Prototype Inspiration

During the kodachrome painting craze in 1985-1986, only four Southern Pacific switchers were repainted: SW900 1192, SW1500s 2539 and 2575, and MP15DC 2700.  There were no MP15ACs repainted in kodachrome, which is something that very much tempted me about this project.  However, that means that I don't have a direct prototype.  So I decided to use MP15DC 2700 as my prototype inspiration.  This locomotive received the final iteration of the kodachrome scheme for a switcher - the smaller hood lettering, no cigar band on the front, and the cab entirely red except for the rear end.  Also, the MP15DC is fairly close to the MP15AC, just lacking the "tunnel motor" radiator screens and slightly longer.

Here is a photo of SP MP15DC 2700, from espee.railfan.net, the Espee Modelers Archive.

The Model

The model I am starting out with is an Athearn Genesis MP15AC in the Southern Pacific style.  This particular model is Athearn Genesis G66067, Southern Pacific 2746.  I purposely bought one that does not have sound or DCC because I wanted to install it myself.  The best part of these switcher, in my opinion, is the smooth-running Mashima drive.  These are also detailed very nicely so that I wouldn't have to put a huge amount of effort into buying and adding super detail parts.

Here is a shot of the locomotive at the SPSF South Omaha diesel shops before work started.

Stripping the Paint

The first step is to disassemble the model and prepare the shell for stripping off the original scheme.  I use 91% isopropyl alcohol, which lifts off the Athearn paint very easily after a few hours soaking in the tub.  Then I carefully and gently scrub with an old soft toothbrush.  Before I do that, I make sure to take off the fragile details that might break off during this process, and also details that I might not want on when I paint it.  This includes the handrails, window glazing, MU hoses, the bell, and coupler cut levers.  I don't strip the truck sideframes and the chassis - they can easily be painted over without compromising the look.

When I first announced this project on the SPSF Meadow Sub facebook page, I received a couple comments suggesting that I do a patch job on this locomotive instead.  I decided not to do this for a few reasons.  First, I have a very small locomotive fleet (seven SPSF locomotives) so I want to present a unified look on my layout and I don't think I have the massive fleet that lends itself to a few oddballs.  Second, if you look at railroads in the 1980s, before traffic really started to pick up as a result of the Staggers Act, railroads had more time to repaint their fleets.  Take a look at other mergers that occurred in the 1980s for example: UP-MP-WP, BN-Frisco, CSX, NS - they all essentially repainted their fleets within a decade.  Also, as traffic picked up more in the late 1980s and early 1990s, railroads starting buying more and more new locomotives and retiring old junk, which helped get rid of the old paint schemes.  Plus, the SP-SF already had a head start in repainting their fleet.  Therefore, I don't think there would be any ex-SP or ex-ATSF patched locomotives remaining in my 1998 era.  Thus, kodachrome is the only option for me.

Custom Decals

The custom decals just arrived for this project.  For custom decals, I always have them printed from Highball Graphics after designing them myself in Adobe Illustrator.  This allows me to have exactly what I want on the locomotive.  This time, I added some decals for the remote control equipped labeling.  Since I had some extra room, I also included decals for some vehicles for the future.

Those 1:87 vehicle decals

Look about right for N scale cars. nicely done.

Great timing, I'm following

Great timing, I'm following this for ideas and inspiration.

Did your loco come with any modeler applied detail parts?

Details, details...

Joseph - glad to hear that this project is useful for you!  There were no modeler applied detail parts, but I added some on my own and will explain them here.

Last night I had time to prep the locomotive for painting.  This included adding a few additional details as well as putting back the details that I took off for the factory paint stripping.  First, I added the BLMA locomotive antenna stands, part 4550.  I roughly followed Cody Grivno's article in "How to Model Today's Railroads" to install the locomotive antenna stands on top of the switcher cab and also add the piping to connect the antennas to the cab.  Then I added ditch lights and this time I used Detail Associates 1025, Ditch Lights/MU Stands for SP MK Rebuilds because it was the only one I could find for ditch lights.  I applied a square of styrene behind the ditch lights so that they would fit in front of the anticlimbers.  Then I added the radiator grills, coupler cut levers, and I cut out the extra SP light package and filled in the holes with putty.  I will add the other detail parts (bell, rotary beacon, and MU hoses) after painting.  Also, I decided that I am going to install grab irons for the MU hoses to be stored in since I took off the board that was on the pilot.

In addition to the details, I started to prep the body/chassis.  I want to paint it black, so I took the entire drive and trucks apart.  Since this locomotive was built over 10 years ago, I don't trust the lubricant in the truck gearing, so I disassembled the trucks and put all the parts in warm water with dish soap, and then scrubbed the parts with an old toothbrush.  Then I will put them back together and add a small amount of my own lubricant.

I also started to work on the DCC/sound.  As I mentioned, I wanted to start with a non-sound locomotive so I could install my own sound decoder.  Part of this reason is that I want to fit in a SoundTraxx CurrentKeeper, so the decoder and speaker must be very small.  For this locomotive, I am using the SoundTraxx ECO-200 Econami decoder.  Disclaimer: the Econami does not have the correct sound for this type of locomotive.  They only offer one sound for the EMD 645 prime mover, and that is with the turbocharger.  However, I decided I could live with this for now, and plan to replace it whenever SoundTraxx has an Econami with the 645 non-turbo prime mover.  The ECO-200 is nice because it can plug into a circuit board like the ones that Athearn uses.  And the CurrentKeeper plugs right into the decoder.  For the speaker, I bought a sugar cube from Streamlined Backshop, an 8X12mm 8 ohm that is made in-house.  I'll post photos of this installation later as I get further along.

yes very useful!!

