Model Railroading > up grades on new Athearn SD40-2's

I'm building a 6800 class BN SD40-2 for use with my Espee power this will be a all out project cannon cab, sub bases, nose etc...SC paint......but I bought on of the late BN's factory painted just to see what could be done with some detail parts and paint touch up. One of the things that bothered me was that the battery boxes are wrong for BN , BN opted for the optional removable doors, the fixed bolt on doors were -2 standard at the time of SD40-2 production. I found that this is a easy fix with some spare Cannon doors. I was talking to Dave Hussey on Saturday and he said he had talked to Brian Rutherford and the DB's are wrong for the late version with the silencer and Brian was going to put a standard Cannon SD40,45etc turbo hatch (Cannon #1952) on his to back date it, I thought that was a good idea because that would help fit the loco into my era (1978-1981)also to back date it you need to change out the Q fans to regular fans Cannon #1704.Athearn has small holes drilled in the shell for there Q fans I just plugged them with some styrene rod .030. I removed the Athearn internal filter hatch because I wanted to install a Cannon hatch #1353 to match the turbo hatch. I removed the sand filler because they are cast on and look pretty bad they will be replaced with DA. I had to putty the turbo area of the DB hatch because the glue that Athearn uses left some melted spots. I will b replacing the horn with Details West 326 so I plugged the stock horn hole. I managed to nick the corner of the cab when removing he dust bin hatch and had to putty that no biggy. That's all for now I have sanded the putty and spot primed it just waiting on primer to dry so I can sand it. I will also be putting a Cannon tread kit on this loco. Most of the black will be resprayed .........Joe

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removed the # with Joe's gel
http://www.joesmodeltrains.com/Paint%20and%20Decal%20Remover.htm

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Since Joe mentioned putting Cannon tread on the deck of his SD40-2 project, I thought I'd better mention something about it. When Athearn released the most recent changes to the SD40-2 and the newly revised SD40T-2 they made a bunch of modifications to the basic shell that they had been producing forever. They tooled new noses (unfortunately for my sales<g>). These noses in 81, 88, 116 and 123 inch lengths are different physical measurements than what was produced before. Therefore Cannon Step and Deck Tread Set ST-2005, for the 88 inch nose version of the SD40-2 will no longer will fit decently. However, I have designed a new set for the new release version SD40-2. This new set ST-2036 is for the SD40-2 with a 88 inch nose, along with set ST-2030 for the SD40T-2 with 81 inch nose, and set ST-2031 for the SD40T-2 with 88 inch nose. These are in production and should be available in about two weeks. Additionally supplemental Nose only tread pieces for the 116 inch nose (ST-2032), for the 123 inch nose (ST-2033) and 81 inch nose (ST-2034) are also in production.

Dave Hussey
Cannon & Company

Speaking of the dynamic brake housing, note that the BN 6800 and 6900-class (and most others, IIRC) did not have extended range dynamic brakes. Hence, the access door on the faring in front of the grills should not be there on the BN units. I presume it's now a separate part on the new Athearn models? Just a little more something to do before you touch up the black paint...

Elizabeth

Liz, Athearn has now tooled the extended range door as a separate part and has gotten that correct on the BN version........Joe
PS you are correct BN SD40-2 did not have extended range DB's

These are the types of threads I like to see in here - information plus. Dave, all I can say is please use this forum to keep us informed of all your up and coming products.

I would be all in favour of a "Prototype Modeling" section on TO.

Rick