Milwaukee Road SD7 #501

[m a y o r 79]

Decided to start another Milwaukee Road project since my SDL39's are just waiting to hit the paintbooth. I was digging thru my closet and found an old Proto SD7 that I purchased at least 6 years ago from a hobby shop that was closing (who knows how long it was on the shelf there).

I'm thinking it shouldn't be too difficult of a build, aside from removing the front fuel tank.

It will be modeled to fit the rough time period of 1974-1977, prior to getting billboard lettering. So far I havent done much, removed the footboards from the pilots, added a few eyebolts, and sorted thru parts mostly.

The one thing that might be a problem is the all weather window. I'm not exactly sure when it was added but it if fits my time frame I'll need to find one that matches (the proto part isnt even close). I'd post a pic but all the ones I have are copyrighted. The windows are very small though and the boarder around them is really thick, looks like a very early all weather window.

I'm sure I'll find lots more that needs to be changed during the build.

[c415rock]

Mike I asked my brother he is a Milwaukee Road nut about the all weather window and he said. SD 7 #518 had the all weather window still in 1978 non billboard lettering. As far the window itself he said you have to scratch build it out of styrene.

Erik

[m a y o r 79]

Bummer on the all weather window. Maybe I can modify the proto one with some styrene rather than completely scratch building one. I'll have to see if I can get more/better pictures of one.

[Wammi]

Mike,
The 501 never did receive billboard lettering. The all weather windows were on even after it received overhaul in early 1978. The other nice thing about modeling the 501 is it happens to have been one of the most photographed SD7s on the Milwaukee.
Here's a good side shot of her in 1976 from rrpicturearchives:
www.rrpicturearchives.net/pictures/50948/1010-22.JPG
The all weather window shouldn't be all that difficult to make. Taking the tank off the P2K frame isn't all that difficult either. Check out my SD10 build thread to see some photos.

[m a y o r 79]

I made an SD10 out of a Proto SD7 about 5 years ago, so I'm not too worried about taking the front tank off. Just need to be careful how much of the frame I hack into, dont want a repeat of the severly weakend frame I ended up with on the SD10 build.

I didnt know 501 was one of the most photographed, I'll have to hunt around for pics. One of the reasons I wanted to do that one is because it never entered the SD10 rebuild program. So it works good for my modeling period.

[m a y o r 79]

Bob, I was doing some research on SD7's and found that 501 in fact did receive billboard lettering (found a picture in one of my diesel books) but I don't know the date that it happened. It has the FRA revised coupler lift bars so I'm guessing very late 70's to early 80's which is outside my modeling period. So regardless mine will not have billboard

I'm hoping to work on it some this weekend (including the funky all weather window). I'll probably post some pics on Sunday.

[Wammi]

Really? Dang. I'd really like to know when it did receive the billboard. I'm sorry to steer you in the wrong direction, Mike.

[m a y o r 79]

Okay so it took a little longer than I planned for an update but I finally found some time to work on the SD7 a little more. I didnt get much in the way of Milwaukee specific details added but I did get most of the general details on the shell today.

I also finished bashing the unique all weather window that the Milwaukee put on these. I ended up using the windows that came with the Proto SD7 and added styrene strips to fill in the ends. It works out really nicely that the window glazing will still fit behind the panels I added. It ended up filling in about half of the window opening which is about what I believe the real ones did (at least as far as I can tell from the photos.

Here are a few pictures of what I've got so far. I'm hoping either this week or next weekend to chop the front fuel tank off and detail the underframe.

Shouldn't take too much longer to get this one ready for the paint shop.

First pic is the all weather window modification.

[m a y o r 79]

Here's one side of the SD7.

[m a y o r 79]

And the other.

( I really need to get a photobucket account)

[Wammi]

Excellent work on the all weather window, Mike!

[Wammi]

Hey Mike, it that a RailPower shell? I have 2 of these that I'm going to build up. I've been wondering what to do about the radiator piping? Any ideas?

