Athearn GP9 resue **PICS ADDED**

[bikingmike]

Hi guys

I attended a model RR exhibition yesterday, and found, tucked away on a back table, an old Athearn GP (one of the wide body ones).

Closer inspection showed it'd had some detailing work done on it, with one of those all weather box window thingies, coupler cut bars, hoses, and sanding lines. It also has a nasty green LED poking out of the roof, which I"ll remove or at least replace.

It's in the SP black widow colours which look rather nice, but in order to clean it all up I may have to repaint it.

So what's your thoughts, people? complete strip and repaint (and maybe add a few more details along the way), or just clean it up and leave it as is?

[chessie8553]

Great looking model so far...wide body and all. But I'd say that if you really want to clean it up and go a little further with the detailing, then a repaint would probably be the way to go.

[diesel]

mmm.... most people say don't invest too much in those wide bodies.

I say if you like it, complete strip and repaint, although I don't go as all out as I do on regular models. I do all my wide bodies for the club RR. I also repower whatever athearn I do anyway, so that's one more consideration for you. It doesn't look like it has the metal sideframes to it so replacement wheels if you want them shouldn't be hard to find.

Also, I've been cutting back the mounting lug and installing #7 (or the like) kadees by tapping and drilling through the shorter lug for a #256 screw. On the plastic shell, I cut off that plastic would be part of a coupler box and install the top half of a buffer plate. The bottom of those older prototypes were open anyway and the top half of the buffer plate is enough to make it look right. (for the most part)