Chop nosing a GP7

[jdmike]

I am in the process of chop nosing a Bachmann GP7.  Not the easiest task, I ended up having to break the headlight lenses out, they are glued in!  I managed to pry loose all the cab window glass without breaking it.  The hand rails were almost glued in with the paint.  They must be putting the rails on when the paint is wet.  I used the headlight and front cab windows from an Athearn GP38-2 cab.  I filed it very thin in the headlight/numberboard area, filled off the headlight casting on the front so I can replace it with an early EMD casting.  Once the glue dries good, I will file the squared off newer EMD headlight/numberboard set up to the contour of the GP7's roof.  I got the idea on modeling the rounded headlight from another model forum.  I really wish Bachmann would do a low nose version along with high nose units in more modern road names.  Lots of short lines are still running these workhorses to this very day.  But glueing in parts that could be just a press fit, makes custom painting a real pain in the arse.  I will get some pics tomorrow of my progress so far.  The final result will be a GP7u painted for the Central Railroad of Indianapolis road number 1750.   Mike

[jward]

chopping the hoods to model the western maryland gp7s would be much easier. when they chooped the hood down, they left the headlight and number boards on the hood. the only thing you'd have to do is make a new windshield out of styrene to fill in the area between the cab roof and the top of the nose.

like i said, this is an easy conversion. i've done it on athearn gp7s.

[Nigel]

Good project. 

There are literally hundreds of variations of chopped nose GPs - all different.  No sane manufacturer is going to offer a chopped nose GP.  Most prototypes did the conversion in thier own shops, using thier own design.  Some purchased kits from EMD and other suppliers.  Some look like the low nose GP9/18/20/SD18/24; others like the 35-line; some like Dash2; and many were just cut.

[Santa Fe buff]

GP10, GP11, what about those nice models?

Now, Nigel, hold on there! Walthers make's a GP9m with a chopped nose and dynamics!

http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/931-133

In Illinois Central Gulf, they edited GP7s and GP9s. The GP9m model shown above never existed in ICG scheme. What happened is that they took in the Geeps and updated the computers, brought things up to new standards, updated things, carried maintenance, installed a custom air filters, and some units got special bits added on. These "mutts" of the locomotive world became known as GP10s and later models known as GP11s. These usually did not have dynamics.

Here's ICG GP10 #8055 during her active service on the ICG in the 1970s:

http://www.illinoiscentral.net/rosters/ic8055.html

I have to add "Make a GP10 for ICG" to my list of projects I hope to do. It's right up my ally. It's in the era I model, location, and railroad. I wonder if you could take a GP9m frame and... Oh darn! I gave it to my friend! Anyway, I still wonder.

There was the GP7P for IC, but that was high-nosed. I wonder if I can get a hold of an Athearn GP7. Do what jward did. A little different, though. You know what, I think I have a GP10 shell lying around from a retired modeler. I just wish he didn't layer it with so much coating. It's got the texture of try, cracked, dirt. I might just make my own. A good idea, he supported the new nose from the inside with a metal backing.

I would not be hard to get a hold of some great quality parts to detail the model. I GP7u is great; however, here's my second favorite chopped unit:



It's a Canadian National GP9u. I love this particular road number because it's fitted with several red strobes and has a good friend who never seems to be separate from it...a CN slug. I wonder if I could add all the bells and whistles to the CN GP9u with a real working strobe, but get away with putting the sound speaker in the slug, which would be permanently attached. Kind of like it's real counterpart.

So, I can rant and go on about these marvelously redone units, but I'll save that for later. I love "shopped" equipment!

Cheers,
Joshua

[Jim Banner]

Putting a speaker in a slug or even a second unit is a great idea.  There is lots of room for a speaker or two plus an enclosure.  Or you can seal up a section of the body and let that be the enclosure for the speaker(s).  If you make the slug from a power unit, you can use the wheels for picking up power as well.

