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Below is a Dean Heacock pic of the real #4813.
Dean Heacock Photo
How to:
1. Purchase a GP38-2 undecorated kit from Athearn.
2. SHELL: Drill holes for all the grab irons and
lift rings. There are grab iron locations marked on the front of
the nose, the right side of the nose, the top of the nose, and the back
of the long hood. All the lift rings are on the top of the long hood.
There are about 10 or so of each. Also drill two holes on the top
back of the long hood for the fan grab iron.
3. SHELL: Sand off the small square with the three
little posts on either side of the coupler. This is the molding for
the m.u. hoses. There are two squares on the front pilot and two
on the rear pilot.
4. SHELL: Sand off the foot boards on the front
only. These are the protrusions at the bottom of the pilot where
someone would stand to ride the locomotive. Drill two holes in the
front pilot to accept the Details West Chessie pilot. The back foot
boards are fine, or you can replace them with Details West #130 rear plow.
I left the kit ones attached.
5. SHELL: While you have the drill out, drill each
of the hand rail stancions so they are a little bigger. They come
just a little too small to fit the stancions right out of the box.
6. CAB: Drill a hole centered on top of each of
the six windows. This will be where the windshield wipers attach.
7. CAB: Drill out the holes for the handrails attach.
There are two on each side of the cab. They are just a little too
small to fit the wire right out of the box.
8. CAB: Sand off the over hang on the back of the
angled part of the cab. Do not sand off any material from the flat
part (top of the roof), only sand off the overhang on the part of the roof
that slants down to meet the sides. See pics below for clarity.
9. SHELL: Prime a Details West 3 Chime Leslie
horn, 2 pairs of mu hoses, a curved fan grab iron, a side mounted bell,
2 uncoupling levers, and enough grab irons to fill all spots they belong
(around 12 or so).
10. SHELL: Super glue in lift rings into
the holes on the top of the long hood. I don't prime these before
I put them in. Prime them carefully when the glue is dry. Try
not to fill the hole of the inside of the lift ring with paint. Super
glue on the Chessie pilot on the front of the shell, in the two holes you
drilled in step number 4. When dry, super glue on the mu hoses on
the front and rear pilots.
11. FRAME: Super glue pieces of sheet styrene (plastic)
to the front and back faces of the fuel tank. Build up the sheets
unitl the fuel tank almost hits the trucks as you turn them. The
trucks should not contact the fuel tank, but should be close. Sand
(this will take a while to do well) the plastic sheets when the glue is
dry to the shape of the fuel tank. This whole process will replicate
the look of a larger fuel tank. The one on the kit is way too small
for the Chessie GP38's. See picture below for clarity.
12. FRAME: Prime the metal pieces behind
the plastic truck sideframes with an enamel primer. You will have
to remove the truck sideframes to do this. When dry, paint the wheel
faces rust colors and the parts between the wheels black.
13. SHELL: Prime the sides of the shell where the
yellow stripe will be. No need to prime the whole thing. The
areas that will eventually be dark blue do not need to be primed.
14. SHELL: Paint the whole shell C&O
Enchantment blue. When dry paint the side sills UP Armor Yellow,
then paint the long tube and jacking points on the bottom of the side sill
blue.
15. SHELL: Paint the inside of the vents on the
sides and the fans on the top black to give added depth.
16. SHELL and CAB: Spray with gloss coat and decal.
I used Microscale's B&O/C&O hood unit sheet.
17. SHELL and CAB: When dry, drybrush with successively
lighter shade of blue. Use some rust shades as well on the top.
18. FRAME: Add the truck side frames back
on. Drybrush the frames and fuel tank with shades of greys and browns.
Overspray the side frames and fuel tank with a light dusting of railroad
tie brown to give it a nice dusty look.
19. SHELL: Add on detail parts of mu stand,
drop step, mu hoses, wipers and horn. Add window glazing to the cab.
I attach the clear plastic with white glue, all other parts with super
glue. Snap the cab into the shell.
20. SHELL: Prime the bottom 1/2 of each hand
rail stantion, the ends of the handrail pieces for the front and back,
and the ends of the long hand rail pieces. Paint the ends blue.
Attach the handrails. Super glue the stantions to the rail.
When the glue is dry, prime the rest of the hand rails and paint blue.
Paint the parts seen below yellow. Weather the handrails like you
did the rest of the shell.
21. Attach the shell to the frame, it just snaps
in. You are done. Enjoy your GP38.
Below is a pic of my GP38 still in the box.
Below is a pic of the frame as it came out of the box.
Notice how small the fuel tank is.
Below is a pic of the frame with the fuel tank extensions
added.
Below is a pic of the frame with the sides primered.
I painted the fuel tank black with a brush, just to see how my sanding
job looked.
Below is a pic of #4813's frame with the wheels painted.
Below is a pic of #4813's frame completely done and ready
to mate with the shell.
Below are two pics of the cab with the over hang removed.
The cab on the left in each pic is the GM50 cab, but that is exactly how
the GP38 cab looked coming out of the box.
Below is a pic of the shell primed. Note I only
primed the sidesill (the area that will eventually be yellow).
Below is the shell after painting blue. The side
sill is still grey and will be painted yellow next. The long tube
under the side sill in the middle of the shell will eventually be blue
and weathered until it is a dark grey color (very common look for this
part on older engines).
Below is the side sill painted yellow. The long
tube and the jacking points will be painted blue later.
Below is the shell with the vents painted black.
The three fans on the top are also painted black inside. This gives
a feeling of depth to them. Compare with the photo above for the
difference.
Below is a pic of the shell with the bottom tube painted
blue and the jacking points as well. The shell is ready to be given
a gloss coat and decals.
Below is a pic of the shell and cab decaled.
Below is a pic of the shell and cab drybrushed.
Below is a slightly out of focus view of the front.
The horn, wipers, drop step, mu stand, mu hoses, and Chessie Rock Pilot
all make the front of this unit appear much better than the original kit.
Below a 3/4 rear view of the unit. It shows the
grab irons and fan grab iron on the back.
Below is a 3/4 view of the unit. Much of the details
on the front pilot can be seen here. I took these pics before I put
the wipers on. The wipers can be seen two pictures above this one.
Below is a top view showing the location of the air filter
box. Also note the walkways are worn.
Below is a perfect profile shot of the unit. It
really highlights how long the fuel tank is compared to before.
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