cncproadwarrior
North of the 49th
I have a few Athearn SD40-2 shells lying around and I can pickup an SD45 powered chassis. Just wondering if the SD40-2 shells will fit this chassis.
I have a few Athearn SD40-2 shells lying around and I can pickup an SD45 powered chassis. Just wondering if the SD40-2 shells will fit this chassis.
Nope. Wrong wheelbase, wrong trucks, and the chassis you are showing is for the old widebody SD45. The frame grooves are too wide to fit in the SD40-2 shell, and there's no room for the porches. One of the significant obstacles to Athearn or anyone doing a decent looking SD40-2 back then was to re-engineer the frame and trucks to make room for the porches. It would be a lot of work and not look right or even close.
One thing I haven't tried is putting an SD40-2 shell onto Athearn's Genesis SD45-2. Right wheelbase, right trucks, narrow body, correct height (the SD40-2 still sits tall even after the other revamps)... just don't know if it has room for the porches. But it *should* clear the trucks - as they are the same trucks as the SD40-2. Just not sure about the frame. Possibly a cutaway.
Andy
There is 3ft difference between a SD45 and SD40-2. If you could get them to fit and shortened the porches you could make SD40s.
You mean like this?
...
Andy
Just like that. Nice job! I see the dynamic blister, radiator grills and nose length are different between the two but theose are fixable and you would end up with a model that looks a little crisper that the RPP.
How much different is the long hood length, I always thought they were the same length from the back of the cab to the end? So far I have done two SD40s. I was going to go the shortened SD40-2 route but then RPP came out with the SD40. I couldn't afford the Katos.