Jim

[Guilford Guy]

Different roads had different cab/nose/headlight arrangements which would make it unlikely for any manufacturer to tackle low noses. Chopping noses is fairly easy, with the most difficult part, IMHO, fitting in a new window arrangement. On my RS3 chopnose I had to take parts from a Canon kit, as well as some sheet styrene and putty to fill the hole.

[Santa Fe buff]

Alex and Jim,
That's why it's going to be a project! The only way to find a manufactured one would be through a private brass maker or just a brass dealer. You never know what you can find sometimes! The windows on the GP10 seem straight forward. A Cannon & Company GP38/40 cab kit could spare the parts for the added front windows. The side one's are pretty already done. On the CN GP7u, you might be able to see about an ALCO Centry unit for the windows... Those Canadian prototypes look so similar to the C-424 and the C-628:

C-628:


See what I mean?

C-424:


Now that I look at it, the C-424 looks like the windows are on too sharp of an angle to be used.

Back to that GP10, I think you can also buy that special air filter, and I know for a fact you can buy those early EMD stacks. All the little things I believe you should find.

Alex, how thick was the styrene? I might see about getting some.

Jim, I'm thinking of something clever. I wonder if it's possible to run the wires to the speaker in a manner to where they appear to be MU cables and I could simply paint the as such.

Cheers,
Joshua

[jdmike]

You guys just love to be a total buzz kill dont ya.  Come up with any reason NOT to encourage someone to produce a low nose GP7/9.  SP had butt loads of lights on thier's, but till the new one from another popular company arrives some say soon, we all have to add those extra lights to factory painted SP GP7/9's.  So a standard set up, rounded cab, headlight between the numberboards with the headlight/numberboard assembly rounded to match the roof line ect.  That is the most common set up and what should be produced.  Anything beyond that is up to the custom modelers.  Anywho, here is an "in progress pic of my project.  Got the hood chopped, headlights and numberboards done.   Still have some final prep work on the low nose prior to paint.  The original headlight and numberboards are plugged and filed smooth, only the halo's remain and will be invisible once I paint the unit.   Enjoy the pic.     Mike

[BillD53A]

Didnt Atlas make a low-nosed SD 7 or 9 or 24 or something?  Maybe splicing an Atlas cab onto a Geep body would save some work.

[Guilford Guy]

Atlas made an SD26 which is a chopnosed SD24 with some upgrades and different set up of shenanigans on the roof. You could buy the cab and salvage the cab/windshield for a GP project but you'd likely need to keep the GP nose.

[jward]

correction, the sd26 is NOT chop nosed. santa fe bought all their sd24s with low noses, the sd26s were rebuilt from these and retained the emd standard low nose. emd noses from the late first generation era had a noticeable slope to them that most of the homemade versions did not.

[Guilford Guy]

Sorry, I didn't mean to use chopnosed in that context. The units were delivered low nosed, while other railroad's SD24s were not.

[jdmike]

Here is the completed project pic, only needing yellow translucent paint for the bulb being used for the strobe, and a 4 function decoder installed to make it flash.  Cheers   mike

[jdmike]

the black you see on the short hood is actualy some paint bleed from the black walkway, need to touch that up, you dont really see it in person, but the camara picks it up.   I had to remove about 1/8 inch of the cast weight to clear the low nose.  I swapped in golden white LED's.  Note to the Bachmann, please put those amber LED's in the trash and get with the program on golden white LED's   They must have a bulk discount rate on unwanted amber ones in China!   

[pipefitter]

That's a great job - Well done! I'd like to build a Western Maryland chop nose GP-9. One was recently restored at the WMSR shops in Ridgeley, West Virgina. Look at this former Chessie rust bucket now turned into a beauty.

http://www.merlavageimages.com/Trains/Along-the-tracks/2909958_VVe7Y/1/317872101_bNdQE#348372922_xj24X

http://www.railpictures.net/showphotos.php?railroad=Georges%20Creek%20Railway