CP Rail GMD SD40-2

[cemr5396]

Just over a year ago after I got my hands on a couple Bowser CP SD40-2s and a Red Barn (and remember I was just about to finish the 5485 at that time), I figured I wouldn't need any more. After all, I'm modeling the present day so 3rd and 4th generation power from EMD and GE should out number the SD40s by quite a bit, right? 

Fast forward to around March. With pandemic restrictions and all the other craziness, I suddenly found myself with next to no social life and a lot more time on my hands. There is only so much railfanning and surfing the internet one can do in a day, so I needed something to do.

Enter this old Athearn Blue Box SD40-2: 



It had been a project of mine years ago, but I never got very far with my limited skills at that time and it hadn't seen the layout much before the Bowsers arrived, never mind after. I decided that giving it a makeover would be a good way to use up some of the time I now had. I already had most of the parts I needed, so I would be able to work on it here and there whenever I felt like it. 

Once I had a plan (mostly), I started searching for units that: 
A.) Were still on CP's roster (this one was more a preference than a hard and fast rule)
and 
B.) Are a good match to the model I already had. I didn't feel like tearing the whole thing apart and 'Cannonizing' it, that would defeat the purpose of using things I already had on hand. 
Eventually I also added:
C.) Had to still be in the Small Multimark scheme. At first I wasn't discriminating based on paint job but in the end, I just had to. I just love that scheme too much. 

This proved to be a little harder than I was expecting, but in the end I found what I was looking for. More on that in a later post. As I type this the unit is nearly ready for paint, so I will be trying to keep the posts spaced out, rather than putting everything out at once and then having a long wait before it is finished. 

[cemr5396]

Next step: RESEARCH TIME! 

This will be a long post but there isn't really a good way to split it up without having both parts be pretty short, so here we go.

First off I will say this: If you need to look up CP diesels, go to the CPR Diesel Roster at www.mountainrailway.com/ first. Excellent site. 

Now, to the model. The Athearn model is what I'll call a 'mid production' unit, and in terms of general spotting details matches any CP unit built AFTER GMD switched from chicken wire radiator screens but BEFORE they started building units with the heavy anticlimber on the front. Keep in mind that certain changes will need to be made no matter what, to match CP's GMD built units. On CP this covers the following unit classes: 

DRF-30q (5778 and 5837-5859)
DRF-30r (5779-5789 and 5860-5864)
DRF-30s (5790-5799 and 5900-5914)
DRF-30t (5915-5949)

The reason the 5800s are mixed up throughout several different classes is CP was reserving that number series for Locotrol Master units that would be running in Western Canada on the heavy bulk trains.

CP 6070-6080 fit in too, because they were 5800s from class DRF-30q that were re-numbered in 1989.

So now I had criteria 'B' from my opening post taken care of. I knew which units I could pick from for my model. Next up came 'A'. Thanks to a friend I was able to get a list of all the SD40-2s that were still on the roster, so I made a list of the unit numbers and began narrowing things down further. Keep in mind I hadn't come up with Criteria C at this point. However I still did have a couple other detail-related rules I had to obey:

1.) I wanted a unit that had a winterization hatch. (this was a personal preference.) 
2.) the unit had be one of the ones which had it's class lights removed (to match the model)

Number 1 eliminated the DRF-30qs right off the bat, as none of them had winter hatches. Number 2 was much more random, as there wasn't really any rhyme or reason as to which units had class lights removed and which didn't. 

By now I had managed to narrow things down from a hundred units, down to about 3 dozen. I had nearly decided on doing the 5790, as not only is it still on the roster, it was still in service last I checked. 



I actually started building and detailing the unit to match, but as I went along I had a bit of a change of heart. I was already debating putting an original CP-style round pilot on the '5790' because I much prefer them to snowplows, but eventually I just decided to do a unit that actually still had its original pilot. While I was at it, I decided I really wanted a Small Multimark unit so it was back to CPR Diesel Roster to look at photos again. Eventually I settled on the 5927, it is a unit I have actually seen before and I liked some of the more unique features of that unit, like the horn mounted at the very rear of the hood between the fans. 




This last shot is one of my own, 5927 at the end of a row of units sitting in front of CP's shop in Winnipeg. 


model pics coming next post!

[cemr5396]

Now to the model building! 

Part one is the cosmetic surgery, or in other words, hacking and slashing off anything I didn't want to be there  .

Before that though, I stripped the model of the existing paint. Keep in mind that at this point I was still planning to repaint it into a different scheme than the one it was wearing at the time. Although with the amount of work I was doing to the unit stripping it was the best course of action anyways.

One of the first things I did after stripping the model was cut the stepwells out and install Custom Finishing GMD 3-step stepwells. Actually, the first thing I probably did was put on the Miniatures By Eric bell, as it only would've taken about 30 seconds to drill the hole and install it.



You can also see I installed the pilot, it is an Athearn part and is the same as was used on the recent run of Athearn Genesis GMD-built CP GP38-2s (which I also happen to have a pair of). The only modification needed was to file the two notches on either side of the coupler opening. This makes room for the dual trainline hoses to be installed later on.

The next step was quite a bit trickier. In my earlier attempts I had made a bit of a mess of the end of the long hood, so it would need replacing. I had an old basket case Blue Box GP38-2 laying around that had been given to me, so I amputated the end of the long hood and transplanted it onto my SD40-2. 



With some very careful filing, and using landmarks on both models as guides, I was able to attach it nearly seamlessly. Once there are several layers of paint and primer, and a Multimark decal covering most of the seam, it should be pretty much invisible. 



