New Project: Weaver 2 Rail Frisco GP38AC SLSF 642

Hi Tim,  
It’ll be great to follow the progress on your newest project !!!
Cheers,

TrainBub 😜

Thanks TrainBub!  A few updates:  installed the handrails, lift rings, hand grabs and the gyralight in the nose.  The gyralight is mounted with a brass wire so it can be painted separately.  I also assembled the horn and shortened the end rail chains as they were too long.

The Atlas GP40 fuel tank is on the way.  I need to figure out a clear lens for the gyralight, and I plan to light it up with a pico or Z LED from Evan Designs.

I like how your GP38 is coming along.

Thanks for the comment harley rider.  Sunshades installed yesterday.  I was able to get a first coat of Tamiya fine white primer on today so I could see what I need to work on.  A photo of Frisco #642 is in the background.

I wish some one would have continued the

Weaver O scale line. This project shows what can be done with them.

I agree - Imagine if different radiator grilles, dynamic/non-dynamic brake, short/high hood and other details were offered.  It would be a kitbasher's dream.

Tonight's update:  The Atlas GP40 fuel tank showed up today.  Surprisingly, it was a solid metal piece that is heavy (still cast with MTH Electric Trains).  After a few Hoegaardens I managed to get it mounted to the Weaver sill.  I cut away the center area easily with a hack saw to allow for the Weaver drive shaft.  The body and cab also got a coat of Tamiya TS-26 Pure White.  By the way, I really like the Tamiya spray paints - very fine and easy to spray.  They also dry more quickly than Testors.  Anyway, here's a few pics of tonight's progress.

I made mounting studs so I could remove the fuel tank and access the body screws in the future for repairs or adding a decoder.  Sometimes you gotta use what you have on hand.  I used #6 screws on the rear of the tank with epoxy to hold them into place, but then found some thin #8 square flat nuts.  I only found 3 of the #8 square nuts, so I used #6 in the rear and #8 up front.  Good enough.  The MTH (now Atlas) tank is heavier than the Weaver weight that was inside the stock fuel tank, so maybe it will help this unit pull more cars.

FYI, Trainiax.net is a good reference for locomotive drawings.  I was able to find the Frisco GP38AC here.

As you can see, I have a couple pictures of SLSF 642.  I'm not much of a rivet counter, so the model won't be a exact match, but will hopefully catch a lot of its qualities.

Have a good weekend!

I guess I should have filled that GP38-2 sight window - oh well. 

That sight window is a Dash 2 thing, so I couldn't let it go on this early '71 GP38AC.  Last night I used a chisel blade to remove the window frame and filled the hole with a few bits of styrene.  My green Squadron putty was old, so I searched online for a good replacement.  Bondo (3M) Glazing & Spot Putty is WAY better (in my humble opinion).  If anyone has suggestions for better fillers, please chime in. 

Bye window...

On to today's activities.  It's painted - well, let's say it's roughed in.  Not my best masking job, so I thought I had an excuse to visit the local hobby shop and pick up some jars of Tamiya Bright Red and Pure White.  My wife killed my trip by suggesting I just spray some paint into a plastic cup.  Love that girl.

Anyway, Hey Frisco fans - LQQK at Tamiya TS-49 Bright Red sprayed over white primer & paint!  It's a close (if not perfect) match!  The paint line is lower than the prototype, but I wanted to keep it below the radiator grilles.  Close enough.

Woo hoo!  Let the touch-ups and decals begin.  I also painted the trucks and fuel tank flat black, cleaned the wheels and reassembled the trucks.

Looks good to me

Thanks oscaletrains!  Today's update:  I touched up the striping job.  While the shell and cab were drying, I put EMD builders plate and Frisco "Be Careful" decals on the sill and gave it a couple of coats of Tamiya Flat Clear.  After re-soldering a couple of pick-up wires, I installed the drivetrain and made sure there were no interference or clearance issues with the Atlas(MTH) GP40 fuel tank.  Test drives both without and with the fuel tank were OK on 36" radius curves - nice & smooth. 

Decals went on after the shell and cab were dry.  The K4 decals matched the Tamiya TS-49 Bright Red paint fairly well.  K4's instructions mention the locomotive color Chevrolet Engine Block Red.  The #642 number board decals were printed on ink-jet white decal paper and sealed with gloss clear.  The cab and body are loosely sitting on the frame as I'm not ready for final assembly:

I placed the LED order with Evan Designs Saturday, so I'll have some time to work on some details, get the P&D cab windows installed, wipers & couplers installed, etc. 

Have a good week!

Tim

Tonight I was looking for something to use for the Gyralight lens.  I didn't have any clear plastic sprues from model kits, but I did find a clear acrylic push pin.  It gladly gave itself for the good of the project.  The push pin shaft is tapered, so it's a good fit into the light housing.  A razor saw sliced it to a close thickness, then sanded with 380 and 1000 grit to thin, then used 2000 & 2500 grit to polish the faces.  I folded a paper towel a few times to use as a base under the sandpaper.  When sanding in a circular motion on a softer surface it rounds the edges and gives a slight curve to the lens.

