SOO SD40b project

[davidmbedard]

.

[davidmbedard]

And I may add how hijacked this thread has become........

[garethashenden]

And I may add how hijacked this thread has become........

You must be new! I think there's something in the terms of service when you sign up. All threads must become hijacked within a certain number of posts...

[davidmbedard]

You must be new! I think there's something in the terms of service when you sign up. All threads must become hijacked within a certain number of posts...

Lol

[chessie system fan]

Looks great, David.   

[nkalanaga]

The GN SDP40 would be nice, but it fits better on an SD45 chassis.  Same length as the SD40, but the cab on the SDP40 is in the same place as on the SD45.  The hoods were moved forward to make room for the steam generator compartment.

If a good body was available, Lowell Smith at Railsmith might be interested.  He's making BSB versions of GN passenger cars, and an SDP40 would go very nicely with them.

[davidmbedard]

.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

This thread reminds me of the reasons I incorrectly got so mad at my IM SD40-2s. They LOOKED like they rode too high, but most of that impression was because the Kato units that I THOUGHT were correct rode too low.

[Olivani]

The GN SDP40 would be nice, but it fits better on an SD45 chassis.

The Kato SD40 and SD45 are on the same chassis.

Oliver

[lock4244]

This thread reminds me of the reasons I incorrectly got so mad at my IM SD40-2s. They LOOKED like they rode too high, but most of that impression was because the Kato units that I THOUGHT were correct rode too low.

Heh, so many other reasons to be mad at the IM units...

[nkalanaga]

Oliver:  Interesting.  I always thought that they had extra metal in the cab area, so weren't interchangeable.  I just looked at mine and you're right.

I used the SD45 chassis partly because I also needed the SD45 walkways for it, and didn't pay any attention to the chassis.  I had extra SD40 parts after using four chassis to repower brass F45s that wouldn't stay on the track, so decided to see if I could make an SDP40.

[davidmbedard]

Kato hoods are more like 8 feet wide. It may not seem like much, but your eye can spot the proportional discrepancy.   If I'm going to go to the trouble of custom building a few models, the shell needs to fit the upcoming Atlas SD45, which will have correct proportions. As an added bonus, it will already have sound (so no grinding a Kato mechanism) and the walkway will already be 90% correct, if there are those who don't want to bother soldering custom handrails.

Calipers measure the hood at 0.475"......makes it about a scale 4.2" wide.

The horror!

[davidmbedard]

Would correcting the walkway height cause compatibility or visual issues with Kato frames and mechanisms?

If I may be so bold, have you considered the Great Northern's small run of SDP40 locomotives? If I understand the drawings, it should be a drop-on to the Kato SD40 chassis. Given the recent activity of the MN Transportation Museum's model, there are lots of photos out there. You'd have to do different rear steps, as seen here: https://www.railpictures.net/photo/828455/ with a good side shot here: https://www.railpictures.net/photo/814942/. This site has a link to a decent diagram of one, although it notes there are a few differences between the diagram and the proto. It's a better diagram than the one I have in PDF form (the EMD brochure, basically - this site has taken the time to properly align everything). http://erixrailcar.com/mtm/gn325.htm

Send me a PM

[cgw]

Would love to buy one of these but you web site only gives the option to ship within Canada.     Are you going to open it up to you southern friends?

[vermonter_railfan]

That B unit looks so good! Hopefully not hijacking the thread too much but out of curiosity would you be willing to produce some of the BNSF/BN versions of the SD40B/40-2B? I believe the SOO shell is rather close already to a few of the BN/BNSF prototypes that are still around. Heck the SOO 6450 was built from one. I wouldn't think it would be too hard to combine elements from your GMD projects to make some of the other B unit variants. I know I will definitely be intrested in some BNSF shells if that's possible!


[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]