After having pondered how far I wanted to go with these locos for months, I have started upgrading my initial four WSOR SD40-2's from 3rd Rail. As many of you know, the air reservoirs above the fuel tank are not optimally placed as well as slightly undersized. Several modelers have 3d printed replacements, etc. I have decided to go with my initial plan which was to keep the original castings that came with the locomotive, despite their shortcomings, and move them out away from the center of the frame with extensions. I proved this could work and looked A LOT better shortly after receiving the locomotives from Scott. I ordered my tube and rod to perform the extension. Here is a picture of my initial proof on concept with q-tip sections filling in for the hollow tube. Of course, the tube will be painted black but I wanted to quickly prove the original concept.
I also did my test with Walthers Solvaset and a Faber-Castell eraser pencil to remove the cab lettering and numerboards. Worked like a charm no wait time, just apply Solvaset and start gently erasing the lettering/numbering. This is so I can order my renumber sets from Circus City Decals and I have the detail parts on order to upgrade these to more accurate present day WAMX equivalents.
Feel free to share suggestions, approaches you've taken as I go along. This is just the beginning with a lot more to come! Stay tuned.