The number board decals weren't as white and clear as I wanted, so those were removed.  The decal paper didn't print as sharply as plain paper.  At first I thought it was the clear gloss I used, but a reprint on white decal paper shows that it's the paper, which is old.  I've printed new numbers on both Avery label paper and photo paper.  I'll seal both with clear tomorrow and see which works better.

I had some time to paint the right side radiator, DB and air filter grilles with grimy black.  Showing the before left side and detailed black side for comparison:

Fans will also get the grimy black treatment.  I'll probably use dust from a charcoal pencil on the roof and sunshades.  More to follow...

Anyway, Hey Frisco fans - LQQK at Tamiya TS-49 Bright Red sprayed over white primer & paint!  It's a close (if not perfect) match!  The paint line is lower than the prototype, but I wanted to keep it below the radiator grilles.  Close enough.

That is a good color match.  Here is the one I have used in the past:

It is difficult to read on the spray can, but it is labeled "Poppy Red".

Those are beautiful models Rob!  I saw Poppy Red at Lowe's a couple of days ago and thought it would be a good choice for Frisco.  Thanks for confirming.

Looking great Tim!

Thanks John!  The LEDs should be here tomorrow.  Last night I mounted a bell under the frame and painted the left side and roof fan grilles grimy black.  Today I crimped and soldered connectors to the motor leads, tested the connections and started some charcoal dust weathering on the roof.  I'll wait to start on the cab after I get the beacon and headlight LEDs installed.

Trucks dusted with tan chalk dust:

Tim, you saved that poor GP38. It looks so much nicer now!

@harley rider posted:

Tim, you saved that poor GP38. It looks so much nicer now!

That’s putting it mildly !!!! 😜👍

Ha!  Thanks guys.  Yeah, I think this GP38 is happier now than it was as a Halloween decoration.  LEDs are installed!  The gyralight looks better in person as the camera doesn’t quite capture the effect.  I also used Evan Designs connectors under the dynamic brake cover so I can disconnect or swap out lights.  Speaking of lights, I may swap the pulsing cab beacon to a flashing or simulated rotary LED.  Here’s a pic of the connections connected to a 9V battery to test, with the power connector from the motor at the right.

Here’s a video in the dark:

I would drop a resistor on the led's lighting up the cab.

Thanks Tom.  I also thought the cab was too bright, which was from too much backlighting from the headlight LED.  I changed from masking tape over the headlight insert to electrical tape and it sealed off a lot of light.  Hopefully this is more realistic.

Looks about right to me.  I liked to leave the overhead lamp on at night, but some guys preferred a completely dark cab.  When the overhead lamps are on, that is about the amount of cab illumination you see from the ground.

I'm going to call this Frisco GP38AC done...for now.  It will likely get a LokSound 5 L decoder in the future.  Having fun with the lighting, I opened up the exhaust ports on the dynamic brake cover and added switches so I can turn the flashing beacon and Gyralight on & off with a toothpick. 

Here's a model of SLSF 642 with the prototype's number board.  Gotta love how railroads stamp/label/engrave everything with their name.  Notice the embossed 'FRISCO' on the number board is upside-down.

A final pic for tonight - Two different GP38s, GP38-2 on the left, GP38AC on the right.  Variety is the spice of life (and loco rosters).  The MoPac unit is modeled after former Rock Island GP38-2 #4336 built 11/76 from with a smaller fuel tank, corrugated radiator grilles, 4 exhaust stacks (MP homegrown spark arrestors), no dynamic brakes & snowplow.  I couldn't find a pic of ROCK 4336, but here's 4337.  It's a good contrast to the older Frisco GP38AC 642, especially with it's larger fuel tank, Gyralight, beacon, dynamic brakes, etc.

With seemingly endless options, a manufacturer could make a wide variety of GP38 versions using the same drivetrain in hundreds of roads and paint schemes.  Maybe Sunrise/3rd Rail can fill the gap, assuming their SD40-2/SD40T-2 is super successful (which I think it will be), a GP38-2 would be a great encore.  Paging Scott and Jonathan...

Nice pic of your two excellent builds !!!!  The Frisco model presents quite nice.
I was very disappointed when the 3rd Rail Frisco SD40-2 was canceled. If I remember correctly, reservation numbers were only 2.  A GP38-2 offering Would be nice.
Any Frisco power other than a Texas Special is tough to get done !!!!!

Thanks Trainbub!  With so many road names and variations, a properly done GP38-2 would be nice and is my second favorite loco after the SD40-2.  Too bad that 3rd Rail cancelled the Frisco SD40-2s, but at least Mopac is getting done.    Should Scott decide to a future run of SD40-2s maybe Frisco and MKT will be options and more people will reserve them.  Of course, a rerun of MoPac in either an earlier non-DB version with sawblades (or double eagle) logos, or the later dynamic brake "SD40-2c" coal unit train version would be nice too!