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MTH SD24 Hi-to-Lo Hood Conversion?....Anyone Done It?

dkdkrddkdkrdOGR Forum Member

A few years back I picked up an MTH Hi-hood SD24, ATSF, at York...dummy, great price.

A few days ago, I obtained its powered mate on auction.

Knowing that the Santa Fe had no Hi-Hood SD24's....in the zebra-stripe silver/white/black scheme, anyway, as far as I can tell...I thought it might be an interesting challenge to make the correction to the short hoods on both units.  

Just wondering if anyone else has delved into this?

One of the basic questions I have is whether the construction of MTH's Premier SD's is such that an alternate cab and short/lo hood would make the structural part of the challenge any easier.  Or am I facing the more challenging cut-and-construct path with this idea?  (Not necessarily that daunting for me...it's part of the hobby, AFAIC.)   

It's a 'Bucket List' item at this stage.  But if there's parts out there to make the job less formidable...something to add to my York-search list, if you will...now would be the time to identify the elements.

And, if it doesn't come to pass, so be it.   I still think they're a dandy pair....prototypical, or not.

Thanks for your thoughts...

KD

Last edited by dkdkrd
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suzukovichsuzukovichOGR Forum Member

I toyed with the idea a couple of years ago before I got side tracked. Issue is you will have to remove the front can motor. The low hood is about the same as the GP20 so you would need a couple of donor shells. Other option I was working was to have cab and nose made for me by a guy on Shapeways who had made HO scale ATSF SD24s

 Issues was to insure Cab would fit over the metal frame. Because each unit would only have one motor, they will have to be paired. Now the shell of the MTH SD24 will break down into three pieces.  It is possible to just have cab and nose made and install it on the deck piece.  There was a thread on this a while back in 3RS.

Last edited by suzukovich
AGHRMattAGHRMattOGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBERMEMORIAL SUPPORTER

I was investigating doing the same thing. Santa Fe ordered their SD24's with GP20 low-nose cabs installed. I have the ATSF Zebra Stripe offerings from MTH and have had this conversion on the back burner. The quick way would be to get a basket case MTH Rail King or old Premier GP20 (same tooling), cut the cab and start grafting. The catch, though, is that MTH used the SD9 frame (the SD9 and SD24 are on an almost identical platform and long hood). With that comes a forward-mounted front motor. My plan was to take the forward motor and truck and place them into the rear of the dummy unit and run them as a pair (hence the back burner status). No forward motor gives you the opportunity to do a cab interior and better lighting.

By the way, you guys know that as soon as one of us goes through these hoops, 3rd Rail will issue the ATSF SD24/SD26.

Last edited by AGHRMatt

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