There is not much around that it has not ingested over the years. I knew it was on it's last leg ... it was starting to get hot and lose power if I put much load on it. Probably the most used tool that I ever owned - except for my radial arm and var speed drill. Brushes look good - bout 3/8 inch left - anyone need them? John: Thanks for the reminder on the cut-out. My latest castings came out very well. Was able to work the "weld" into the mold better. Anyone out there happen to know what I could use as a thinner for JB WELD to make it run a little better??? It makes pretty good castings. So well, in fact, that I am going to try and make the entire foward double fan and hatch in one casting. I am going to need some 18 inch?? drop grabs and some lift rings? Whose do I use?
I'll be curious to see how your unit turns out. I never would have thought of using Play-Doh for molds, and JB Weld for making castings !! Although I DID use JB Weld to fix a cracked block in my 9N Ford tractor many years ago. Had about a 4 inch crack, which I ground out with a Dremel, and filled the groove with JB. Worked like a champ ! Back to the Geep......the roof fans were the easy part. Doing CNW/MKT/TNER units got me into the chop nose game as well. GP35 roof (for the numberboard housing) and numberboards, U-Boat windshield and a styrene hood top with the sand filler chiseled off of the Athearn Hi-Hood
Keith, George, Mark, John ... been looking pretty close at the Proto2k GP-7. The detail is remarkable. Will have to get one down the road. Can't leave this old girl without any clothes on - so will continue to muster things together- just to prove to myself that I can still do it. Been trying to buy a Dremel on Ebay today. Missed 4 of them - people are nuts when it comes to bidding up prices that when added to shipping almost equal the cost of a new one. I will just be patient and one will come along. In the meantime, have some questions. 1. How wide is the body of a geep 7? 2. Are the grabs 18 inch? 3. What are the dimentions of the "square" looking exhaust stacks? 4. How large are the real handrails - diameter?
Oh, a P2K will knock the shorts off an Athearn. But P2K's ain't been around long enough to have any sentimental value either. Besides, now I wanna see how your home-made castings work out.
If my calculations are correct the body under a P2K paint job will be black. If that's the case a good stipping job will leave you with a black GP7 with detail parts already installed! All that's left is decaling and painting the handrails and grab irons. I'm watching a few on ebay to test my theory
Based on the P2K GP7 that I have stripped and the undecorated one I have, the body is light gray. The upper body is 0.830" wide (6') and the total width is 1.380" (10') on the P2K. The grabs that run up the front and rear are 0.020" (2") in diameter and 0.207" (18") long. The stack are 0.103" (9") wide and 0.220" (1'8") long, and 0.085" (7") high on the model but not prototypical height (approximately 16") judging by photos. The handrails on the model are 0.020" (2") in diameter. My conversions on measurements to scale should be double-checked - I compared my micrometer measurements to the reference rule I have.
Even if the body shell is black plastic, you still should give it a coat of black paint. It is very hard to hide the decal film when they are applied to bare black plastic. I've tried that a time or two, with poor results - in particular when you take a photo of the model. The decal film stands out like a sore thumb on the pic! Ken
Ken is 100% spot on target. It is impossible to "hide" the decal film when applied to unpainted plastic.
One other option for modeling early TNER/DGNO Geeps is to use a Topeka cab from a spare Rail Power Products CF7 shell. I did this with an Athearn GP7, and although there was a little problem with the hood width on the Geep, it looks just like a Santa Fe rebuild. An Athearn cab and GP35 low hood works wonders for,say, an ICG GP11 model as well. I found a spare set of TNER decals you gave to me some time back, and I may redo that Santa Fe rebuild to a "Teener" engine, for grins & giggles (that, and I like chopnosed Geeps). On my first Frisco GP7 model I was lucky to find someone who offered brass plates to cover the spot for the dynamic brake fan as well as the fals and winterization hatch over the rear of the long hood. The rivets were stamped in place, and it fit the Athearn model like a glove. UNfortunately, it was back in the late 1980s, and I don't even know of one could get those parts anymore. It would be a moot point now, with the GP7s now on the market these days.
......... Those brass riveted cover plates for the Athearn GP7/9 were produced by Mid-Car, i.e., Midwest Car & Foundry, Batavia, Illinois. I doubt if they are still available - though I don't know. They are quite nice. Ken
Just removed the paint from an F7 and and a tank car. I did it with "EASY-OFF" oven cleaner. I used the heavy duty type. I rushed the job - had to spray it 3 times, but was done in an hour. Does not harm plastics.
Hi Sherrel reading your post about a thinner for JB weld I don't know of any but I had a thought back to my high school wood shop we used clear fiberglass resin and hardner mixed with the sander dust from our project for wood filler. when mixed it was a puddy consistancy however the resin alone would run like a thick oil alot thinner than JB weld. I wonder if you used the resin and hardner alone forget the sander dust if that would cast the parts in the play do you are needing for the GP7 you are working on. this is just a thought and I hope it helps |-| Have a great day Darren
Thanks, Darren. I am going to try again with the PlayDoh, but I am going to let the mold set firm before using it so that I can apply a little pressure to the mix in order to get it to settle into all parts of the mold. I want to try and cast other parts and need to get some fiberglass or resin to work with, but was trying this because it was the cheapest and readily available. Got to be careful though; pretty soon the grandson won't be able to find any of his PlayDoh.
You can now buy Alumilite at Hobby Lobby. Alumilite would be great for the casting you are doing. If you are not in a hurry, check out thier web site each week for a 40% off coupon. They have one every couple weeks. Kent in KC
I purchased a cordless Dremel tool from my locak KMart- it only has two speeds, but for what I needed it works just fine. I still have a Dremel with cord that I purchased in 1981- still has the original brushes too, and never had any problems with it.
Hi very body, I rad through the PDF posted by Keith after having trouble removing paint. I have left a shell sitting rubbing alcohol (91%) for about 3 weeks, with very little progress, just a few bubbles that showed up last week that I got off. So is it a good move to try the pine sol? Will it work better? Ethan
Have you tried brake fluid? Or is that "done" any more with all thse newfangled paints? Brake fluid and a tooth brush worked for me several times in the past, usually on early Atlas N scale freight cars. Tom
Brake fluid usually has ethers in it, so it is often effective against paint. Make sure it does not affect the plastic however. I've had good luck with the Scalecoat paint stripper in the past. Ken
