Model Railroading > Rapido Western Pacific GP40 Question

Can someone advise if the Rapido Western Pacific GP40 #3514 has either silver or black trucks and has Pyle sealed beam headlights.  I have not been able to find a image of this Rapido WP GP40.

All of the photos and drawings of this unit on their website show black trucks and sealed beam headlights using a Pyle Conversion plate.

Thks for the info.

3507, 3511 and 3514 all have the pyle conversion plate, 3502 has the as delivered single bulb. All have black trucks and fuel tank as did the prototype. These are beautiful units even with the paint flaws which are not to hard to fix.

As delivered, the pilot foot step boxes were black with silver foot steps as well as the area of the box just above the steps. Later the boxes and steps were painted silver. EMD sent parts painted in a yellow primer and sometimes sent the units out with parts in yellow primer until the unit was shopped and paint could be applied. Photos show the random end steps having primer also on some units. Rapido used a front photo of 3514 that did have yellow primer pilot steps which isn't as bright a yellow as Rapido but the rear steps and the steps on the other 3 units should be silver.

Rapido also painted the rear light silver. The front and rear lights on all the GP7s, GP9s, GP20s and the first 12 GP35 came painted Silver, however starting with GP35 3013 through 3022 and all the GP40s came with scotchlight lettering and the rear light painted orange which is on the EMD painting guide. Some of the other Geeps got orange lights by the 70s.

The one thing not easiky fixed is the medallion on the cab. The medallion was painted on a metal plate and screwed to the side of the cab. The medallion should have a white edge around the outside of the emblem not black. The white edge shows the bolts that mount it to the cab. A lot of manufactures make the emblem with silver lettering which is wrong on everything but the F3. Unfortunately there is no easy fix for the emblem, the microscale decals as a poor choice as a replacement as sometime in the 80s they redid their artwork and simplified the feather and looks pretty poor. Rapidos feather is very crisp and the emblem is well done, just the black ring is heavy handed.

The also didnt include the radio equipped lettering on the cab that most carried until the emblems started getting removed and replaced by black numbers. The black on the top of the short hood was actually a flat anti glare which contrasts the nose black stripes and Rapido painted it all the same black.

With that said, they really are beautifully done, it is the correct phase and the fans are beautiful. It really looks good even with little errors, but the yellow steps gota go.

 

So, it seems some of roapido road number 3511 were produced with silver trucks, including the one that i got. The picture on the end of the box shows black .It's a small fix.

I contacted Rapido about the silver trucks.  Their customer svc advised they had replacement black trucks at no cost from their parts dept.

NICE! Thanks for the tip!

Ok mistake on my part. When I unboxed the 4 units at work, I apparently opened one twice and failed to open 3511. It did in fact have silver trucks instead of black like its supposed to be.

Another issue has been found. 3511 and 3514 did not have Pyle conversion plates on the rear light on the prototype until the 1980 rebuilds into the new image paint. It would be nice if Rapido made avalible the rear light without the conversin plate like on 3502. They just pop out ax I noticed when I opened the box and found it floating around.

And it would be nice if "customer service" returned phone calls...

wpdude Wrote:
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> And it would be nice if "customer service"
> returned phone calls...

Have you tried emailing them? They do respond.

Sheesh, now I gotta do all that EEElectronic doodadery? LOL And while I am ranting, then why advertise a "customer service" phone number if you refuse to answer it or return customer messages?

Time to eat crow, they finally returned my call and are shipping the trucks! Great models, with tiny defects, if I use my "3 foot rule" they look damn fine!(to me)

I already are my crow.....it tasted like chicken.

TomG Wrote:
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> I already are my crow.....it tasted like chicken.


Everything tastes like chicken, if you put enough hot sauce on it!