Went to a train show, found a table that had Broadway Limited GE locos for $250. It was my lucky day, the lady informed me that that particular table had become 50% off. Incredulous, I asked if that did in fact include the GE units with Paragon 2. She said it did. I should have bought all 3 right then and there, but I ended up walking home with just the BNSF AC6000 for $125 (because the weathering on the other two looked ridiculous) and quite pleased with myself. Runs great, sounds amazing. Perhaps you have already spotted the issue.
BNSF never owned AC6000ās. Not a single one. So I need help with options. I need help finding a very similar GE loco that BNSF DID own so I can bash this loco into whatever that is, or I need a ton of advice on paint stripping and painting the Union Pacific livery. I really dont want to have to destroy the BNSF livery that it came with as its very nice and as my username suggests, I doooo kinda model that road, but I want a locomotive that actually exists. So my two options are A: find a prototype BNSF loco that is close enough to the AC6000 that I can modify the shell and convert it, or B: strip and repaint this to be UP 7036/38 or UP 7330 as there are enough pictures and videos online of those that I can correctly model it visually and acoustically. I know I could do a CSX repaint and make my life a lot easier, but there was a lot less online content on those and I didnāt feel I had enough to work with.
I have a resin 3d printer and sketchup. I can make just about any replacement part I need to. The top rear radiator assembly on these BLI locos is removable as well.
Itās called a what if model. Unless youāre dedicated to running 100 percent prototype run it as is. I know at one point there were rumors very serious oneās in the 90s that BNSF was seriously considering the C60ACW platform for high speed intermodal trains. Like they had a order negotiated and everything. What killed it was how long it took GE to get the bugs worked out. Had they gotten them fixed faster these more than likely would have happened.
Sounds like Iām doing a UP repaint then, unless someone knows of a place I can buy a replacement AC6000 shell? I couldnāt find anything for HO on ebay.
I did find some 3d models onlineā¦ maybe I can just resin print the shell lol.
Strip and repaint ought to be a whole lot easier than printing a new shell and then detailing it. Or modifying the chassis dimensions, etc. to be as ātrueā to a different prototype as the OP said he wanted to be.
Youāre not losing much if anything by getting rid of the foobie paint, no matter how beautifully detailed it might be.
If youāre not comfortable with your model being a foobie then Iām afraid repainting is pretty much your only option. A good suggestion I found is a mix of windshield washer fluid, some distilled water,91% rubbing alcohol and a tiny bit of glycerine. I know other people have suggested stuff like brake fluid and industrial degreasers like Super Clean but I worry they could be too harsh on styrene shells. I have had luck with the Isopropyl alcohol by itself for removing numbers from cars and engines but Iām not sure if it would work to do a whole model on itās own.
Thanks for all the tips! Iāll look into disassembly soon. The loco has been weathered so it almost definitely got dullcoted, will that prevent the 91% IPA from working?
Additionally, I need some help getting decals and selecting paint. Airbrushing is out of the question in my current domestic abode and I donāt want to get into that part of the hobby just now anyways. Anyone know what the hobby lobby model paints in a rattle can would be for UP yellow, UP grey, CSX yellow, and CSX blue? Where can I get decals for the UP and CSX AC6000ās?
Thereās a UP AC6000 on eBay right now, at $59 with about 4 days to go. I wonder whether it might be sensible, if the BNSF foobie has been weathered, to see if anyone wanted to buy it as finished. Or swap chassis if improvements have been made there.
I mean, I donāt have a layout to work on RN, and Iāve already learned tons about my prototype through this tangent and learning to do a shell swap or a repaint will be valuable anyways lol.
