Today, I started working on an Athearn blue box kit of a GP50. I was actually able to find the prototype of the locomotive I’m working on. I had forgotten what a general pain these are to work on; wire grabons with the stanchions you have to put on, that light that light up the whole cab. I installed a direction constant voltage unit from Miniatronics. That took care of the lighting. I assembled the handrail and stanchings with CA.
The kit came with horn hook couplers (obviously this was a shelf queen from “who knows when?”, and I wanted to replace them with Kadees. To get the couple height right, I had two options; use offset couplers, or mill the mouting pad to get the height right.
Next up is painting them.
Here’s my question; I’m using Polly Scale Missouri Pacific blue to airbrush them. Should I paint the blue first, then mask and paint the ends white, or vice versa.
After painting the base color, I just handpaint the white vertical handrails. Anyplace where the handrail is close to the body, I just slip a scrap of paper behind the rail so as not toget paint where I don’t want it, no need to mask.
As far as the handrails I would have bought a set of the plastic handrails-IF I didn’t want to use the metal ones…
As far as the coupler height…All I did was use my Dremel and grind the pad and use a file on KD coupler box-2-3 strokes-I did this to give a rough finish for gluing…
Since white usually does not cover well, start with grey primer, then white, finishing with blue. If you have not glued them on yet, paint the stansions before you install them, then brush paint the wire handrail.
Another option would be Smokey Valley RR Handrail Kits. I have used them on some of my Athearn BB locomotives, and like the result. They are brass castings for the stansions and wire for the railing. They are closer to scale and the wire for the railing is finer than Athearn BB stock so looks much better. The stansions are lost wax castings done in plaster, so need a light wire brushing with a Dremel wire brush on low speed to clean up the plaster residue. I prefer to solder the handrail to the stansion; I have even done it on a completed model. Just the model on its side, and lay a wet paper towel on the loco shell to catch any hot drips. You can use CA adhesive, but I found the glue bond breaks easily and had to repair the railings often, hence, the soldering on a completed model.
Unfortunately, the GO50 set is out of stock at Walthers, but you may find a set for a similar locomotive that will work. I used a SD7 kit for a GP7.