Paint Shop

[bob turner]

I have one, and I concur. A semi-accurate chop job.

My first NW took a dive a couple years ago - five feet to a concrete floor (darn cats). It sort of jackknifed. I jigged it all up for a single sledge hammer blow, with wood cushions etc. Wham! Straight! Callie made me some truly orange SP decals, and it looks better than ever.

I have a lot of these things, including three of the earlier cast brass versions. I will look tomorrow to see if any still have that GM transmission.

[sarge]

That's interesting, and explains why the front of the hood has no lugs and screws, for example, but the cab area retains that construction technique. One day I'll score a beater NW to restore and compare the castings door by vent, just for the fun of it.

I'd love to see the article, and if it is only "semi-accurate" it still captures the proportions and "essence" well. Might crack out a rule and give it a measure, though EMD mingled assemblies just as AN/GMC apparently did; I'd not be surprised if its reasonably decent in dimension.

So, an interesting story, anyway.

Dave, this one has a GMC drive in the nose as you describe. They actually tune pretty nicely. I'm curious whether a second can be put in the cab end, guessing a new bolster plate to shift the truck into proper position...

[2railjon]

Awesome thread going on here!

[ScaleCraft]

That's interesting, and explains why the front of the hood has no lugs and screws, for example, but the cab area retains that construction technique. One day I'll score a beater NW to restore and compare the castings door by vent, just for the fun of it.

I'd love to see the article, and if it is only "semi-accurate" it still captures the proportions and "essence" well. Might crack out a rule and give it a measure, though EMD mingled assemblies just as AN/GMC apparently did; I'd not be surprised if its reasonably decent in dimension.

So, an interesting story, anyway.

Dave, this one has a GMC drive in the nose as you describe. They actually tune pretty nicely. I'm curious whether a second can be put in the cab end, guessing a new bolster plate to shift the truck into proper position...

If I recall, the narrow "waist" at the back of the nose shell, where it connects to the front of the cab, prevents a similar drive.
All these are is NW-2's with a chopped nose. Easy to make, all you need is a sheet of brass to bend over the box in front of the radiator.
Leave one stack off (maybe mount the bell in that hole) and you're set. Trim the sides of the nose to support the sides of the box, I think cutting the bottom of the radiator.

Hardest part with that mod, and the vertical motor, is headlamp.

[sarge]

Somewhat more to it than that, for the cab shoves forward quite a bit, too. There apparently was an overlay supplied for the frame to cover where the cab moves forward, and the kit did come with a sandbox up front. Looks like the grill didn't need cut, since an NW2 already has a shortened grill (easy way to tell an NW2 from a later SW7, 9, &c.)

You are right that the GMC drive won't fit the cab end, though. Its height seems more the issue at the waist than the width, and the rear cabwall might interfere as well.

It really is a clever adaptation of one kit's components to make a new product. As I said earlier, EMD used many common components between them, so doing the same in model form might make for something a bit better than "semi-accurate". Both the NW2 and the SW1 share the same dimensions in wheelbase, overall length, truck centres, cab width, cab height, frame height, hood height, and hood width. I might have some drawings around here to check the minor stuff like door positions &c but the general dimensions between the two make for a pretty good chance the SW1 is actually as close to accurate as the NW2.

[ScaleCraft]

Somewhat more to it than that, for the cab shoves forward quite a bit, too. There apparently was an overlay supplied for the frame to cover where the cab moves forward, and the kit did come with a sandbox up front. Looks like the grill didn't need cut, since an NW2 already has a shortened grill (easy way to tell an NW2 from a later SW7, 9, &c.)

You are right that the GMC drive won't fit the cab end, though. Its height seems more the issue at the waist than the width, and the rear cabwall might interfere as well.

It really is a clever adaptation of one kit's components to make a new product. As I said earlier, EMD used many common components between them, so doing the same in model form might make for something a bit better than "semi-accurate". Both the NW2 and the SW1 share the same dimensions in wheelbase, overall length, truck centres, cab width, cab height, frame height, hood height, and hood width. I might have some drawings around here to check the minor stuff like door positions &c but the general dimensions between the two make for a pretty good chance the SW1 is actually as close to accurate as the NW2.

