Having some spare time whilst away allowed me to focus and rationalise a few things, to be fair I bounced around a few new UK projects but few stuck more than a few hours in my interest range and still boyed by the US vacation decided enough was enough and just get on with it.
To be honest most of the weeks were spent bouncing around the SD40-2 and working up the cab core and all the variants I'd like.
But it just didn't seem to gel, it's workable, but I'm not getting that satisfied feeling you get when you step back, I'll let it stew for a while and then come back at some point. Instead I decided it was time to scratch that ever increasing nagging GEVO itch, it clearly was not going to go away.
The biggest issue was actually scale, O gauge is manageable but Gauge 1 would allow me to go into over drive with the details. In the end I opted for O gauge.....to begin with.....simply for cost, the GEVOs have some awkward angles and bends on the nose, getting those wrong in a test etch would be expensive in 1:32.
The next issue was which model, there are many variants, some subtle some highly visual, some pertain to only one railroad, others are common across several, in the end I've opted for the ES series, the first to be tagged GEVO by GE. If you're not a GE fan then you'll be forgiven for thinking they're all alike but the lineage goes all the way back to the Dash 7, each subsequent model building on the last.
Ideally I'd of preferred a Dash 9 for their sound track but what I have here can be back dated if required. The biggest issue with Dash 9 is variants, back then individual Railroads specified varying options, trying to unravel them and come up with a design that fits more than three or four would be difficult. The GEVO was the first attempt by GE to start rationalising the design and thus begin the path toward lean production, the latest Tier 4's are all but identical.
To be fair GE have such a large slice of the market they can now dictate what Railroads have, here's a Tier 4, you need it for government emissions, take it or leave it. The other advantage to a standard product is cost and more importantly, build time.
Amyway progress so far centres around the cab area and electrical cabinet area, there's not many variations in this area, so it's not too difficult to work up a standard core that will suit several minor variants if required. The idea is a solid 0.45mm core with overlays for cab sides, compartment covers and electrical cabinet access doors and vents.
The overlays will be on a separate 0.25mm sheet which I'll work up as this one is being processed by PPD, I won't send that off until I've built this test one first and made sure all the angles and build concept actually works. Ideally the cab screen overlay, dynamic brake/generator covers and a few other details should be on the 0.25 sheet; but I'm winging it and am interested to see how the details come out on the thicker 0.45mm sheet.
The next few days will be spent tabbing it up and block filing ready for sending to PPD, probably Monday after I get back from a little jolly to Beijing over the weekend
In short this core should suffice for ES44AC, ES44AH, ES44DC, ES44C4, ET44AC, ET44C4 and ET44AH, the last three (ET) being Tier 4 models.
The biggest changes in the Tier 4 is the lengthened frame and enlarged cooling assembly, the cab and electrical cabinets are pretty much the same as the ES series.
The etch covers the later MKII cab variants with nose door on the right, earlier models had the door on the left, both types of door are supplied, glazed and blank. I think there's some sort of crash worthiness mandate that specifies the nose doors shall not have glazing. Not quite sure how the provision of glazing or not, has any relevance to crash worthiness when one 12,000 ton train hits another. The reasoning behind the moving the nose door is more interesting however.
With a revised nose etch then the artwork will cover earlier variants and could then be back dated to cover Dash 9s as well.
Right hand nose door GEVO's have been supplied to BNSF, CN (standard screens only, tear drop are all LH nose doors), CP (frustratingly no ES series carries the golden beaver logo at this time, though it appears to be making a come back on recent shopped Dash 9 units), CREX, CSX, FEC, FXE, KCS, NS and finally UP.
Overall at a rough guess, that little lot gives you about 4000 units to pick from.
Just in case anyone has forgotten what a GEVO ES unit looks like
, here's some motivational images I use.
BNSF, Cajon Pass.
BNSF, Kingman Canyon
UP, Cajon Pass
UP, Cajon Pass
Only another 270 days...ish until I go back