but the new glass does not fit the old cab and vice versa), but hoping for a solution where I don't need to buy more parts, wait for parts to come in (assuming they are still in stock), paint and decal all over again.... Plus, I need to get the thing to fit together better than it is- if it is under tension all the time, sooner or later it will break again when bumped or derailed or otherwise stressed.  I can make it stick together by clamping it and injecting epoxy up into the joint, but that does not relieve the stress.

[tehachapifan]

Ah, got it. I saw what appeared to be Accumates and assumed this was a newer version.

Looking at the photo showing the right (Fireman's) side, it appears that maybe the main hood piece is somehow jammed down a bit too far beyond the sill piece on that side(?). Or, the sill unit is hung up somewhere and is misaligned(?). It looks like the top of the walkway is a bit twisted or warped on that side but it could just be the lighting. If this is the case, maybe the small cab locking tabs (if this version has them) that lock into the side of main hood piece did not lock and the cab on that side is pushed up and away because of this(?). Perhaps installing the cab on the hood piece first, then installing both on the sill piece may help(?). I only have newer versions to go off of, so maybe all this won't apply to this version. I guess it could just be that the siill unit is sagging because the locking tab is missing as you stated.

[thomasjmdavis]

No tabs locking the cab to the body.  Just tabs locking the cab to the sill.  I think you are onto something with the idea that the walkway and/or sill is in some way misaligned- the locking clips on the main body that lock it to the sill appear to be fully locked on one side, but "almost" locked on the other.  After dinner I will try to pull that apart one more time and see if I can get a better alignment.

I probably confused things referring to these as "older" because there have been so many versions.  I have an Atlas-Roco in a box in parts (it is missing a few).

Not counting the Atlas-Roco and whatever came before that, there are probably at least 3 versions - (1)"Atlas/Kato" (2)"Atlas that became Atlas Classic" and (3)"newer Atlas Master".  The units I have fall into the Atlas Classic category, when I compare them to other Geeps I have.  Whether the redesign of the cab is part of the change between Classic and Master, I can't say, but they match the "Atlas Classic" ones I have in terms of construction.  I purchased them from Atlas in the form of undecorated parts kits, sometime in the past 10 years or so. They sat on a shelf for a long time before I started on them, and then as previously described, were worked on in fits and starts.

I've managed to fix the not quite so bad side- the

[daniel_leavitt2000]

I am pretty sure the GP7/9 never had a clip on the cab floor itself, only the window part. There are tabs on the cab roof that interlock with the body.

I think you might have the wrong cab on the model. I have several of the pre-DCC models and they all have cab glass tabs that connect to the walkway.

[mecgp7]

It doesn't look to me like you have the cab snapped onto the body. I checked one of mine and the edge of the body (where the top and side of the body meet) is just a scrid lower than the cab roof line. It looks like a much greater margin  in your pics. On the bad side it almost looks like you can see a dark hole between the cab and body. Just up and to the left of the cab door window. The cab snaps on with two tabs on both sides at the highest point of the cab roof. Sometimes it really snaps hard. I think that will hold the cab down.

[thomasjmdavis]

Here is what I have:

Left to right- cab with tab that fits to sill- used to have one on each side, 1 side broke off.  Original glass included when I bought the shell from Atlas.  Current production glass with tab.


No clip on front or back of cab- does not clip to body, body is solid on top. Cab fits into grooves in the body, and tabs fit down into sill and clip over a "latch" (small raised rectangle) on the inside edge of the sill.

[thomasjmdavis]

It doesn't look to me like you have the cab snapped onto the body. I checked one of mine and the edge of the body (where the top and side of the body meet) is just a scrid lower than the cab roof line. It looks like a much greater margin  in your pics. On the bad side it almost looks like you can see a dark hole between the cab and body. Just up and to the left of the cab door window. The cab snaps on with two tabs on both sides at the highest point of the cab roof. Sometimes it really snaps hard. I think that will hold the cab down.

I pulled out a "Classic" ATSF GP7 shell I have, and it has a cab like the one you show.  The shells I am currently working on seem to be "in between" that design and the current one with the tabs on the windows.

[Hansel]

Ah, yes.  I have a whole stable of GP-9s and I have even put a Shapeways chop nose cab on one of my Geeps.  The solution I have found is to file down the indentions on the top and sides of the hood where the cab would meet with the hood.  I file them down until I can get the cab to fit the hood and sit flush with the frame on the sides of the cab.
-Hansel

[thomasjmdavis]

Thanks Hansel.  I did as you suggested, deepened the grooves by a couple thousandths, and there is major improvement.  Also found one little nib on the side of the window glass that may have been getting in the way just a bit.  Will still need to use some glue, but should be in service soon.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Tom, any chance you pulled a later version of the walkway/still from your parts pile? That would explain a lot. I'm still trying to figure out what caused Atlas to redesign the shell. Maybe this tab alignment issue was a problem with all the early models.

Probably the only people in the planet that care about this is us and Mark/Spookshow lol

[thomasjmdavis]

Tom, any chance you pulled a later version of the walkway/still from your parts pile? That would explain a lot. I'm still trying to figure out what caused Atlas to redesign the shell. Maybe this tab alignment issue was a problem with all the early models.

Probably the only people in the planet that care about this is us and Mark/Spookshow lol

Daniel,
In this case, I bought the parts together as a "body shell kit" from Atlas- so everything came together in one box at one time- and so I am sure these parts all were intended to work together.  The deepening of the grooves in the main body (as suggested by Hansel up above) resolved most of the problem. I think if I had realized that would be an issue/solution BEFORE I broke off the tab trying to get the parts together, I would not have had the problem in the first place. It is pretty clear that the various versions of the GPs don't work well with each other, - slots and bits and pieces don't fit one to another.  For that matter, there may be enough difference between torpedo tube and standard versions to cause some issues. 

I agree with the assessment that the cab mounting was probably redesigned to use clips on the windows, due to the clips on the cab snapping off -they are actually not much bigger than the ladders on some E and F units- and I have lost plenty of those over the years.

On the other hand, I recently "rebuilt" some RS-1s using 2017 vintage walkways and sills with body and cab from Kato-Atlas (I think) bodies- where the original sill and walkway were one piece.  The number cast into the main hood was the same as the one on my latest ATSF zebra stripe.

This was much easier in my early days (1960s) in HO, when you removed 4 screws and the body fell off.