N&W GP18 (ex.NKP)

[Gav Smart]

Hi,

I just wanted to share some photos of my GP18 kitbash that I have finally finished! I apologise for any repetition as I had previously posted some pictures under the "new members" section when I joined up, but I thought it would it might be better to open up a new thread here.

The loco is modelled after an ex NKP GP18, N&W #2708. The loco was bashed from a USA Trains GP7 shell, but had a fair amount of modifications to bring it in line with the GP18 prototype, mostly trying to re-work all the louvers as there aren't really any parts for this kind of thing in 1:29th. The other major modification was to change the model over from four 33'  roof top fans, to a pair of 48' cap tops.

Here are a few scanned photos of the prototype I was working from:









And a selection of photos of the model:
































Thanks very much for looking,
Gav

[dtinut]

Gavin!

Awesome work - looks great - big scale stuff is cool!!!!
Is it going to have sound?
Do you run with batteries or off rail power?

Brian

[Gav Smart]

Thanks Brian!

It's running off track power as we use wireless DCC in the garden. The loco itself has an NCE chip inside, with the lighting setup to control the front mounted gyralight using F3, and for Rule 17 with F4 dimming the main headlights.

As for sound it has a separate board from Phoenix Sound, with the speaker housed in the fuel tank.

[dale]

That's nice,what did you use for the 48" fans? I know there's not a lot of parts available, but where do you get parts?

[Gav Smart]

Thanks Dale,

The fans were taken from spare USA Trains dynamic brake blisters as the 48' fan inside is made as a separate piece. The spares department at Charles Ro is great as you can get almost any piece for any of their locomotives and they always keep a huge inventory. The only frustrating thing was that you had to buy the whole blister too as it comes as a set, so obviously this bumps the cost up a little bit, but I prefer to use a ready made piece where I can as it really speeds things up!

As for the other pieces, the firecracker was again a USAT spare part and the main headlight castings were from Ozark Miniatures (these were filed and trimmed to get the right shape and profile).

Everything else was scratch built. The gyralight on the nose was 3D printed from some Pyle National blueprints I found on the net. I made a 3D render in Sketchup which I could then scale down to 1:29th and print using Shapeways. The spark arrestors were done in the same way. Almost everything else was done using styrene pieces, brass, and some Titchy Train rivets to finish it off.

Lastly the decals were very kindly done by Stan Cederleaf who makes custom decals in large scale. He is a real gentleman and produces a really easy to use product, which gives great results.

Thanks again,
G

[enginseer]

Looks great!

[Gav Smart]

Hi,

We recently had our annual open house event for our railroad, so I just wanted to share some pictures of the GP18 out earning it's keep!

















Thanks for looking!

Gavin

[Deleted]

looks real great outdoors and the lighting is killer

[Gav Smart]

Thanks!

That is one of nice things about modelling in large scale, it is a lot easier to get all the lights working, and with DCC you can get all the right lighting effects too. The top oscillating beam is set up with a gyra light effect, whilst the main fixed headlights are set up for rule 17, with F4 dimming the lights for a meet.

[analogbeatmaker]

That's a killer model Gavin! The weathering looks great. Also, the rolling stock weathering is nice and the "layout" is cool. I look forward to your next offering!

[simulatortrain]

Nice to see someone who actually details their large scale stuff! Great job!

[Gav Smart]

Thanks for the kind words guys! It means a lot!

Our aim is to try to capture the realism that all the great smaller scale modellers can achieve indoors with HO and N, in an outdoor setting. It's not always easy with mother nature doing her best to hinder our efforts, but with a bit of care and attention large stuff can be made to be prototypical and realistic!

Thanks again,
Gavin

[Randy Earle]

Man! That would look great next to my 1/25 scale B62 Mack Wrecker. Great job


!

[Gav Smart]

Thanks Randy!

That is a lovely looking truck! Can I ask who makes it and where is it from please? We have a garage and body shop scene on the line that is just crying out for a truck like that!

[Randy Earle]

It's made by First Gear. They make garbage, tow, dump, and plow trucks, along with semi rigs and bulldozers all in 1/25 scale.