I finally finished my set of 3 UP SD40-2's, and these were a challenge as the pilots needed to be altered to be 1 scale foot wider on each side. In addition, I crafted new steps inside the pilot as the originals were too shallow and not wide enough. Anyway, I still have some details to add such as hoses and the top pilot step striping, but these have finally joined my livery for use. The Kadees were also added which closed the spacing between the set as well, making ahuge improvement.
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I finally finished my set of 3 UP SD40-2's, and these were a challenge as the pilots needed to be altered to be 1 scale foot wider on each side. In addition, I crafted new steps inside the pilot as the originals were too shallow and not wide enough. Anyway, I still have some details to add such as hoses and the top pilot step striping, but these have finally joined my livery for use. The Kadees were also added which closed the spacing between the set as well, making ahuge improvement.
Jeff:
You did a wonderful job on these locos. Thanks for posting these.
Regards,
Jerry
That looks great Jeff! Thanks for sharing. Can you post a closeup of one of the front pilots?
Great job, Jeff.
Thanks guys! I will get some more pics tonight. I also added the top white stripe for the upper step which really makes a difference. I really like these units so much better as they couple together really close which is more prototypical for sure. They were probably about 12 scale feet apart prior to adding Kadee couplers.
Great work as usual.
I'm certainly not into modern diesels, but that sure is fantastic modeling!
Excellent modeling, they look great.
Jeff...any chance that you can post a few more details as to how you did this? Perhaps either an article for the magazine or here on this thread? You did a superb job...beautiful!
Alan
Jeff,
You did a great job, they look awesome. As you and I know this is one of several models MTH has not added a fixed pilot version. Maybe the tooling change is too expensive....I don't know. I wish they would offer the fixed pilot on these SD40s and the SD70's so they could save us the work of doing what you did. Yours looks better though with the wider steps. I'd like to see them in action. How about a video?
Rich
Jeff, I am never sure if I am supposed to praise you for your great work, or curse you for being so much better than I am. 
Outstanding.
This particular MTH EMD model, with it's clean, uncluttered lines, appears to wear a variety of liveries, well.
Your customized UP units, are no exception. Everything works for me... great additions!
Those are cover-shot units.
Rick
Thanks for the comments guys!! I'm adding the MU hoses and brake lines as well. These alterations definitely made a huge improvement over the 3-rail couplers.
Jeff,
Very, very nice. I take it from the photos and your description that these models came with the pilots with the angled step wells rather than the older Weaver-style pilot MTH used for many years. I like the way you built out the steps; it looks like later production EMD pilot steps, e.g., GP 60 and SD75s, and "it works."
Like Rich, I too would like to see the SD40-2 offered with a fixed pilot. and properly placed trucks. A few years ago, MTH upgraded older things like the GP40, F40 and Dash 9 to scale wheel/fixed pilots, but I think they've lost interest in tooling or re-tooling any new O scale stuff (unless maybe its a European prototype). And I think it has now been two years since I last purchased an MTH locomotive.
RM
Rich, you are correct about those pilots being angle shaped inside the well area. It was tricky coming up with a solution, but it worked out good. Thanks for the comments too!
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