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Post by iomalley on Jan 17, 2014 17:45:57 GMT -5
So, most of us have a junk box that spills over with botched kits, or worse, kits that get eclipsed by RTR offerings. I decided that I was getting somewhat blinded by the RTR revolution, so I started to fish thru the box for some inspiration. I found this undec front range GP9 body, and a P2K GP9 chassis, so with some help from DTI_nut the fuel tank was shaved down to a more prototypical example. The body is pretty good, but Frontrange missed the boat on a few details, namely the short doors are too short and the rad grilles aren't tall enough, so the amount of dead space over the rads is large. With Plano's latest offering of GP9 grilles, I figure I'll cheat by removing the old cast on grilles and sneak the new grilles up a few inches. (thanks for the inspiration Jake!) The dynamic brake blisters were also m'eh, so I stole some grilles off the removeable dyn brake from a Bachmann GP7. I added styrene hinges to the brake/batt equipment doors, filled the gap under the cab, and opened the side window up to the proper size.  |
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Post by jakeloyst on Jan 17, 2014 20:05:05 GMT -5
I see you've opened up the rear rad grills? are the front set open as well, the plane set comes with both front and rear. What did you use for the window, on my screen its hard to tell if thats a winter window, or weather just body work done to change it? Now I think I have to look at the windows on mine, I didn't change them from what front range made... nuts
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Post by iomalley on Jan 17, 2014 21:36:06 GMT -5
I just opened up the front rad, haven't opened up the rear ones yet. It is an all weather window on this side. the other side I just opened up the window hole to fit a Kato slider window from the inside. The frontrange window isn't tall enough.
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Post by jakeloyst on Jan 18, 2014 20:36:44 GMT -5
Now I;m wondering if I should pull the cab off and redo the windows on mine, or swap it out for the kato onelying around. Is this going to be green and yellow, or the black and red?
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Post by iomalley on Jan 18, 2014 22:13:51 GMT -5
Just file the window opening upwards just past the rain gutter, until you can fit a kato SD40 side window insert in (as a guage) no need to discard the cab.  It'll be orange and black stripes, 4110 probably |
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Post by iomalley on Jan 19, 2014 18:58:06 GMT -5
Plano grilles on.  |
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dtinut
Chairman
Modeling the DT&I of the 60's & 70's
Posts: 661
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Post by dtinut on Jan 20, 2014 12:17:38 GMT -5
Sean,
Can you post a closer shot of the grills?
What did you do to be able to install these onto the FRP shell?
I have about 10 of these, and I bought the Cannon fans to upgrade them already.
Willing to get the grilles too, but would like to see them a little bit more up
front and personal before committing to purchase, if you know what I mean.
Thanks
Brian
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Post by CP_8530 on Jan 20, 2014 15:15:57 GMT -5
Interesting upgrade project. Are you planning to replace the fans and drop some Athearn Flexicoils in as well?
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Post by santafemikie on Jan 20, 2014 18:16:37 GMT -5
Hey Sean,
This is what I've been talkin' about. Minimum outlay, maximum results on a thirty year old shell yet! Nice job!!!! I like the way you are correcting the few inaccuracies as you incorporate some of the new parts. The new Plano shutters and grilles are outstanding. Keith is making it all worthwhile. I daresay when you are done, it will be hard for anyone to figure out if it's a new RTR Athearn Genesis or not. The level of detail will be the same or better. The only way you'll know is Athearn won't make one.
Regards, Mike
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Post by iomalley on Jan 20, 2014 18:29:13 GMT -5
Interesting upgrade project. Are you planning to replace the fans and drop some Athearn Flexicoils in as well? No this is one of those pseudo lightweight 4100s, with the same dieting program as the 4200s (tiny fuel tank, and air tanks in the short hood) but with blomberg trucks... The frontrange fans are see thru, and fine by my standards. |
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Post by iomalley on Jan 20, 2014 18:31:02 GMT -5
Sean, Can you post a closer shot of the grills? What did you do to be able to install these onto the FRP shell? I have about 10 of these, and I bought the Cannon fans to upgrade them already. Willing to get the grilles too, but would like to see them a little bit more up front and personal before committing to purchase, if you know what I mean. Thanks Brian They look fantastic, I'll try to get better pics. They're so detailed they actually have the drain holes in the bottom edge! (and I installed one upside down....D'OH!) I cheated a bit, as I had some left over rad shutter inserts from a Kaslo GP9 kit, but you can get brass shutters from Plano as well! The short doors on the FR shell are too short, and the moulded on rad grilles aren't tall enough so you have to cut out the grille and install the Plano's a couple thou higher to offset the door height. Crucial to me was to get the space between the top of the grilles and the roof right. |
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Post by jakeloyst on Jan 20, 2014 19:58:29 GMT -5
Now you've got me wondering, I prefer the FR geeps, with the doors flush with the body, rather than as a raised piece, but apparently I've missed some dimensions and made some assumptions about the correctness of the shell. How do the rest of the doors fair out as compared to prototype?
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Jan 21, 2014 5:19:52 GMT -5
How rewarding is it to cobble something together from parts? Awesome work.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using proboards
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Post by iomalley on Jan 21, 2014 12:21:47 GMT -5
Agreed. it is rewarding. Here's a pic for Brian's benefit. You can see I moved the grille up about 0.040" or so to get the grille looking right on the side in relation to the roof. Conversely, the short doors should be 30 thou taller. You can see the tiny drain holes in the bottom edge of the grillework, just like the real thing.  |
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Post by jakeloyst on Jan 21, 2014 14:34:35 GMT -5
Nice photo, and I see the difference now, with the grill/roof positioning. Guess I will have a lot more work to do on the next one.. Wondering if I can stretch the doors???
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Post by iomalley on Jan 25, 2014 22:53:33 GMT -5
Not much of an update, lift rings and air tank piping added to the roof...  |
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Post by malcolmcelyn on Jan 26, 2014 5:34:10 GMT -5
Not much of an update, lift rings and air tank piping added to the roof... Lovely build. I was looking at the RS behind too as that's my next project. Stewart kit? And is that an F4 in the background? I can see an AIM7 and two AIM9's as well as a drop tank. |
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Post by iomalley on Jan 26, 2014 18:10:09 GMT -5
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Post by iomalley on Feb 12, 2014 21:11:42 GMT -5
Small gains...the new milled frame just in from dtinut, the air tank bumps are gone. Now to add the styrene frame webs and she should be ready for paint...  ANother project I'm working on, ex NS Southern unit with a teenie tiny fuel tank!  |
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Post by tjmfishing on Feb 12, 2014 21:29:27 GMT -5
Love that Voodoo!! I've got an extra set of 1/72 USAF decals if you ever need any as I built a CF101 for 416 Squadron out of CFB Chatham instead.
Are you building the Southern engine for someone Sean or just getting bored?
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