Zombie thread... while I'm late to the game I do have some things to share!
Here it is! The shell is mostly cleaned up. I have to finish the windows and start adding the detail parts.
Here is the heavilly modified frame. The only thing I reused were the trucks, motor, and truck bolsters. The wipers were made from a single SD60 leaf that was bent flat and burnished. This has worked well in the past. I mounted the motor at an angle to account for the offset. This assures a smooth transition through the couplings.
Here she is in testing. The switcher is about an once. A standard A-line weight was added between the sidestill skirts. The hood over the powered truck was weighted with moldable lead (the very last bit I had). I drilled out the moldable lead to fit the fiber-optic headlights. Yep this will have directional headlights AND a cab interior.
She rides a little high, but this will look better after foot boards and couplers are installed. The adition of sideframes and lo-profile wheels should also help. Unless you build the mechinism the with of the hood, and mount the leafsprings on the shell, I do not see how to lower this engine any more.
Performance wise, I was pretty impressed. After the chassis broke in for about 3 minutes she was sailing over switches and down the track. She is heavy enough to push 4 50' boxcars up a 3% grade. Thats good enough for me! I still plan on adding a bit more weight, including some to the unpowered truck to increase electrical contact.