Here is the model wearing it's new hood end. CP units had smooth ends so I filled and sanded off the number boards. I also removed the dual horizontal headlights, and in this picture you can see the pilot hole right on the centerline for the new single beam rear light. 

More to come, stay tuned!

 

[mta224]

Nice job on cutting and matching up the hood ends;can't tell you how many blades and the number of scrap shells I've used to get the look just right!
Anthony

[cemr5396]

Mar 25, 2021 20:20:19 GMT -5 mta224 said:

Nice job on cutting and matching up the hood ends;can't tell you how many blades and the number of scrap shells I've used to get the look just right!
Anthony

thanks! If you look at the photo of the two shells side by side you can see that I drilled a series of holes all the way around where I wanted to cut it. Then I just used a knife to play 'connect the dots'. It would have been FAR harder to try and cut all the way through the shell using only a knife!

[cemr5396]

Now for Part 3 - Details, Details, Details

Unfortunately I didn't remember to take as many photos during this phase of the build, so I don't have many step by step photos. We are going to experience a bit of a time jump as all of a sudden the model is nearly ready for paint!

On the roof, I drilled out and removed the radiator and dynamic fans and replaced them with Athearn fans I had left over after my CP 5485 project. During the process I ended up losing most of the detail on the radiator fan hatch, and for a while I considered replacing it with one of the aftermarket parts available, but in the end I decided I wouldn't miss it too much anyway and just sanded the area smooth.

The horn is a Cal Scale Nathan K3L and it is prototypically mounted between radiator fans #2 and 3. This was the as delivered location for the horn on a large percentage of CP's SD40-2s, but in most cases it was moved forward to the dynamic brake area in later years. Directly across from the horn is the radio antenna, uniquely mounted to a wedge protruding from the carbody. Like the horn these were later relocated, to the cab roof. In most cases the antenna was simply removed from the wedge mount and put on the cab, but in a few cases it was left in place and a new antenna was used on the cab roof to replace it. The real 5927 was one of those that lost its wedge antenna, but I chose to leave it on anyways because it looks cool. The antenna wedge itself is a Miniatures by Eric part, as is the rectangular sand filler hatch. 


Here is the rear of the model from the other side, after the rest of the fans and the Miniatures by Eric winterization hatch installed. 



Here is a top down view of the winter hatch. The nice thing about the MBE hatch is there is enough room inside it to mount it right over an existing fan housing so you can see that detail inside. The bad thing is the screen for the opening is so fine you can't really see through it unless you have a light source behind it. I'm thinking about trying to fine something less fine, more like what Bowser used on for the hatches on their SD40-2s or what Athearn used on the CP GP38s. 



Now on to the rear end of the model. The single beam rear light, pilot lift rings and the MU stand are yet more Miniatures by Eric parts, the cut lever is Cal Scale, the drop step is Detail Associates and the spare knuckles are modified Details West parts. The pilot buffer is also Details West. 



The white sqaures visible here and in the pic of the front of the unit below are pieces of styrene, that I used to fill in the large notches in the top corners of the pilot, which GMD units do not have. 

At the front of the unit, I gave it a 'nose job' with a Canadian Prototype Replicas GMD 102" nose. I removed the cast on sand filler and headlight, replacing the sand filler with the second one from the MBE set and the headlight with a Details West part. Further down on the pilot, we have the aforementioned Athearn CP round pilot, Details West buffer and Cal Scale cut lever matching those on the rear, and another pile of Miniatures by Eric parts - the anticlimber, lift rings, and ditchlights, as well as the soon-to-come MU stand. I just need to get around to drilling a hole in that brass anticlimber to mount it, which could be a challenge. 

[cemr5396]

Next up, paint! 

After a couple initial light coats of primer, I was pleased to see that for the most part all of the seams around the long hood end, pilots, steps, and nose were nice and smooth. 






Of course I did find a couple imperfections, which I fixed up and then dusted on another light primer coat to check. With once those were fixed, it was time for some color! 


Here is the model in it's current state (basically) with most of the paint and decal work done. 



The red was done using Dupli-Color Chevy Red-Orange from a spray can, which actually went on quite well and is a very nice shade to represent faded Action Red under most lighting. For best results I found it worked very well to heat up the can a little bit from the bottom with a heat gun, and give it a really good shake before using. I was able to get a very fine spray pattern which went on thin and dried fast. Three or four very light coats were all it took to get even coverage and not miss any of the nooks and crannies on the model. I think it will look even better once I have it Dullcoted and with a little bit of weathering. 

The decals are all from Microscale's various CP Rail sets. As anyone who has decalled a CP Rail unit before can probably attest, the end stripes were a giant pain in the butt, especially the rear ones, but it still beats the heck out of trying to mask and paint them on.... I ended up using several small pieces and even a couple individual stripes to get everything looking even on the rear end. I'm just glad I don't have to do anything in the A5M scheme with full cab face stripes!  

The main thing left to do is to bend up some handrails, which I'm not particularly looking forward to, but I think I will use my Bowser SD40-2's handrails as a sort of a template so hopefullly it won't be too bad. 

[countryroads]

Looking really good

[cemr5396]

Apr 28, 2021 19:59:03 GMT -5 countryroads said:

Looking really good

thanks!

[robcw]

You have me thinking about some blue box CPRail SD 40-2’s that I started years ago and then just packed them away. Spoiled now with Bowser but I might go back and complete them.

That is a beautiful model and hats off to all the work you did. It looks great!

[countryroads]

Is there any way to build a 102" Canadian nose

Or someplace I can locate several

As I'm looking to build several Canadian 🍁 units