Revitalized Athearn BB Conrail SD40-2

[slowfreight]

I was digging through old boxes and found an accidental project. I had an old first-run Blue Box SD40-2 with bad plastic. The mounting lugs had shattered, for one. It had never had anticlimbers cut into the tooling for another. I've had this unit since I was a kid, and I'd added and painted the steel handrails many years ago, when I had a Conrail layout.

I was torn between keeping it and selling it--except no one would want it in that shape. Meanwhile, I had DW pilot draft gear details that seemed like they were designed to plug the huge gap in a BB pilot, and I'd never  use them for anything else. So I took the plunge to attach the shell with body-mount couplers, which led to plugging the pilot gap. But the fans were still horrid, and I found a full set from a P2K SD45. One thing led to another and I made it a scrap-box upgrade project. New plow, horns, bell, and antenna. Number boards actually numbered. Fun stuff. I stopped short of replacing grab irons and lift rings. But I found an equally old bottle of Floquil CR blue and Microscale CR decals.

Compared to as-delivered CR units, Athearn didn't finish painting the stripes, or paint the pilots black, so a little extra masking went a long way, as did finishing the stripes around the blower bulge. I also painted the frame, wheels, and trucks. I don't leave any bare plastic on my models. Unfortunately, there's nothing I can do about the incorrect HTC trucks that would be worth the time.

I think I like the finished unit enough to keep it. It may yet get a decoder, but it actually turned out pretty well. $35 new back in the day, $0 for the upgrades.

[countryroads]

Has the look like it a lot.

[stlrail]

Looks good!