Will Atlas and Athearn U Boat Shells swap?

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I have 3 Athearn #2307 I was thinking i could swap an atlas shell to get another road number

Has any one tried it ?

2

If you have the shell, try it and see. I would doubt it will fit though without any modification. If you have the Atlas shell I would imagine you have the whole engine (maybe not) and it is a whole lot better (puts on the flame proof underware and ducks for cover) than the Athearn. Depending on how old the Athearn is the motor might not be narrow enough to clear the atlas hood. Some of the older athearn engines had the old “fat” motor which is why the hoods were wider than they should be.

3

I don’t think the wide bodies will fit on a Atlas drive without overhang along the side.

You see in order to get the scale width Athearn GP38-2 and GP40-2 shell to fit the Atlas drive you need to grind off some of the weight.

IMHO it would be more practical to buy a can motor for the Athearn unit…

4

I guess i didn’t say it right

I don’t want to put an atlas driveline inside an athern shell

i want to put an atlas shell on an athearn frame and drive line to get a different road number

I saw 2 Atlas shells on ebay they were like kits with the handrails included

I thought it might be a good way to get different road numbers rather than

trying to repaint a different number {which in the Chessie paint scheme would be tuff}

These are Uboats by the way