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 Posted - May 24 2011 : 07:24:49 AM
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Tyco-Athearn GP 20/35 Hybrid
After reading shaygetz kitbash of a Tyco GP-20 shell with an Athearn GP-35 chassis, I wanted to try this myself. The donor shell came from a GP-20 Santa Fe that I picked up from the site. It reportedly did not run, which proved to be a disconnected lead (spare motor for later), but it was complete except for the bell, and only cost $3.00. The chassis came from an Athearn RTR DCC-equipped GP-35 that I bought at a steep discount while I worked at my local hobby shop.
I started with the chassis modifications, first removing the LEDs from the shell, and stripping down to the bare chassis. I started with a cut-and fit approach, and ended with cutting off the chassis inside of each of the vertical weights on the nose and rear ends. When I was satisfied, I had a little slop in the end-to-end fit, but was happy with it. Once these were cleaned-up, I sprayed the chassis with Tamiya semi-gloss black TS-29, and reassembled the chassis.
The Completed Chassis
The donor shell needed a little work. The clear plastic inserts for the Tyco lights had to be removed for the LEDs. (I broke the rear LEDs while removing from the Athearn shell, and had to replace these, so be careful!) The yellow warning stripe along the side had been painted black by the previous owner, so I resprayed it with PollyScale ATSF yellow. A cleaning and clear coat of Model Master semi-gloss clear lacquer went over this.
The Modified Shell
To fit the new chassis, the lugs inside the shell, for mounting the center weight, were carefully removed with a razor saw and Dremel. There are two ribs just to the rear of these that also came out. Since the couplers were mounted on the ends of the Athearn chassis, these now had to move to a shell mount. I built these up using strip stock, and I put a brace across the width of the shell in the front; not only to strengthen the coupling mount, but also to help hold the chassis in place. Once this was done, and there was a lot of test fitting, it was sanded and painted PollyScale Dark Blue; a good match for the original paint. The trick to getting these couplers at the right height is to keep checking/adjusting/shimming as I went, using tape/a third hand/etc. to get it right.
Final assembly and testing followed, and then bell and handrail installation. The LEDs are held in place with a piece of two-part putty on the inside of the shell, and since they were smaller than the hole, I made thin lenses out of clear sprue, and installed these from the outside of the shell. It runs well and was a fun project, and I could have done it cheaper with a different donor chassis, but then again, it is a DCC-ready Tyco GP-20. Thanks to the guys here at the forum for a great idea!
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Country:  USA ~
Posts: 46 ~
Member Since: December 11 2010 ~
Last Visit: October 16 2017
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Posted - May 25 2011 : 1:42:39 PM
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| Well done!
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Country: USA ~
Posts: 81 ~
Member Since: March 14 2006 ~
Last Visit: January 10 2020
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Posted - May 25 2011 : 2:41:04 PM
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not bad I likes Need to do this to my recent $1 purchase of a BN loco 
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Country: USA ~
Posts: 14695 ~
Member Since: February 23 2009 ~
Last Visit: May 11 2024
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