Kitbashing a Washington & Idaho GP16
will try to take measurements first. I located four exhaust stacks (Detail Associates part No. 2402) on the roof, then glued them in place along with four new roof access hatches cut from .010″ styrene. For all my plastic-to- plastic joints, I used Plastruct Bon- dene®
cement. For most other joints, I used medium-viscosity cyanoacrylate. I removed several of the molded-on
louvers by scraping and sanding them smooth, then I attached several new ones (Plano No. 461) to match the groupings found on the 316. I added a new sand fill hatch to the roof end using ¹/₁₆″ dia. brass tube and a styrene cap. Additional details included a bell (De- tails West No. 129), hand brake ratchet (Details West No. 132), lifting eyes (De- tail Associates No. 2206) and wire grab irons (Tichy Trains No. 3015). I glued the long hood to the walkway with plenty of cement to ensure a per- manent bond. Next, I attached more styrene blocks, with even more Plano louvers, against the hood on the fire- man’s side to represent the new trac- tion motor blower housing. Below that housing and along the walkway on that side, I fastened a 3⁷/₈″ long strip of .080″×.25″ styrene strip to represent the traction motor air duct.
I assembled several Cannon & Co kits for the new cab (No. 1502), short hood (No. 1103) and battery boxes (No. 1201). Usually, Cannon parts are per- fect for a model, but in my case, the short hood did not match exactly. The hood used on the prototype was identi- cal to the “35-series” Cannon part ex- cept that it had a flat panel down its leading edge. I did look for ways to mingle the Cannon and Front Range parts to incorporate this panel, but it
52
would have required much more effort and would still have been inferior to the standard Cannon hood, so I com- promised on this minor detail. Once the glue was dry, I placed these assemblies on the walkway casting and held them in place while measuring the gap between the cab and the long hood. I then built up a new styrene electrical cabinet to fill that gap and cemented it to the long hood only. I also cemented the battery boxes perma- nently to the walkway at this point, but left the cab and short hood loose to simplify painting.
I sanded the fronts of both pilots to remove all detail, then attached new pi- lot plates cut from .010″ styrene and drilled holes for the new coupler lift bars (Detail Associates No. 2212), and m.u. hoses (Details West No. 295). I also filed down a block of .080″ styrene to form the anti-climber and glued it to the top edge of the front pilot. Meanwhile, the rear pilot got a new drop step (De- tail Associates No. 1401). One more bit of work on the walkway casting was to cut and file the skirting above the fuel tank to match the prototype No. 316. I wanted to add operating ditch lights to my model, so I drilled holes through the anti-climber and front pilot to clear the wires from a set of pre-lit ditch light castings (Accurate Lighting 144-28). Obviously, I waited to paint and attach the castings until the rest of the model was painted. Since I started this proj- ect, the WIR also added ditch lights to the rear deck, so at some point I may choose to do the same. Next, I moved on to the frame and mechanism. Originally,
I planned to
use the stock Front Range Products motor and drive train, but it was not to
be. In the process of disassembling the mechanism, I broke one of the truck re- taining clips. With replacement Front Range parts very difficult to locate, I opted to keep the original can motor and flywheels, but installed Athearn trucks and a drive train assembled from NWSL universal couplings. Glu- ing a block of .030″ thick styrene above the truck pivots on the Front Range Products frame, to match the thickness of the Athearn frame at that point, was the only modification required. Anoth- er big advantage gained here was the superior detail of the Athearn truck sideframes. With the mechanism removed, I worked on some basic detailing for the frame. I cut new air tank ends from a scrap Proto 2000 fuel tank and glued them in place of the less detailed Front Range Products castings.
Then, I
drilled ¹/₈″ holes in each side of the fuel tank casting to insert short bits of brass tube that represent fuel gauges. I also attached a fuel filter (Details West No. 139) just forward of the tank on the engineer’s side.
Other details I added before painting
the model included a Sinclair radio an- tenna (Detail Associates No. 1803) and a horn atop the cab. Most of my photos show the prototype 316 carrying an M5 horn with all five bells facing forward, but I couldn’t locate a matching part for my model. Instead, I compromised by assembling a P5 five-chime air horn kit (Detail Associates No. 1602) in the all forward configuration. To begin the painting
process, I
washed all the sub-assemblies with warm water and dish soap. Once dry, I airbrushed the shell using Polly Scale colors,
beginning with Undercoat OCTOBER 2013
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100