A few weeks ago I posted a question about where to buy a fair priced plastic shell model of a low-nose old Alco, aka the Alligator. A few quick replies ended that idea - brass or nothing! I looked over my dsl books and decided on Plan B. I went to e-Bay and bid on a NIB Model Power RS-11. This is NOT the world's most perfect/ best detailed model, but there are some real advantages. It is modest in price, which is always a help when you intend to start cutting up a new model. It has no flywheels ( normally a bad thing) so there is lots of room under the shell. It has no heavy cast chassis( also n-a-b-t-) but again it means nothing in the way!
I cut the light mounting bracket off flush from the front truck assembly. I then removed the cab roof and made two vertical cuts where it met the front high hood, and a horizontal cut just above the battery box line and removed most of the front hood in one piece. I then built a new front for the cab, from scrap styrene sheet, with the rectangular windshield and the number boards and light above the window.
The hood was then cut horizontally again to remove the middle section, about 3/8" if I recall right, The light and number board holes were filled and the large vent removed. The old hood top was nowfastened to the hood base. Molded grab rails were cleaned off and wire ones added. An actual brake wheel was found in the spare parts box and would go on later. Everything got a coat of primer, a few putty spots that seemed fine before had to be cleaned up, and then a finish coat of graywas done and the bloody nose and tail added, with the SP letters and numbers. Everything added was from the scrap/spare/? bins on the workbench. No cost other than the model and lots of time. To try for as much accuracy as I could I used the photo on page 60 of Mike Shafer's "Vintage Diesel Locomtives,and ifo from L.A.Marre's diesel ref. book. I don't have a digital camera so I could not add photos, but I am sure that anyone reading this can easily picture the steps. The cost was very low, the fun very high...like the old days! Dave
I cut the light mounting bracket off flush from the front truck assembly. I then removed the cab roof and made two vertical cuts where it met the front high hood, and a horizontal cut just above the battery box line and removed most of the front hood in one piece. I then built a new front for the cab, from scrap styrene sheet, with the rectangular windshield and the number boards and light above the window.
The hood was then cut horizontally again to remove the middle section, about 3/8" if I recall right, The light and number board holes were filled and the large vent removed. The old hood top was nowfastened to the hood base. Molded grab rails were cleaned off and wire ones added. An actual brake wheel was found in the spare parts box and would go on later. Everything got a coat of primer, a few putty spots that seemed fine before had to be cleaned up, and then a finish coat of graywas done and the bloody nose and tail added, with the SP letters and numbers. Everything added was from the scrap/spare/? bins on the workbench. No cost other than the model and lots of time. To try for as much accuracy as I could I used the photo on page 60 of Mike Shafer's "Vintage Diesel Locomtives,and ifo from L.A.Marre's diesel ref. book. I don't have a digital camera so I could not add photos, but I am sure that anyone reading this can easily picture the steps. The cost was very low, the fun very high...like the old days! Dave