How about an update on this project?

I have 3 units on deck. 2 GP30s and another SD7. Those should all be pretty easy builds compared to the SD10s.

[m a y o r 79]

This one was a proto 2000. Not sure on the radiator piping, I'd have to look. I'm sure someone makes that part.

I tried calling Walthers to get replacements for my bent handrails and was told they didnt have many replacement parts for this particular model anymore. Otherwise I'd say try them for the piping.

I'll try to get some pics posted over the weekend.

[Wammi]

Any updates here, Mike?

[sd45longhoodfoward]

look like you know what you are doing waiting on the finished side to be presented

[m a y o r 79]

This one has been shelved for a while. I'm at a loss for the handrails so until I can figure those out I've decided to focus my limited modeling time on other projects.

[m a y o r 79]

I was messing around during lunch today on the Atlas site and found that they have parts for the SD24 avaliable, including the handrails. I'm not sure how much difference there is in the SD7 vs SD24 handrails but they may be suitable for a stand-in at least for the time being.

Aside from chopping the front tank I dont think this one will take too long to finish. Maybe I can get it ready for painting the same time I spray the black on the SDL39's.

[m a y o r 79]

Wow, here's dragging up an old thread huh! 6 pages back and from 2010 on top of that! (there are tons of missing pictures in this build, this was before I used Photobucket. I can find them if someone is interested but I dont have much interest in digging thru thousands of pictures looking for them, at least not right now)



Since I was getting my TR4 set ready for the paint booth I figured why not try to get some more stuff ready to run thru as well. I found this burried in one of my many boxes of unfinished stuff and remembered it was pretty close to being finished. Here are the last of the updates to the build. I added louvers to the side sill on the firemans side by the short hood end, not sure what they were for but this seems to be the only Milwaukee SD7 that had them so I figured it made the model even more unique.



I also replaced the Proto horns with Precision Scale brass parts, and added see thru screens on the winterization hatch. The notch in the sill for the drop step also got filled in as the Milwaukee didnt use drop steps, at least not unitl the very end.....so most all units did not come with them. (I believe the SD7's were actually delivered from EMD with drop steps and chains and the Milwaukee removed them right away).



Below are a few shots of the last details.











She went into the paint booth on Friday for a shot of gray primer and today for the orange. The orange was a custom color mix that I came up with that I think looks pretty good as a faded orange color. Since this one is being modeled fairly late in life bright orange wasnt appropriate. Saturday or Sunday she should get masked and sprayed with black, then its on to the few decals she needs (not doing billboard lettering).







I still need to shorten the fuel tank on the frame and finish a few last details on the fuel tank (piping on the now visible end) before I paint that and install. I also need to find replacements for the handrials as the Proto ones are warped beyond being usable. I have an inquiry into Walthers about replacement parts for the new SD7 they released but havent heard back yet. I also posted something in the classified section but havent gotten any responses.



Busy winter so far, hopefully I can keep this pace up for a change

[m a y o r 79]

Quick update to this build as well.  Sprayed the black on new years eve. (the long hood covered better than the picture looks, the gray appearance is from the flash)  Turned out good I think.  #501 had a somewhat unique paint job in that the separation between black and orange was considerable higher than most other locos.  Typically the separation was at the bottom of the window, not mid window.

I'm still debating if I want to add spark arrestors (the same type as my TR4 project).  The Milwaukee did add them to this unit but it seems that they didn't stay on all year long.  Otherwise its just decaling and chopping the frame for this one.  I still don't know what I'm going to do about the handrails so it may take a while to really finish this one.

[milw199]

The SD7s were some of the first MILW engines in the black and orange.  The color separation line seems to be at the bottom of the radiator grilles-number boards.  Later paint scheme revisions moved the line down to the bottom of the cab window. 

SD7s have a unique handrail arrangement at the corners, and the old style bolt together stanchions.  A SD24 set wouldn't help much.