More Details

Here are a few close-ups of the details that I installed.

Painting

One of the things I dislike most about the kodachrome paint scheme is all the different colors that I have to put on for just one locomotive: gray, yellow, silver, red, and black.  That said, I think the result is totally worth it!  I always use Badger ModelFlex paints if I can.  For this particular locomotive, as usual with my kodachromes, I used SP Light Lark Gray (I usually use SP Letter Gray, but this wasn't available on my last visit to Caboose Hobbies), ATSF Yellow, ATSF Silver, SP Scarlet Red, and Engine Black.  I use blue painter's tape to mask off each color.  I tried to take photos in between each coat, but I was hurrying so much that I forgot a couple of them.

This is after the gray primer AND ATSF yellow, before masking off the yellow curves.

Here's the silver trucks - I just painted over the SP Dark Lark Gray trucks and I think the silver came out a little darker than usual, but I am ok with that.  Silver is a hard paint to mix and get the right color.

And after painting the red, masking that off, and painting the black.

Decals

Next up was applying the decals.  By the way, I did the paint, decals, and weathering all in one day.  I really like Highball Graphics Decals as they usually come out very sharp, go on the locomotive nice, and are easy to apply into the cracks and crevices with some Solvaset.

Weathering

I usually like to weather my locomotives using ground-up pastels that I keep in little plastic tubs so I can apply them with a brush.  I have four colors that I usually use on locomotives: dirt brown (it's Nut Brown by Nupastel), black, light gray (Cool Gray by Nupastel), and white.  For locomotives that I want to look cleaner because they have been recently painted, like this one, I also use a grimy black wash to add into the grills since they are less soot-like.  And for this locomotive, I just used dirt brown and black for weathering since I just wanted to add some dirt to the undercarriage and some black soot to the top for showing the exhaust.  Here are the results:

DCC and Sound Installation (Plus CurrentKeeper)

After weathering, I installed the SoundTraxx Econami ECO-200 decoder and tested it.  As I mentioned earlier, the only EMD 645 prime mover sound is the turbo version, which is not correct for this MP15AC; however, I can live with that for now and will eventually replace it when SoundTraxx comes out with a non-turbo 645 Econami.  One setback that I encountered (or else I would have probably finished the locomotive on this day) is that I lost my Sugar Cube speaker from Streamlined Backshop.  I guess it's so tiny, it must have fallen somewhere on my workbench or floor?  Anyway, I had a QSI speaker in my spare stash that fit instead.

Here are some photos of how it is all installed.  I wanted to use a CurrentKeeper in this locomotive because it's really important, especially for a switcher, to keep moving through turnouts and other areas that I have some dead issues with.  After installing the decoder and CurrentKeeper, the hood would not fit tight to the sill - it was so close, but had a small gap.  So I took everything out and cut down the base that the circuit board sits on by about a scale half-foot or so.  That lowered everything and still left a little space above the Mashima drive.  Then the hood fit all the way, although I had to use a small amount of super glue to keep the hood down tight.

Revenue Service

After finishing the installation and adding the rest of the details (like the lights, window glazing, wipers, couplers, bell, etc) - it was time to get it in service to switch my shippers!  Here are a few photos on the layout and links to a couple videos so you can hear the sound.

Lookin' Sweeet!

Thanks for sharing your process. That is a great looking build. Any thoughts on an SD45?

wow that was fast!

Wonderful job

Eric,

That is an awesome looking unit. 

Do you have any more projects to share? 

Andy Hauser

Chief Everything Officer

Illinois Division of the SSW.

neat loco

aside from a cool paint scheme, I assume the four antennas are for remote control?  Are you going to do an engineer figure with a control box strapped on?

Remote Control figures

Dear MRHers,

For "RCO" (Remote Control Operator) figures, check out MeDo Miniatures...

http://medominiatures.wix.com/medominiatures#!workers/c1jo4

Happy Modelling,
Aim to Improve,
Prof Klyzlr

Thanks!

Thanks for the comments, everyone!

Kent - no plans for an SD45 - this should be my last kodachrome... at least for a while.

Joseph - the two gray wires are the truck pickup leads that go to the other end of the circuit board.  They got painted a little when I painted the truck sideframes because the metal contacts on the truck sideframes are essentially glued in and I didn't want to take them out and then risk them not working as well and being loose when I put them back in.  No upgrades on the power pickups, but I did solder all the connections and tossed the black plugs.

Andy - if you look through my other blog posts, I do have a few other recent projects, including some other locomotives.

Philip - you are correct that the antenna is for remote control operation.  If you look at the photo at the start of this blog, I have an engineer with a remote control pack.

Prof Klyzlr - I concur with you on Me Do Miniatures; that's where I got my engineer from!

Update

I had some issues with the locomotive "surging," so I cracked her back open and added a couple of thrust washers in the driveshaft gearing and also re-lubed the area.  It looks a lot better now.  Here is a new video:

While I had the motor open, I took another photo of the inside, since it changed slightly from the earlier photo.  I still need to add the ditchlight jewels and rotary beacon...

Completely finished

Here are some more photos now that I had time to buy some ditch light jewels and a rotary beacon.

Nice!

Looks great Eric!

Superb modeling!! Just