SP SW1500 Kitbash Finished! (Pics)

[tehachapifan]

Here's the humble beginnings of an N scale SP SW1500 inspired by the Daniel Leavitt masterpiece. The shortened and modified hood was taken from an Atlas MP15DC and the heavily modified numberboards were taken from an Atlas standard cab. The cast-on headlights have been removed in preparation for SP-style lighting. This should guarantee the announcement of an SW1500 in the event Daniel's bash was not enough!




Louvered door removed in preparation for installation of ladder grabs.


Cast-on headlights removed in preparation of SP-style lighting.


Shows numberboard detail and removal of louvered door on left side.

Russ

[James Costello]

Looks great Russ. Can't wait to see her finished, and to see a manufacturer announce some

Classic Espee gray and scarlet, or speed lettered?

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Very cool Russ.

I'm hoping that it does indeed draw the manufacturers out into making one.

[tehachapifan]

Thanks, guys! ;D

Looks great Russ. Can't wait to see her finished, and to see a manufacturer announce some

Classic Espee gray and scarlet, or speed lettered?

This will be classic gray and scarlet.

Russ

[Mark5]

 

[SirTainly]

Very cool indeed, looking forward to seeing this project progress

[wazzou]

Really nice Russ.

[Ian MacMillan]

Now for the SW1500 announcement!

[tehachapifan]

Handrail fit test. Majority of handrails taken from an Atas MP15DC. The first stanchion and the step railing on each side comes from an Atlas SD60....





Test fitting of heavily modified chassis taken from a Con-Cor/Kato "SW1500". The MP15DC fuel tank was shortened to 6 feet....



Unit will eventually receive Flexicoil trucks.

Anyone, by chance, have any original wheels for these Con-Cor units lying around that they're willing to part with(without traction tires)? I took the traction tires off of the two that had them and now the diameter is a bit smaller than the rest. This results in a little bit of extra noise.

Russ

[tehachapifan]

I finally installed the SP-style lighting last night. I removed the styrene block I orignally installed in preparation for the nose headlight and opted for a headlight and housing that was taken from the stock Atlas MP15DC housing. The brass gyralight castings are from Miniatures by Eric. These brass castings are sized correctly and are perfect for this application. I still need to fabricate some marker light housings on the cab end and do some touch-up work around the lights.


Uncoupling lever by BLMA.



Russ

[GaryHinshaw]

Nothing says SP like racks of headlights.   Nice to see a decent pic of the MbyE castings. They look pretty good - and they're available!  This is going to be a nice unit.

-Gary

[asciibaron]

do you have a proto picture?

[tehachapifan]

do you have a proto picture?

Here's some random links....

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/pictures/15555/Photo_2006_9_7_13_34_2_edited.jpg

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/pictures/28713/fg2.jpg

I've noticed that earlier runs, such as the 2400 number series, have their lights mounted differently like this....

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/pictures/14672/2468_SP_EMD_SW1500.JPG

Russ


Russ

[sirenwerks]

I really wish someone would make a set of etched replacements for those screens on the donor. And for a LL SW 1200 too.

[Andrew Hutchinson]

Ngineering imports etchings from Scalelink (UK firm) that might work for the SW1500. Have you seen Liz Allen's Bluebox refit? Something similar might be possible using the smaller square hole etch that Ngineering imports. I have some of the material and despite the fact it is Stainless it is nice to work with. Using a break, a knife or a ruler and you can achieve the shape of most diesel screens with a little trial and error.

Andrew Hutchinson