Maybe your unit has the cab moved, my original unit does not.
I have an NW and a 600 HP unit right in front of me, and everything from rear end beam to 2/3 of the way forward of the roof grilles lines up exactly.
I can provide photos if you want.
Looking at your photos it appears the flat portion of the nose shell next to the cab is the same length as my 600 HP unit, as does the last handrail stanchion...but photos can appear different, depending on angle.
Yours does have a longer flat deck behind the cab, but mine does not...so the guess is they chopped the front of the nose more to do that....but it is a guess.

In fact, looking at the advertisement shown, the back of the cab is exactly as mine is, not a longer exposed rear deck. Not that I don't like yours better...but this is the way they came.

My recollection was that GM made these, and when Pope at AN bought the line out of bankruptcy they got the parts, but no tooling, and sold off the GM units as their own until gone.

[ScaleCraft]

I think.....not that I know.....that yours started life as an NW2. The front side access door on the nose is MUCH further back from the radiator piece than mine. So my guess is somebody copied one, roughly, and moved the cab at the same time.

[sarge]

This is getting good, now!

I think mine is a mongrel and yours is what should have been in Jims quiz.

The forward sandbox looks like the component one would expect from the kit. That said, here are some telling photos of mine:

image.jpeg

The hood is cut behind the cooling intake louvres atop and splced. Can you check yours to see if the front of mine has also been cut? That would tell me whether the builder used the SW kit hood or the NW kit hood. I seem to remember the front of the hood on the NW screwed on to the main casting. This one does not, but glues or solders.

image.jpeg

Just behind the drive, you can see the cut for the hood. Its accurate enough to conclude someone used a slitting saw in a mill to do it.

image.jpeg

Here is a side view. You can see how the cab is shoved forward to where it should be by prototype. The resulting deck to rear of the cab is covered in diamond plate. Looking at Jim's posting of the advert, what you describe as you have is what the kit was like by the photo. Mine appears to be taken way further by the builder to match the prototype, either modifying the SW kit or blending both. It appears to be something beyond either, taken there by someone perhaps a bit...er...neurotic like me?

If that's the case, whoever did it was very very good.

[sarge]

I found a drawing of the "phase 1" SW1, and this one isn't bad. Overall, everything seems to be in proper proportion and relationship, and the door configs are actually closer than I first assumed. I see a couple very liveable anomolies, but overall the person who built it was evidently pretty worried about accuracy.

Now that I'm a bit smarter, I can see why Bob called the kit in the advert "semi-accurate". It would appear this one is something else entirely than what I assumed it was.

A fun "digging-about" so-far.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

.

[sarge]

Could very well be. The original decals used were a combination of Champ and Micro, so at least finish would be dated late-70s at the earliest. Certainly not finished off in the mid-50s.

I'd love to know who did it. Its quite good.

[ScaleCraft]

600hp:

[ScaleCraft]

NW2 for comparison. Also note the side doors at the aft end of the hood, next to the cab...yours and mine have the same spaces, so the aft end of the hood does not appear to be cut.




Historical Originality is what I try to do. I really like what they did with yours, but then I like mine because it is as-built.

[sarge]

Yep, yours is the real deal as far as the kit is concerned, I'm quite sure now.

Mine does have the front bobbed back as in the SW kit, but the builder went further by skimming the top intake louvre back as well. He could have started with either kit from the looks of it.

You are right, the rear of the hood was not cut, but that is OK; accurate for the earlier version of the real loco.

Then he kept going and took that section out of the middle, too, which moved the cab forward then plated over the hole on the frame. He was an industrious fellow!

[ScaleCraft]

Your chop seems to be aft of the side ladders. First clue was handrail stanchion position, then counting side doors from the back forward to the side ladders.
They just skimmed the front of the roof louvers off.
If you compare, you will see the difference on nose cut....mine is right at the leading edge of a door, yours is what, 1/8" or maybe more forward of that?
That cut alone made me realize this did not start as a 600HP unit, but rather a cut down and heavily modified NW....again, I am not denigrating the model, I think it shows what GM should have done.