old bachmann UP GP40

[tornado64]

 i bidded on an unusual ( to say the least ) ebay ad  for a bachmann GP35  ( odd because the photo's were of an athearn GP30) anyways the parcel arrived and inside  were 2 locos for the knockdown price of around  $ 12.50

my intentions were to start on the athearn GP30 first but sypathising with just how bad the bachmann gp40 looked  i felt my attention should lie there first as my first  full loco project and experiment bed to see what i can retrieve from this awful model

[pacbelt]

That is one smashing deal!!!!
I've always wanted an Athearn GP30! Not for the scale fidelity, but for the nostalgia!!
Good luck with it.

[tornado64]

stripped down  the old rails will be used for templates for scratchbuilding  new railings , the body has ha 48 hrs worth of stripping in "mr muscle oven cleaner "  so all detail is recovered and it is actualy very crisp detail beneath the very thick bachmann factory paint that obscured the detail

[pacbelt]

Looks GOOD!! I've got a B'Mann GP40. I may have to give it a second look!!!

Thanks for sharing!!

[shoofly]

Lookin' better already!

[tornado64]

cheers guys !!!   sanded some of the mould seams off , filled the horn mounting square on the roof  and scratch built  some new rails  out of 1mm  brass wire altho unsure wether 0.8 mm would be better altho checking against some of my other locos  1mm seems to be about right

[danraitz]

In my option 1mm looks WAY too big for the handrails. I would go with something smaller, say 0.5mm


Dan

[tornado64]

yeah 0.5 sounds good but i'm thinking of a happy medium for handling etc i may stick with the 1mm for this one as it is merely an experimental build to see what can be done and for scratchbuilding practice so i'm not expecting miracles just so long as it is better than the starting point

[pacbelt]

Mindful of Rule #1 (it's YOUR model, your layout, your world).....

Respectfully, I do have to agree, that 1mm is way too big. Sounds like you concur.
With that, you did a great job, bending those handrails!!! I'm not sure I could do that well....

[tornado64]

CHEERS !! compared some more modern bachmann GP30's models from my collection and 0.5mm does indeed seem the way to go (easier to bend too ) compared to the original bachmann rails ( probably 1970's vintage i'd say ) and to athearn blue box and they were 1mm so it seems newer models are closer to scale , only done 1 side so far and it was a quick and easy job so i may well re do in 0.5mm

[pacbelt]

I believe you and I aren't building showstoppers, but do want satisfying, well detailed models.
I'm starting to think however, that this detailing game is like a drug!!! The more you do, the more you WANT to do!!
Cheers!!

[tornado64]

re made in 0.5mm for comparison and even though only 0.5mm difrence devides  the two sizes it makes 3 miles difrence .  filled roof hole now sanded

[catt]

If memory serves me right this shell was also used by LifeLike and possibly Model Power at one time.The newer Bachmann's cabs are part of the body casting.Never the less the first time I stripped one of these shells I was amazed at the fine detailing on the body.

The smaller wire really looks right  for the hand rails and your wire bending skill is way better than mine.

[pacbelt]

That smaller wire looks GOOD!!!

[m a y o r 79]

Those handrails look much better.

[tornado64]

not the correct chequer pattern , but as yet i have to find a source for that !! but seing as at least it is a better representation than smooth plastic a start has been made , first off i made a paper pattern then used that to mark the reverse side , cut out with scissors , glued down then final tidy up with a file , pilotshave been blanked off with plasticard and bachmans tanks have been cut off ready to scratchbuild something more suitable..

[pacbelt]

That makes quite a difference! Looks great!!

[diesel]

very interesting. would you consider making a slug out of this?
that would make a decent use out of this and keep a more expensive donor for other use later on.

most of the doors get removed as both of the fans.

also whatever you do if you're going to add things like tread plating, i would also like to see the pilots
sanded smooth removing that cast on uncoupler bar and filling in the holes. (stretched styrene trick)

this is in the cheap builds category so i don't think you want to put a lot of dinero on it, but the pilot
details can make a nice presentation.

[tornado64]

not being american and from the UK some of that was like totaly japanese to me !!, a slug ? why remove doors/ fans ? dinero ? there is further work being carried out and mostly it is seeing what can be done for a minimal outlay which will mean building things from scratch the main expense will be for brass stock but as a lot goes to other builds it is a small outlay about the £8.00 mark up to now so totaling loco price into it so far i'm upto about the £12.00 figure so i would gues around the £20.00 mark finnished the cheapest new locos here come in around the £50.00 mark so it definately fills the cheap criteria over here as around £25.00 is about the going rate for a poor quality second hand loco

[tornado64]

one of the biggest problems with this model are the  plastic handrails that include  the air tanks being clipped over big lugs that were allegedly fuel tanks as can be seen here



so the grey lugs were cut off leaving minimal remaining to enable body to still clip onto the chassiss  the air tanks were then cut away from the plastic handrails  and liquid pollied into place over the clip  the plan is to build a more accurate tank over the chassis out of plasticard i already have !!