Building a MP GP-12 (1078) Phase III

[peggyrothschild]

Mike
You have the sheet metal brackets for the spark arrestors much closer to the prototype than I was able to pull off.

The 36” EMD fans can be sourced from Cannon & Co. and have PE details. You could make up the radiator box, add the hatch with rivets, add the number boards on the sides and have the right diameter holes for the fans to drop into.

[peggyrothschild]

Modify the fuel tank, add couplers, add the end railings, windows and air hoses next.

[attachment=0:1hbshds0]C7BCC8CF-BD39-4CCB-8063-256A148E8DDE.jpeg[/attachment:1hbshds0]Decalled the number boards using Microscale 87-74.
[attachment=1:1hbshds0]15EF065C-9E0D-4654-B94F-52F3D64EC421.jpeg[/attachment:1hbshds0]

[lenaculbert50]

You talked me into it. Here’s what I have so far. I used the dimensions you posted earlier. I may have to adjust the cutouts for the fans. I didn’t have these to try.

[lenaculbert50]

While I was at it, and again thanks to your measurements, I did these:

You should have samples by the end of the week.

[peggyrothschild]

The Phase I is the easiest of the builds and has the most commercially available models. The Phase IIa and III were only made by Stewart and have been out of production. You should make a Phase I radiator box with the small number boards on the sides too.

The end number boards were a huge pain to scratch build glad you were able to make them.

[elsaanderson820]

When you folks get the details correct, would you share the 3D Cad files?
I would like to try these on my 3D printer too.
Great job so far!

[lenaculbert50]

Charlie,

Let me know what you think about these brackets on the exhaust. I still have to see how well they print.

[peggyrothschild]

They look perfect.

[lenaculbert50]

Here is the fan box with number boards. Hopefully getting close.

[peggyrothschild]

The only fan and hatch arrangement photo I have is a poor copy from a MM article. Looking at the bolt heads in the photo I’d recommend making those on your 3D drawing smaller. I think the fan and hatch orientation on this photo was less common with most GP-12’s fan arrangement last as shown in your drawing and on my models. Glad you added the small number boards.

[attachment=0:20yb1iij]EE51B642-DF57-4BC6-8E0B-0DB8C53D40C3.jpeg[/attachment:20yb1iij]

[Joseph Berry]

Keep up the good work, guys…this thread is a very enjoyable read and a fun project to follow!!!

Thanks.
Gary H.

[lenaculbert50]

Charlie,

I put a couple early prints of the fan boxes in with the sample. Let me know about the bolts once you see them. I thought they were big too, but they print much smaller than you see in the drawing.

Hard to tell from the picture if these were rivets, bolts or machine screws. I can round them off so they look more like rivets.

The boxes will be rough on the bottom. The print settings take almost as much time as the drawing to get them right. Once set correctly, they will be easy to repeat.

Mike

[lenaculbert50]

Posting a picture of the latest prints. This has the exhaust with the brackets, a number board and the radiator fan box with rounded rivets.

I found some 36″ fans in my spares box and they actually fit. If these work, I’m sure the Cannon & Co. fans Charlie recommends will fit too.

The last piece I want to try are the marker lights attached to the number boards.

Charlie – let me know if you see any other adjustments needed. Still haven’t gotten my own RS-3 to check the fit.

If anyone is interested, I could start a separate thread on how I did these. I’m using an Anycubic Photon resin printer. Much better resolution than a filament 3D printer.

Mike

[peggyrothschild]

Mike
For those Mopac modelers who don’t have access to this printer technology have you considered selling a set of parts to allow them to build a MP or M-I GP-12?

Have you thought of doing the fuel tank as well?

The most common RS-3 on the market is the Phase I. Atlas, Bachmann, Athearn, MDC and Stewart all make or made one. The GP-12 Phase I carbodies didn’t have the large number boards just as a reminder.

Fortunately Bowser is coming out with a new tool RS-3 in all the phases
http://www.bowser-trains.com/new/rs3.html

So an accurate Phase IIa or III can be done once these are available. I emailed Bowser to see if they would sell theirs shells but there’s no plans to do so. For those looking at buying the Bowser model and making a GP-12 don’t spend the extra money on DCC/sound since the decoder is wrong for the GP-12 and you’ll need the Soundtrax EMD 567 1,000 hp decoder.

[elsaanderson820]

Charlie.
The Bowser Loks have Loksound decoders. All you need is a friend with a Lokprogrammer, and the sound can change from Alco 244 to EMD 567. Takes about 30 minutes to do the reload.
Se better to go ahead and order the sound version, rather than worry about adding speakers and decoders later.

And I have the equipment, so anyone in the DFW area can stop by and I will swap sounds for them.

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