I took this picture earlier this month and posted it yesterday. I had noticed that it had been painted and the hood lowered.
Then today, I found this. I told the guy I wasn’t going to get it because MicroScale was out of the B&P decals. The guy had to find a set in stock.
So I have a couple issues to deal with.
First of all, I don’t know how to remove the decals. I’ve simply never done it before. The toughie will be removing the G&W circle without disturbing the stripe.
Secondly, the orange color is some sort of weird dayglo fluorescent. How can I tone it down without repainting the whole thing? For the $29.95 that I paid for it, it is not worth stripping and painting. If I was going to do that. I’d be looking at an undecorated Atlas with sound. Any ideas. Certainly it will look better once I paint the exhaust vents and handrails, but come on, what were those guys thinking?
Lastly, are there any issues I should know about before I install a decoder. I haven’t run this thing, and I won’t probably until after it has a decoder. I have a choice. I can put in a Digitrax that runs about $18, or an NCE which runs about $29. I have both sitting around. I don’t want to waste a NCE on a crappy runner.
Chip, I can’t help with the decal removel, but I do have a question. Your post mentioned that you haven’t run the loco yet and probabley won’t until a decoder is installed, and you ask if there are any issues because you don’t want to install the more expensive decoder if there is. Why not run it to see if it is OK? Seems to me your planning on all this work before you know if the loco is worth it. Ken
Is that day-glo orange paint or is it the actual color of the plastic shell? If it is the latter, you can just strip the decals and then use it like an undecorated shell.
As for the decals, if they were “aftermarket” water slide decals, then soaking the shell in water will remove them. If they were printed on the shell at the factory, then (sometimes) a judicious use of paint thinner and a common “ink” eraser might do the trick.
As for the logo, if the background is a solid color (rather than clear) you might just apply it over the existing logo. It would be a lot easier than trying to trim the strips to fit, etc.
The Geep won’t make clearances on my HO track at home. It’s set up for really small steam. And my club has a no DC engines rule. I have to install the decoder to test run it. IF it runs half-way decent, I’ll make the conversion. I have heard they are very similar (if they were not made by) Athearns.
George,
I think the plastic is the color. I’m hoping the by painting the grill work the color will tone down some. IF not, my weathering will be heavier than it would have been otherwise. I was hoping someone had some trick…Maybe 15 coats of dull cote or something.
Sometimes decal setting solution will remove factory “decals”. The lettering is usually not a decal but, a pad printed ink. If the shell is not painted but instead molded in that color then I would try a Q-tip with rubbing alcohol to remove the lettering you want to. I may have a set of MS B&P logos here at home if you can not find any. Contact me off list if you can not find any. What make engine is that? It looks like an athearn but, they never made a low nose GP7/9 that I know of and the railings don’t look like theirs either.
That G&W you bought is a Walther’s Trainline GP9M. The detail is well, it’s, oh who am I kidding, it sucks, and drive is of poor quality and I guarantee it will not run as nice as an Athearn BB. I would consider taking the shell off and putting it on a P2K or Atlas GP9 or GP7 frame. My [2c]
Chip, just curious, but I remember seeing in some of your past posts pictures of an Atlas GP38 in B&P. Do you still have it?
I’m sorta kinda stickiing to the actual roster. I know that B&P uses G&W power and I’ve even seen a few R&S. But I have this vision. I have the 2000. I’m close on the 305, an Alleghany RR, and this is the third.
Also there’s a kid in my club that has the same model. I feel bad about getting one the week after he brought his in–a Christmas present no doubt. I don’t think I should run the exact same engine.
Chip, if your looking for some SD45’s in the same paint scheme Proto made 2 in Huron Central colours. I have both and they are very nice. They were a Canadian only run made by Hobby Craft years ago, they are the Canadian version of Life Like. They didn’t make many but I see them pop up on Ebay (cough) every once in awhile.
