#511 Body Kitbash

#511 Body Kitbash An American GK E60C Becomes a Fantasy Engine

	The engine body as I brought it home from the trainshow. This design has a cab at one end and a single arm pantograph at the other.

My first efforts: gluing details to the rear deck and end.

After this, I began writing an article on paint stripping and used this body for research. Then I painted it brown.

After a few months of not being able to figure out how to do any more detailing, I cleaned it off and removed the raised center section. The edges of the cab were rounded over.
	I started the build at the rear end, deck and sides. The yellow pyramid on top is an AHM/Roco 4-bay cylindrical hopper bay. In front of this is a 1/4" square wood block with 1/16" chart tape around top circumference. On each side of the block are Ozark Miniatures 1/22.5 queenpost plates and on the left side, an HO air brake cylinder is glued to the plate. On the facing side is an Atlas HO covered hopper door. The rear has Tichey Train Group louvres and Athearn centerflow hopper discharge pipes. The top tank is made from HO Kato Alco gas tank sides, w/Atlas covered hopper hatches glued to the ends.
	Then the top was made from an Athearn HO cylindrical hopper roof and the solar panels from Athearn and Playart cylindrical hopper walkways. An Ozark 1/22.5 turnbuckle end was added as a vent, and sprue pieces are used as pipes at the front of the roof. The side is made from four Atlas 60' boxcar doors, cut down and framed with styrene.
	The other side was made with only three boxcar doors. The square shape is a jewelry making item and the slanted pipe another piece of sprue.
	The front was smoothed with a fine file. The cab air conditioner came from the original center section of the body. The vertical piece is from a tankcar and the visor was carved from basswood.
	Engine shown ready to paint and letter. The details on the trucks are Ozark Miniatures 1/22.5 bolster end plates. The white cannister is a section of Plastruct tubing.

The cab and the backend were painted with Testors flat blue, flat light blue, and flat white. The goal was to make the finish look sun damaged. The green was made from adding white to the blue. The center section was painted silver and weathered with blue and copper. Front pipes and the rear tank are also copper. Number boards were left white and lettered with decals made in Microsoft Word and laser printed on clear decal paper.
5-11 Parts List