Norfolk & Western GP18 Project

[supagav]

Hi,

Just wanted to share my next project. We have had a USA Trains Norfolk & Western GP9 sitting in our cupboard for a long while, patiently waiting to converted into a GP18, so I need to get this loco finished and out into operation. I feel I finally have enough information and pictures of this particular loco, as well as getting my hands on some more parts, to really do this project justice!

The GP18 is essentially very similar to the GP9, with the biggest differences being the improvements which EMD made to the prime mover in terms of fuel economy and reliability. There are quite a few external details that help to distinguish the two models apart too which I hope to capture. The first are the fans, the GP18 had two larger 48` fans whilst most GP7s and earlier 9s featured four smaller 36` fans. The louvers on the side of the loco battery boxes are different too, as well as the air intake grills on the sides of the long hood.





The above photos are for #2700 which was acquired by the N&W from the Nickle Plate Road in a merger between the two lines. I hope to try and keep as much of the factory paintwork as possible as much of the lettering for this loco is pretty good.

The fans will be stolen from USAT GP9 dynamic brake blisters which are luckly a near perfect match for the larger fan size. I already have some Ozark castings for headlights and will try out my new 3D printed Gyralight to simulate the oscillating headlight which was added by the NKP. I`m also considering making a print of the nose mounted bell for future locos that might need it, as well as some of the other related parts like the spark arrestors and marker flag brackets. The rest of the details will just be made as I go such as the brake hoses, air hoses and truck detail.

Thanks for looking,
G

 

[supagav]

Here are a few more photos. The first is another N&W GP18 in the same series as #2700, and the second is a shot of how the units used to look like in the old Nickle Plate paint scheme:

 

[beavercreek]

It looks like there will be another fine kitbash project to follow on this esteemed forum Gav.
Full of expectation here Gav
PS. many thanks for sending on the Aristo regulator!

 

[supagav]

Your very welcome Mike, my pleasure! If you can use those old bits then I'm glad they can go to a good home!

 

[supagav]

Here is an EMD plan of the GP18 model. This particular loco shown is a low hood version with dynamic brakes, although most of the other details are the same:



The first part of these types of projects are the bits I hate the most! Just cutting and filling off the existing headlight pieces, as well as the louvers on the sides below the cab. I will post some photos progress photos as soon as I have something to show!

 

[supagav]

I got a little bit done this evening so here a few pictures so far. There was a lot of cutting and filing so it still looks pretty rough but I`ve got the two new headlight castings installed on both noses as well as the front mounted Gyralight. You can also see where I`ve removed and filled in the some of the detail that used to be on the top of the short hood. Unfortunately I lost a little bit of the rivet detail whilst sanding it down but this will all be replaced as soon as the dirty work is out of the way.









Here you can where I removed the louvers from the battery box covers and will build up the pair of smaller ones that were used on the GP18:



The next step will be to fill in the holes where the old fans used to be before I make new holes for the single larger diameter fans.

 

[supagav]

Hi,

Progress has been slow on the GP18, there are quite a few details that I`m slowly working my way thorugh. The first is to re-work the USA Trains air intake grills on the long hood of the engine. I popped these parts off the engine and I`m slowly adding the wire frame detail and the splash cover that appeared on these later geep models. It`s not perfect but I feel it`s close enough for my liking!











I`m using 0.5mm brass wire a small styrene strips for these.

And some more of the real thing to show the detail more closely:

 

[supagav]

Here is some photos of the progress so far on the trucks. The sand line pipes are 1.5mm pipe which will disappear underneath the loco frame, whilst the brake cylinder piping is 0.8mm wire with a small 1.5mm hexagonal piece for the screw nut connection:

 

[supagav]

And lastly some more progress on the roof. I finally got hold of an OLFA compass cutter and cut out some circle pieces to seal off the old fan holes. Again it is looking a little rough and any lost rivet detail will be replaced later on:







I plan to use the larger sized fans that USA Trains make for the GP7 & 9 dynamic brake blister, as these are a very good match for the larger 48" fans found on these types of locos. Fortunately I have a few of these pieces lying about from other projects so that will save me having to fabricate something.

