Model Railroading > CN GP38-2

Hi guys.

As I have posted before I model CN in Nova Scotia, Canada during the late 1990s. With the retirement of their M-420 fleet in 1997/1998 CN needed something else to power their local freights in the Maritimes; a handful of 4700 series standard-cab GP38-2s were selected and sent east. Although 7500 series GP38-2s were used in hump service in Toronto the 4700s were previously considered "western" power and rarely made it east of Winnipeg. When the 4700s first arrived the paint on the units was starting to look worn but nowhere near as bad as they look now over 15 years later.

CN 4725 was one of the first to arrive on the east coast and spent a good part of the following few years switching around Halifax and Dartmouth NS. I photographed it a couple times and once I started modelling CN I decided I had to build a model of it. I can't remember exactly when but sometime in the early 2000s I built a pretty decent model starting with an Athearn blue box GP38-2.

Fast forward to 2016 and my model of CN 4725 was sitting on my display shelf rather than on my layout. I was no longer happy with the weathering job on the locomotive and some of the details were not up to my current modelling standards. So one afternoon the model ended up disassembled on my workbench and the shell went for a swim in 99% isopropyl alcohol. I upgraded some of the details like Cannon and Company air tanks and Details West scale buffer plates which had not been available when I originally built the model. It got a new paint job using Tru Color paint and SGS decals. I swapped the trucks out for Atlas trucks with Bannadapters and the original Athearn sideframes and modified the frame so the model would sit at the correct height. It got a new Kato motor and SMD LED lighting. I still plan to replace the decoder with a sound decoder and speaker but that will be a couple months down the road.

Weathering was done with a wash of very dark grimy brown oil paint followed by drybrushing of several different acrylics. A bit of airbrush work in a few areas and a coat of dullcote to seal it all and the model was ready to haul local freight on my layout!

Here are a couple pictures of the finished model and one of the prototype I took at Rockingham Yard in Halifax NS.

Thanks for looking.

Andrew C

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great job super looking model

Very nicely done!

Tom Y

Very nice model, I bought the 4769 by Athearn, it's a wide cab with Zebra strips, nice runner too, thanks for including the real 4725 pic.

Ed Stewart
Jacksonville, FL

Your hard work really paid off! That model is simply excellent!!

Excellent modeling!  It really looks great.  It's amazing what a great starting point the blue box GP38-2 really is.
One question though: how did you lower the frame?  I think it's about .020" too high correct?

Outstanding modelling.Weathering just right.
Regards,DK

Very nicely done!  When it comes to weathering, subtle is very often the best.  Thanks for sharing.

Kent in CArmel Valley

Bet you won't be dunking it in 99% alcohol again!  Very nice model.

Elizabeth

What did you use for the steps?

Beautiful work Andrew!  Outstanding modeling!

You wouldn't happen to have a pic of your first attempt at this model, would you?  I think it'd be interesting to compare it to its current state, to really show off the upgrade work you did.

Joe Atkinson
Council Bluffs, IA
www.iaisrailfans.org/../Sub4WestEnd

Thanks for the kind words.

To get the model to sit at the right height I used a high speed cutting/milling bit in a motor tool and carefully cut away material from the bottom of the bolster area of the frame. Since the Atlas trucks have a mounting pin on the truck I cut off the pin on the Athearn frame and replaced it with a hole. I ended up removing a but too much material in one area so I had to glue a piece of .005" styrene to the bottom of one side of one bolster to get it back to the right height and get it sitting level.

The steps were scratchbuilt from Evergreen styrene with the bottom step made from Cal Scale see-through running board material.

Betsy, you are right, definitely no more alcohol baths for this one!

Joe, I can't find any pictures of the model before I rebuilt it, I suspect I may have a print around here somewhere but this one was built before I had a digital camera and took pictures of all my projects.

Andrew C



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/23/16 10:05 by andrewcastle.

That is choice! Good job detailing it.  

Beautiful work....very nicely done!

Bob

Really well done!  Good stuff, please share more!

~RGDave
Modeling Conrail in Central New York in 1994
http://www.onondagacutoff.blogspot.com/