Locomotive Length Question


thaddeusthudpucker

thaddeusthudpucker

That Guy
I have decided I want to make a couple of these:

71e5c2e7146bcb8c418904829329c493.png


I am calling it an SDFALP70PHIACeM-2DMP.

Don't ask...

Anyway, the question I have (and reason for the thread) is about SD70's. Are they all the same length? I started with an SD70ACe for this when I made it and I am wondering if I could not use some other variation in the SD70 series because ACe's are a little cost prohibitive still to go hacking one up.
 
I would personally recommend (by the looks of the sketch) if you can get your hands on a Athearn Genesis SD70/70MAC/75 frame. Some railroad that you don't care about the body at a good price of ebay or something. There SHOULDN'T be much of length difference between them and 70ACes, and will be a lot cheaper. Then get ahold of 2- F59PH shells, and "cut and paste" accordingly. But, those, I have no idea on prices those are going for, or if you can get lucky enough to just find the shells themselves.

Looks like that will be a fun little project. Good Luck!


**hmmm, looking at it more after my original post, I think the trickiest part of the build even with F59 shells, will be extending the truck area/moving the leading edge of the skirts back so they fit.

***another edit- I am seeing that the proto length of a SD70ACe is 73'4". SD70M is 73'4", and SD70MAC at 74' even. I wouldn't imagine Athearn making the 8 inch difference in their model to force 2 different runs
 
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Athearn did make 2 different frames to account for the difference in length. This is why they SD70MAC is still in production while the SD70 and SD70M are not although they may be re-run in the future with the SD70ACe frame. The SD70, SD70M, and SD70MAC's frames were not built with sound in mind as they do not have an on-board speaker mount, where the SD70ACe's frame does.

Athearn is also working on a truck redesign as the current design has the tendency to warp.
 
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hmmm, i didnt know that.:confused:


lol, now you are going to make me pull bodies off of a SD75, and a MAC just so i can see it with my own eyes :p
 
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