SD30 (The trials & tribulations of kit-bashing)

[Freightrain]

I'm glad you did a comparison photo, it seems to me that the height problem was caused by the relocation of the air tanks to above the fuel tank, the fuel tank wasn't designed to have air tanks above it (being that you used an SD9 frame), the top of the fuel tank went right up to the side sills with no gap between the two. If you wanted to make it an even more interesting model, you could take the air tanks out, mill the frame like you suggested earlier and then put torpedos on top of the body, or mount them on each side of the DB housing and have piping running into it, that would be neat. But its not my model, just suggesting ideas. (sighs) LOL.

[Randy Earle]

Dan, this is one of the most popular posts on this forum, do you have an update on the height project?

[danraitz]

Randy,

Nothing new to post. Kari & I are currently in the middle of a Kitchen/Dining Room remodel, so my modeling time is down to zero.

[diesel]

Wow, that's a really cool solution to the length problem. This looks like a really nice project coming along. I can relate to how you said earlier, "After taking a few minutes to calm down." I've had a few of those moments recently. Nice to see I'm not the only one using this older style 30 body.

[danraitz]

Well Guys, I was finially able to get back to this built. I attacked the frame with a Dremel and file this week. I was able to remove just over half the thickness from the frame.



I then reassembled the unit to check the height.
Front

Rear


I figured that it was close enough. But I did notice one thing though, now the fuel tank sat way to high. To fix this I took the fuel tank pieces from a GSB SD40-2 and shortened it to 14'6" long.

[puddlejumper]

Perfect! Looks great! I built an SD30 a couple months ago following your lead, except I used an Atlas SD35 and Spectrum GP30. Using most of the SD35 hood, chassis, etc. I didn't have the same issue with height as the SD9 frame presented for you...

Thanks for posting the updates, I love this unit!

[Randy Earle]

Looks great Dan. You could have got an Atlas SD-35 tank on evilbay for about 3 bucks.

[danraitz]

Randy,

First off, Thanks for moving this thread.
Second, in response to SD35 tank ..... Ya uses what ya got!

Dave,
Have you got any photo's of yours??

[Randy Earle]

Dan....I will now publicly spank myself. Ouch, Ouch, Ouch! ;D

[rdg5310]

You did allot of grinding there Dan! It's a major improvement with the lower deck height. I've always loved the look of the SD30. It would have been great if EMD made them. Nice work!

[Freightrain]

Excellent Dan! Good to see you were able to fix the height on this SD30, makes me want to build one now, except with a HH on it, LOL.

[Randy Earle]

I just picked up a couple new shells from PPW, and as soon as they get here I'm gonna finally start on my SD-30.

[puddlejumper]

Here's a couple of pix before painting. The cab and roof are from Spectrum GP30s. The hood is undec Atlas SD35, the walkways and nose came from an Atlas CNJ SD35, the air duct on the engineer's side was scratchbuilt. I need to bend new hand rails for the engineer's side but used the stock Atlas for the rest. Also need to add a door to the clean air cabinet behind the cab on the engineer's side. Should have painted pix soon.

[Randy Earle]

Looks great, that's pretty much the same route I planned to take.

[puddlejumper]

Then let me recommend that you use a Proto GP30 rather than a Spectrum. I used what I had but the Spectrum leaves much to be desired. The Proto should match up with the Atlas body much better too. You'll notice I had to shim the cab to match the Atlas hoods.

[Randy Earle]

I couldn't get the P2K so I got the Lionel. I had a couple guys contact me, but nothing came of it.

[carlmarsico]

Random thought....if the 2250 hp GP30 replaced the 2000 hp GP20, would the SD30 have the same 2250 hp as the GP30 or the 2400 hp of the SD24 that it would have replaced?

[Rudy Garbely]

May 20, 2010 22:10:46 GMT -5 carlmarsico said:

Random thought....if the 2250 hp GP30 replaced the 2000 hp GP20, would the SD30 have the same 2250 hp as the GP30 or the 2400 hp of the SD24 that it would have replaced?

It would have 3000 hp because it's an SD30 and it's just that awesome that it actually has the power to singlehandedly continue EMD's numeric locomotive designations in the face of their discontinuation by the GP30.

For those of you that have no clue what I just said: originally, the number after "GP" or "SD" meant hundreds of horsepower, which a system they used up until the GP30 (i.e. a GP18 had 1800 hp, an SD24 had 2400 hp, etc.). The GP30 was the first EMD product to not have a numeric value related to its horsepower. Rather, it was in direct competition with GE's new and highly successful U25B, and EMD wanted to use a higher number to make it more appealing, even though the GP30 only had 2250 hp.

But I think the SD30 would have just been so awesome that it could pull anything just because it would be like the Pied Piper of freight cars. They'd just swarm and couple to it and follow behind merrily. Idk... that's just my two cents. Or maybe my four cents.... or maybe I'm off my rocker and I've overstayed my welcome on this thread.... *darts for the door*

[Randy Earle]

The SD-35 was 2500 horsepower, so I would imagine a SD-30 would have retained the 2250 of the GP-30.

[m a y o r 79]

I didnt think the EMD naming designations ever had anything to do with horsepower. Otherwise how would the GP/SD 7 and 9's fit in. They are 1500 and 1750 hp respectively. I thought only GE's unit numbers correlated to their horsepower.

I have no idea how EMD came up with the numbers, maybe some of them were to correspond to hp ratings and I just have bad info.