 

[russiansandy49]

Gav

Yet more evidence of your excellent diesel modelling with your customary attention to detail.
I am absolutely thrilled with the great work so far.
Well done!

I really liked:

the lights, especially the Gyralight
the louvre details
the hood top with fans removed
and best so far,
,the air intakes with wire details---beautifully done.

It's such an improvement on the original loco.

Keep it up, and looking forward to the N&W decals and paint job, then your weathering treatment!

All the best

Sandy

 

[Richie]

Fantastic project Gavin really love your modelling skills
Got my Phoenix sound from Sandy the other day (great service) and have just fitted it in my SD70 sounds fantastic on the rolling road

 

[supagav]

Thanks for the kind words Richie!

I'm glad Sandy was able to help you, he's always helped us out in the past. The Phoenix units do sound great, there is something about them that really seems to capture the feel of the real thing. It's almost like they have a certain dirt or grungy-ness to them that sounds like the hard working prototype! It's not any lack of quality in the board or speaker but almost like a filter with a kind of lo-fi realism built into the sound file itself!

 

[beavercreek]

Darned fine Gav.
As usual your bashes are exemplary. Lots of little ideas to nick even for a Rio Grande diesel.

Totally agree on the Phoenix sound. Nothing comes close. Some others are good, even very good, but Phoenix just has that certain 'feel' to the sound, especially with a good speaker and enclosure.
The really great thing is that they also work easily with DCC.

 

[supagav]

Thanks for the kind words Mike, much appreciated

I think it really is just a few little details can make all the difference! I find if parts of the model look "busy" enough then it is beginning to capture the essence of the real thing. With just a few little bits here and there it starts to look a little more believable, especially through the eye of a camera lens in the garden.

Made a little bit more progress this morning, although nothing major to report!

The firecracker radio antenna on the cab roof was a quick and easy one to do. I got a whole load of these parts from the USA Trains spares department ages ago as I knew having them on hand would come in useful at some stage, with just a little small collar of styrene to make a small mounting base:





Here are a few shots of the finished truck detail with all the pipework painted matt black. You can see the sand pipe lines at each end of the truck, the brake cylinder piping which joined both cylinders together as well as the speedometer cable on one axel of the front truck:









I`m still debating how tackle some of the bigger jobs on this loco. I was wanting to try and keep as much of the original paintwork as I could although now I don`t think it`s going to be possible. The louvers on the sides of the body are mostly wrong as the USAT model is based on an early GP7 and as such has a different layout. I`m just plucking up the gumption to strip the lettering off and get going!

 

[garrymartin]

The trucks look fantastic!

 

[supagav]

Made a little bit more progress again this morning. Finally finished bending and drilling all the mesh work for the radiator intake grills. Was a bit of a pain and it`s not prefect, but again I think it captures the essence of the real thing. Touched up a few rough spots with a bit of squadron putty:







Here are couple of mocks with them temporarily placed in the loco:







And lastly, a mock up of where I am so far:



Thanks again for looking,
G

 

[supagav]

I managed to squeeze in a little progress this evening too so I started work on the louvers. I tackled the easy ones first, the smaller sized ones on the battery box covers. I used 1mm quarter round styrene cut into 6mm strips, with the corners gently rounded off with a small file. Again, not perfect but they look neat enough to be quite effective:



Here is a quick mock-up showing them in comparison to the body shell:



And lastly a quick prototype shot to show what I am working from:



I plan to remove all the old lettering that got damaged or that is wrong for this loco with a wee spot of something like T-Cut when I get all of the fiddly work done. Apologies for the photo quality too, the light on my little worktable is pretty poor tonight!

 

[soo4513]

Gav, nice work. BTW I dug the Classic Trains magazines, Spring 2011, has some nice shots of the NW2703.

Colin

 

[supagav]

Thanks for that Colin, I will try and check that out! My father is a true hoarder so I'm sure we'll have a copy of that somewhere in the house...

 

[russiansandy49]

More fantastic modelling, Gav!

The loco is really coming to life now.
The new louvres look great, as do the air intakes now in place.
Then it will be time for the big fans on top.

Keep up the good work!

Sandy