I have been trying to come up with things to do to my layout without spending a dime. I came across a site that has WWI airbase paper buildings in 1:144 scale. I figured that if I print them at 90%, they would then magically be 1:160! I also figured that Dollar Tree has white poster board that costs $1.00 for TWO! Today, I ran a test run with 2 sheets of printer paper and one of my daughter’s glue sticks, I got TWO buildings for nothing! (well, basically nothing)
I can’t really complain about my 5 minute buildings……now for the really cool, no-cost project! Henk in the UK who posts on http://www.southernpacificmodelerssociety.org offered a FREE Southern Pacific GP20 and a bunch of Micro-Trains couplers for free…he even paid for the shipping! Henk informed me that it was a parts unit, and it might run, and that it had some appearance issues. Well, that is the best looking and running parts loco that I have ever seen. While it is not as quiet as a Kato and requires a high starting voltage, it is nice and slow!
The loco that Henk sent was numbered 4077 and had a winterization hatch added to it. 4077 was rebuilt into 4124 in 1978-79.4084-4087 had the winterization hatch, and the correct side sills like this model, all other SP GP20’s had thin, GP30 style sills….. I applied a pair of Detail Associates lights to the nose, added a SP to the nose, and renumbered it to 4087 to match the details for this model.
Excellent progress! I stumbled across your blog while getting (more) involved on the MRH forums. I love the SP and I grew up in the area you’re currently modeling… well, 45 minutes east at least.
Cheers!