Model Railroading > Questions on modelling 7319

I ran across Athearn's new release of the early 90's version of 7319 and couldn't resist picking one up.  The last loco I bought was a Genesis SD40M-2, which has great detail.  So as I start out to model the 7319 in her peeling 90's glory I have a couple questions for the SP experts here.
- I grabbed all the prototype photos I could find on the web, but I can't find any great detail shots of the trucks or fuel tank details.  Does anyone have or know of where I could get ahole of good reference pics?
- Improvements I can see off the bat would be lift rings, underbody and fuel tank details, walkway tread, etched steps.  Can anyone see any other laces that could use some detailing?  The fans are molded not etched, so they dont look as scale as the Genesis ones do.  I'm not sure I want to drill  them all out and replkace with Cannon fans - can you drill out the top only and add metal grates? 

Its a DC non sound by the qay. Figured I'd add my own sound later.

Thanks for the info! I want to do some detailing and then continue on the already great weathering job. 

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Does anyone know when it was repainted from 'desert storm' into SP speed lettering?   Had to be between late 1992 and 1995 sometime...

Detail Associates make the grills you need.

So what is going with the mold seam on the nose? This looks even worse than the last run of GP40-2’s!

Model looks great other than that.

Posted from iPhone

I am having a hard time keep this loco in stock at my store.   It's awesome what Athearn did with the peeling and colors.
A few tips to address your question...
There was some red that extended from the back of the loco onto the sides.   It appears in many photos, but Athearn didn't include it.  Possibly the same with the side of the nose too.
There could be a few more small peeling spots.   It appears Athearn went for mostly the large sheets, but the prototype has a bit more small pieces coming off.
I believe the trucks and fuel tank also had some primer exposed.  But they got quite dirty early on and it was hard to see.   Some moderate weathering would probably clear out the problem and make it a non-issue.
And lastly, if one wants to be picky, the base of the beacon should be aluminum, not gray.   I have emailed Athearn about this many times, but they keep producing SP beacons with gray bases.  It never happened with any SP prototype.  They are looking at pictures where the locos are weather, giving it the appearance they are painted.
Hope that helps!    It's a hot unit!

Jason Eminian
Smith Brothers Hobby Center

The stock fans should just pop right out with a little bit of struggling.  The Cannon fans will then just drop in.  There should also be a bit of red overspray toward the long hood end on one side not present on the model.  That said, this is an excellent release from Athearn!

Cheers,
Harry

It’s pretty disappointing that the nose mold seam problem has now made its way to the SD40 series, and wasn’t an isolated problem with the GP40P-2s. Lets hope Athearn comes up with a solution like they did with the SD40Rs.

Posted from iPhone



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/14/19 16:49 by Kx450F_180.

About half way down this post there's a photo of SP7319, the differences are a pretty quick study:

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,3642930,3643509#3643509

Date: 01/25/15 20:23
Re: SP sd in need of paint that will adhere!
Author: CT97

The mold seam seems to only be on the nose that has the plated over mars light. Here is the straight SP SD40 that was just released as well and there is no seam on the nose. But I wont lie, they did a rather poor show on the number boards.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/20/19 22:07 by TomG.

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After looking at other Athearn SD40's - like the Daylight scheme ones, I noticed that the seam is only on the plated over light version (as pointed out above.)  I emailed Athearn to see if they has a replacement nose in the works, but haven;t heard back from them yet.
 

I was looking at pics of the new run of SP GP40P-2's and they have the same crappy mismatch on them. Too bad!