REMOVE BRAKE BLISTER MTH GP-9?

Saw it out, and replace the material with sheet styrene.  If you can't save the smoke stacks, PSC makes them in brass.  A lot of work to eliminate a nice detail.

The Kemtron kit had a removable casting.  Made it a lot easier to go back and forth.

I thought if you removed the dynamic brake bulges the loco became a GP7?

I think it might 'Snap  out. The one on my SD-9 from around 1994 did.

No. That is a very old misconception put forth reportedly by Lionel many decades ago. The EMD GP7 AND GP9 models could be ordered with or without dynamic brake.

The Telltale differences between a GP7 and a GP9 are:

 http://www.trainorders.com/dis...n/read.php?3,1513452

http://cs.trains.com/ctt/f/95/t/92249.aspx

Remove the cab and see if it snaps on. Might even be screwed in from underneath.

doubt it is glued but ya never know!

I removed the DB blisters from my MTH GM&O GP-38's a few years ago - were they glued? Oh, yeah - with Atomic Bonding Agent, apparently. I imagine that the GP9 is the same way. 

I could pop (break) most of them off, but had to file and sand and use a bit of filler (Bondo).

Not too bad, and, after I discovered that Testors Bright Red (I think) was a 99.9% match for the MTH GM&O bright red, it looked really good. 

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BOB2 said:

A lot of work to eliminate a nice detail.

Well, the GM&O GP38's were not ordered with DB's, and a wrong detail is never a nice detail.

Atlas GP7, undecorated, came with parts for either. Non-dynamic brake lower left in picture.

Well, the GM&O GP38's were not ordered with DB's, and a wrong detail is never a nice detail.

My background is 2-rail.  I don't let small details bother me too much - I rather like the dynamic brake housing.  Let me go find a seriously inaccurate model with a fantasy paint scheme for you.

Here you go - an SD6 1/2.  I got the nose too long - or was it too short?  SP never, ever had such a paint scheme.  But I avoid other glaring errors that I have learned not to point out.

Lionel called their post war toy models with the brake blister a GP9 and their models without the blister a GP7.

I'm surprised that you, of all people, would consider the dynamic brake hatch a "small detail".

Funny - I do not know the difference between a dash 7 and a dash 9, eithr SD or GP.  What bothers me the most on a 1/4" scale Diesel model is the five foot track gauge.  Next in line is the stupid looking Kadee uncoupling pin.  So I just use Monarchs or Hi Sierra/Protocraft, and try for 17/64 scale when I can.  Occasionally I narrow the track gauge to more closely look like the real thing.  I like the looks of that dynamic brake housing, but my latest GP-7 doesn't have one, and will not get one.  It is an original sand cast model.

Thanks everyone, I am going to tear into it tomorrow, I'll let you know how it comes out.

Scott

bob2 -

I got yer fantasy locomotive right here:

Chopped Lionel, plus an old Atlas Bobber with a brass Walthers truck, and an oh, so realistic RIX switch machine - but not an improper dynamic brake blister in sight! 

Just remove it this way...

Just kidding.

On my Lionel GP7s, I just pulled up, gently, until the glue gave.  (Old Pictures)

On the MTH GP20, I had to drill the glue from the inside, and then pull hard.  It was glued around the top, as well.  Difference is that the Lionel shells were painted before the blister added, and the MTH was painted after adding the blister. (Rear unit).

D500, you need to switch to Kadees, your coupling distance is no where near prototypical