I am working on a new train that will require a 1980's GP unit in Southern Pacific livery. My choices in O scale seemed to be an Atlas GP-60 or an MTH GP38-2 in PS1. The Atlas won't work because it has the 1990's speed lettering of the SP name. That leaves the PS1 GP38-2, currently selling for $120 to $180 on the bay.
But I really didn't want to acquire another loco for this train I am putting together. Then I realized I had a WBB GP38-2 in GT paint that was idle because the project I got it for failed. This unit already had a red nose and a red backside and I realized all I had to do was cover the rest with dark gray paint. Ok, I changed that to black paint so I wouldn't have to repaint the trucks and the rest of the lower half of the unit.
So by using one coat of gloss black paint, after some careful taping, and I was done! Well, I also had to repaint most of the white handrailings black with a brush and flat testor's black enamel. No other color was necessary. Slap on some decals, hit it with a flattener and I'm done!
I was very pleased with the results even though I made some painting errors and left out the dark streaks in the side of the red nose.
I was glad to get the loco I needed without spending any money and not spending too much time on painting it, etc.
