N Scale SCXY 1326

With the first SD40M-2 already in Rush City and the second one (SCXY 1325) on its way, I decided to get some work going on my SCXY 1325. I got the shell of the Kato SD45 stripped down and made some progress on the initial detailing.

The first step was to remove the brake wheel and fill that spot in with some .010" styrene. The I used a door from BLMA #101 to match the door on the prototype.

On the nose I cut in and installed a brake ratchet from a GP9 shell in the parts bin.

The next operation was to modify the engineers side of the dynamic brake housing. I cut part of the blister off of a Kato Mid-Production SD40-2 and spliced it onto the SD45 shell. This was the most nerve racking part of the build so far. You can also see the BLMA #71 AC unit and the antenna stand I installed. The nose grabs were also BLMA parts.

On the back of the engine I filled the number boards in and drilled out for the grab irons. I also installed the large rear lift rings. I used the mounting eyes from the BLMA #13 Cut Lever set.

Up top I drilled out the fans and installed the BLMA #81 grills on the radiators. I couldn't install the dynamic fan grills as I was out of BLMA Center Plate grills (I should have checked before I went to the LHS parts shopping, oh well). I also added a T Vent of a Kato Mid-Pro 40-2. I did drill out for the smaller lift rings, I just haven't started installing them yet.

All in all it wasn't a bad amount of progress for the little bit of time I had into it. I'd like to have this one all wrapped up by the 4th of July, we'll see how I do on hitting that goal.