As a customer and ordered this locomotive I recieved on update on it.
Here from John
Gentlemen,
I am pleased to announce that we should begin shipping the first SDL-39 kits this week! We will be shipping in the order of final payment so if you don’t get yours right away it’s because you are little further down the queue. We will likely NOT be shipping these kits en masse but more of a steady stream. They kits are quite labour intensive to assemble and package so it all takes time. I will let you know via e-mail when your item has shipped.
For those of you who have not gotten your final payments in to me, please do as soon as you can so that I can finalize my final production numbers.
I have attached a photo of an assembled and painted MILW unit. I think that you’ll all agree that Matt Herman did a tremendous job assembling and painting this model. And just to clarify one more time - the snow shield is NOT cast on so if you planned on modeling a unit without it, you’ll have no problem.
If you have any questions please feel free to e-mail me.
That’s a beautiful model! Nice job especially on the fuel tank and “See-Thru” grills.[8D][tup]
I vaguely an MRR article way back in the 1980s showing how to kitbash one. Quite an unusual, husky looking EMD.
Wasn’t the SDL39 built on a GP38-2 frame and the reason for using 6 axles was to spread out the weight? Did any prototypes survive into Wisconsin Central?
Yes, 9 of the orginal 10 SDL39s made it into the WC era. Number 581 got wrecked on the Milwaukeee Road. It never got Repaired. SOO got these untis but used them vary little, and them in Sotrage.
The L in the SDL means Light. And yes they used the 6 axles to spread out the weight,. Milwaukee Road mainaly used them on there Light weight Branches. WC used the SDL39s much in the same way as Milw did. But they could be found any wherer on the system. After the CN take over, the 9 units got sent to Chile. I don’t know if it they where made on GP38 frames.
That model sure looks nice! Wish I could of got one.
Just to let everyone know the kits have not yet been shipped due to some reason I have not got from John he just stated to me he was hoping to get some units shipped this weekend but i dont know if he truely did. I can only update when i get an update and as one would say with manufacturing things dont always go as planned.
right now from what I heard they run really nice, I have not recieved mine. Far as I know they havent been sent out. These are produced by Kaslo Shops and are for sale, They are 100% kit. motor, chassis, and trucks are by bowser.
Thats strange becuase MRR did an article on the SDL39. They used a GP38 frame SD45 trucks and i dont know how the rest went i’ll have to look through my pile of mags to find it. BTW how much horsepower did the SDL39 have? Its been bugging me ever since the topic came!
The SDL39 had 2300 HP. The frame is shorter then a GP38-2. It is also shorter then an F-unit by 1 foot roughly. The MR kitbash had the athearn GP38-2 frame being cut down to the proper length. Also the trucks were cut down to give it the unique SDL39 appearance.
I’m also waiting on my Kaslo SDL39. They said shipping was approximately June 15, but I haven’t gotten the email saying mine shipped yet. It’s destined to be MILW 584.
Well I found out after days of waiting for a reply from Kaslo Shops the first few SDL39s have been shipped, there not shipping them all the time but a steady stream every now and then. If you have an order with them for this awsome locomotive you should be notified. unfortunately with all the work Kaslo shops has on the back burner due to this project you may not get a reply from him.
Well if you look, it has MU cables, Air hose, snow plow, draw bar, Wind shield wipers, grab irons that actually stick out, fire cracker antenna ect, ect. All that stuff I’m putting on my BB 1500. [sigh] But that’s what makes the hobby fun![:D]
I received my Kaslo SDLs today. They are definitely NOT a BB kit. Lots of nicely done detail parts in resin, stainless steel, brass. Not sure why anyone would say such a thing…but I digress.
It will be sometime before I get a chance to work on these, but I’ve always wanted a SDL. Oddly, I don’t model any of the roads that actually ran them, but more on that in a minute.
The assembled chassis has a Stewart lightboard and I will be building mine up as DC units. Anyone know more about the lightboard or have reference for it? Do the outputs provide directional lighting?
I’d like to use LEDs to light it, presuming that there will be fewer issues with heat than bulbs and because a good LED looks better to me than a bulb will. Any recommendations on what to use?
My layout is, on the standard gauge portion, a semi-mythical Rio Grande secondary main that connects Green River, Utah, through Durango, Colorado and on into New Mexico, where it connects with the Santa Fe (I know, I know, never would have happened) to enter Albuquerque via trackage rights. I am planning on building one or both of my SDLs as a Rio Grande unit (although the D&RGW never had such a thing).
Of course, modeling an SDL-39 as a Rio Grande unit means I’m going to need dynamic brakes. The winterization hatch might have interfered with dynamic brakes, but the Rio Grande didn’t use these, AFAIK, so I’ll be leaving it off. Can anyone recommend a dynamic brake assembly that would fit the shell in the available space? I’m away from home and my scale rule for a few months, so could use a bit of advice from someone with more diesel detailing experience than myself, which is almost none.
