Author Topic: Custom Intermountain EL SD45-2 (Read 2286 times)

Scott Lupia · « **on:** April 23, 2009, 11:56:32 AM »

I finally got around to redoing the Intermountain Erie Lackawanna SD45-2's that I got a while back. I was happy to get the engines since they are really needed for the era I model but I was let down by what Intermountain did. The paint was pretty bad. It was applied in thick coats and the colors were wrong. I was amazed at the quality and detail of the shell once I stripped the engines. I repainted the engines and detailed them with BLMA parts. Lots of grab irons, MU hoses, Brake pipe hoses, cab sunshades, windshield wipers, cab doors, drop steps, MU receptacles, pilot layovers and diamond tread pattern sheet were used to detail these models. I did use bells from Sunrise. The standard EL horn was a Leslie S3L with the low profile manifold and rear facing bell. To create this horn I dissected Atlas horns and rebuilt the correct horn with the bells reversed and then mounted them above the Engineers windshield on the cab roof. I replaced the mechanisms with Kato SD40-2 mechanisms. I used the first run mechanisms. The Intermountain mechanisms were good but nowhere near as nice as the Kato ones. I used a Digitrax DZ125 decoder in both engines. Now the engines look pretty sharp and run beautifully. I need to do several more.

Scott Lupia

Ian MacMillan · « **Reply #1 on:** April 23, 2009, 12:16:34 PM »

Now those look much better! Nice work there Scott.

Caleb Austin · « **Reply #2 on:** April 23, 2009, 12:53:55 PM »

Nice! The EL scheme has always been one of my favorites.

wm3798 · « **Reply #3 on:** April 23, 2009, 01:59:17 PM »

Those are beautiful. I'm going out to the garage right now to burn down my spray booth.

Lee

sizemore · « **Reply #4 on:** April 23, 2009, 02:04:40 PM »

They look great...makes me wanna start detailing...but that whole layout thing is in the way.

Frank Amato · « **Reply #5 on:** April 23, 2009, 03:26:03 PM »

Great work! The EL low-pro horns and "coast-to-coast" fuel tanks look fantastic.

Frank

oakcreekco · « **Reply #6 on:** April 23, 2009, 05:00:07 PM »

Outstanding work. They look great.

Ed Kapuscinski · « **Reply #7 on:** April 23, 2009, 06:39:35 PM »

Wow, those turds have been thoroughly polished!!

Great work Scott! They look great! Too bad you essentially had to start from scratch.

Robbman · « **Reply #8 on:** April 23, 2009, 07:22:22 PM »

If I ever get around to designig them, I might get M4D to do correct EL SD45-2 shells, with all the low-pro stuff up top.

SAH · « **Reply #9 on:** April 23, 2009, 09:23:42 PM »

Now cut that out Scott!!!! Everytime I see your EL stuff I hear my EL models in the storage box calling. Very well done.

Steve

Scott Lupia · « **Reply #10 on:** April 23, 2009, 09:52:54 PM »

Thanks guys. I appreciate the compliments. I really enjoyed doing these engines, mainly because I took something which I was very unhappy with and turned it into something I love. Very rewarding.

scott