Model Railroading > Athearn SD40-2`s with Remounted HTC Trucks

Got my Athearn RTR SD40-2`s back in 2008. The undecorated versions came with a variety of add-on parts and were a perfect start to do some custom models. One of my main goals was to widen the truck centers and move the sideframes back into the stepwells farther. Athearn`s new truck design made it easy to accomplish this. I also wanted to use the Archer EMD treadplate decals on the decks, match ICE blue and yellow in Acrylic paint and re-power with Kato motors. I also bent handrail railings out of brass wire and soldered Smokey Valley stanchions to the railings. TCS Wow Sound decoders were used on the ICE 40-2`s and Loksound Select Directs with TCS Keep-Alive devices were used on the CSX units. Surface mount LED`s for headlights and ditchlights. Many detail parts from Details West, Detail Associates, Cal Scale and Cannon were used. I used a mix of Testor`s Model-Master Chrome Yellow, Flat White and Polyscale CSX New Image Yellow for the ICE yellow and Testor`s Model-Master Dark Blue for the ICE blue. The 8865 was sprayed with Badger Modelflex Conrail Blue and Engine Black. 8828 was sprayed with Polyscale CSX New Image Blue and a mix of New Image Yellow and Chrome Yellow to match the Microscale decal sheet. Highball Graphics decals were used on the ICE units and Microscale decals on the CSX units. The Canon handbrake chain tensioner was a very interesting detail to add. I used Microscale Microflat as a finish coat along with some light weathering.

Tom

Many photos were taken along the way,
1st photos:  Athearn truck locations front and rear out of the box
                  SD40-2 underframe with opening in bolster

 

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#45000 snap on cover plates help hold the truck halves together and it has the kingpin for the female opening in the bolster. I figured I`d never be able to make a new kingpin that would stay glued to Delrin plastic so I shaved off the kingpin and located a .081 hole (#46 drill bit) in the cover plate ahead of  where the kingpin was  located. This would eventually move the trucks back. Duplicate 45000`s were drilled using the first one as a template.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/13/19 18:30 by globalethanol.

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Evergreen .080 rod fits perfect through the new opening in the 45000 cover. A piece of rod was cut and inserted with a near perfect fit through the opening in the bolster. The original hole in the bolster only had to be enlarged slightly for the .080 rod to fit through. The bottom of the piece of rod had to be flush with the underside of the snap on cover to prevent it for hitting gears inside the truck



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/14/19 15:02 by globalethanol.

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With the .080 rod now flush, a drop of thin CA was capillaried around the new kingpin and the top of the rod was shaved flush with the top of the bolster

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After the cover plate was snapped back on, a few body modications had to be made. .020 X .156 styrene strips were glued to the inside of the pilots to prevent the underframe from shifting front or back. The inside of the long hood was sanded thinner for some insurance that the assembled truck would swing freely. Now there sure isn`t much room in there. When the grab irons were installed they were trimmed flush with the inside wall of the long hood.

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The ends of the the underframe were filed slightly for a snug fit inside those .020 X .156 strips. The coupler mounts had to be shortened to allow the trucks to swing.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/14/19 02:31 by globalethanol.

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The inside edges of the sideframes had to be shaved slightly after they nicked the stepwells when they swung out on tighter radius curves. The entire rear of the gearbox and gearbox cover had to be rounded off on the rear truck only

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New truck position front and rear

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Ex Conrail SD40-2`s with flexicoil trucks

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Flexicoil trucks after remounting

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SD40-2 snoot with 116 inch nose almost ready for paint

Coupler bar out of brass wire and Detailswest snow plow with air hose and MU hoses



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/13/19 18:32 by globalethanol.

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Underframe with Kato motor and flywheels in a homemade mount made from Evergreen styrene sheet. The universal drive shafts are plenty long enough to support the new truck positions. I used the TCS kits for Kato locos because of the location of the Keep-Alive caps. The TCS kit comes with a motherboard with Keep-Alive, a 21 pin plugin decoder, a n 8 ohm speaker and a universal speaker housing. Low mounting of the kato motor leaves plenty of room for the speaker directly above. Pick-up wires are soldered directly to the metal part of the truck to bypass lousy mechanical connections in rivets



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/13/19 18:05 by globalethanol.

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Handrail bending jigs out of Evergreen styrene. I always use brass wire because of its softness. I bent 27 sets of complete railings and those jigs showed no signs of wear

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More jigs and soldered stanchions

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Rear pilot. The MU cable holders were made from brass tubing soldered to the left stanchion. I think this is a UP trademark.

Dropstep pilot and anti-climber pilot

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The Canon handbrake chain tensioner is a beautiful part but extremely fragile. After breaking the first two I decided to core out the spring with a #80 drill bit. Then a piece of .012 brass wire was inserted through the spring. 2 sections of 40 links per inch chain were fastened to one end and the brass wire on the other end will attach to the mounting post



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/14/19 14:38 by globalethanol.

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Completed tensioner installed. One end of the chain is connected to an eyehook and pushes through the arm on the brake cylinder. It`s removable so the body can be taken off the underframe



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/14/19 02:34 by globalethanol.

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MU cable and in the holder and the APU start-up light on 8828. Made from Evergreen channel and a Miniatronics amber bulb with wires cut off

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ICE 6439 ex UP 3732
ICE 6402 ex UP 3633
ICE 6400 ex UP 3562

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CSXT 8865 ex Conrail 6521
CSXT 8828 ex Conrail 6431

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