I’m going to jump the gun a little and talk about the Kato handrails. I’m not going to use the handrails as a whole. At .022 in thickness, they’re just too much out of scale for me. But, I will be using the stanchions and drilling them out for a smaller diameter wire. I’ll explain all that madness later.
So I’m going to plug the handrail holes on the cab. I use a #58 drill bit and ream out the handrail locations on the cab so I can use .047 styrene rod to plug them. I wet the ends with liquid solvent and push the rod into the hole. I push the rod a little past the inner cab wall. Nip the rod close to the outside cab wall and repeat for the other 3 holes. From the inside of the cab, wet the rod again with the liquid cement to make sure the plugs are cemented in good. After about 15 minutes, I trimmed the rod flush to the cab and lightly sand the areas smooth. I also dab a little Mr.Surfacer over the plugs and let that dry for an hour before wet sanding the area smooth again.
For my drip strips, I use Detail Associates .010 x .015 flat brass bar. You can also use .010 brass wire if you want. Referring to prototype pictures, all 2nd generation EMD cabs on the RDG had a mild angle set on the drip strips. The best way I found to do these was to take my calipers and measure the brass to a length of .635. And with flush cutters, I cut a pair of bars. With the bars sitting flat on a cutting mat, I divide the .635 in half to .3175. I take a knife blade and gently push down on the bar at its center point. Apply enough pressure to just make the angled bend. I do the same for the other part. If you’re using brass wire, the procedure is the same. Just be more careful not to cut through the wire.



Now I want the drip strip to measure .630 in lenght after the bend. So I reduce or increase the angle to get to that length. Once my length is set, I want the drip strips to be centered on the cab roof from end to end. So I set my calipers to .135 and place them on the edge of my bench; I took the cab and measured from outside of the cab roof in and placed a pencil mark there. Do the same for the other 3 edges. I measure these marks end to end to make sure I get .630 in width. That helps center the drip strip on the cab. To aid in setting the drip strips in place, I cut a piece of .030 x .040 strip styrene to the length of the cab roof. I use this as a guide to set the drip strips down evenly across. I take one end of the styrene and place a pinhead of ACC on it. I tack this on the roof making sure it’s straight across the bottom edge of it.

The .040 measurement appears to give it the right distance from the bottom edge of the roof slope. To make life simple, I use what I call a glue board. I place a drop of ACC on the board and with sharp pointy tweezers; dip the bottom of angle portion only in the glue. I then carefully set the drip strip down between the lines and on top of the styrene guide. I pop of the guide and use an old #11 blade and run a bead of glue on the inside of the drip strip to set it in place. I scrape off any excess glue from the guide and any around the angle. Repeat for the other side.
Looking at prototype pictures, when looking at the cab you’ll notice there is a ledge above the windows. When I removed the sunshade guides, I also removed that ledge which was my intentions. It made it easier to sand smooth the area above the window. Too replace that ledge, I used .008 brass rod and cut 2 pieces at a length of .860. I then align and attach the rod the cab using the same procedure as the drip strips. This time you just want to dip one edge in the glue and set it in place. If you screw up and set it on an angle, pop it off and cut a new part if it bent while removing. When you get this part in its proper position, take that #11 blade and run a bead of glue over the top of the part to lock it down. When the glue dries clean up any excess on the cab.
For the door handles, I used the parts from the Cannon kit. Locate and glue them to the cab. For now the cab is complete, minus the wind deflectors that I’ll put on later.



Next I’m moving on to the body to get the cab fitted. First you need to measure the length of the new cab. My cab measures out 1.030. Take the body and measure and mark on the nose where to make your cuts. I reduced my measurement to 1.025. I did this so I can clean up the cut and make sure its perpendicular to the cab. You can use either a file or 320 grit sand paper on a small sanding block. You want to test fit the cab as you go.



That’s it for the cab. I’ll be moving on to the body next.

Hey Mark, Great info! My drips are off by 0.058. I need to get my eyes checked! LOL! I'm sure the length and locations are the same for all EMD spartan cabs. I'm glad your enjoying the build. I should have this build complete by the end of March.

Thanks!

I didn't mention that when you’re fitting the cab to the body, you need to include the sub base. You want to make sure it all sits properly. When I’m satisfied with cab fitting, I turned my attention to the sub base.


I’m going to remove the molded on steps and add the etched steps. I’m using A-Line #29238 for Kato SD40/45. I use this kit over the Cannon & Company because it includes the steps for the sub base. When I removed the steps, I did leave a ledge for the etched steps to rest on.
Front step view.

Rear step view.

On the rear steps I removed the step clear across to the step support plate. I also reduced the thickness of the old steps cutting into them on an angle.

I cleaned up the area around the steps. I then cut 2 pieces of .010 x .020 strip styrene. I cut one at a length of .100 and the other to .075. The longer piece is for the bottom step. I attached these with liquid cement. I let these dry.

After I’m done detailing the body, I’m going to permanently glue the sub base to the body. Then I will glue the steps in place. There’s still some body work to do. I don’t want to spend time fixing parts that get knocked off the sub base. And, there’s a step ledge on the body that will add to the support of the steps.

Can someone tell me how you insert photos? So far, every attempt failed.

Thanks,
Rick

Body

Now it’s time to get cracking on the body. To start the body update, I’m going to replace all fans with Cannon & Company. For the radiators, I’ll be using Cannon 1705. I’ve been a supporter of Cannon parts since the mid-80s. You will discover I find reasons to use their parts. Now, as nice as these parts are and like all other manufacturers of detail parts, they’re not without some mold flash. And the flash needs to be removed. First, I start by looking the fans over to see how much clean up I’m going to have to do. I always inspect for damage and poor mold shots also. I begin the cleaning process by leaving the fan bases on their mold trees. It makes it allot easier to get these cleaned up. You defiantly want a fresh #11 blade to clean the flash off them. I gently scrape all the flash off the fan supports. There’re is also a parting line around the inside of the ring I gently scrape away. You want to make sure you scrape flat to the ring. I then move to the outer ring and clean up what I need to. When I’m happy with the cleaning, I remove the fans from their tree. I use a flush nipper to cut these away. I've learned never to cut these flush to the part. Experience has taught me well and they do damage easy. So, I cut these back a bit from the part and then nip the remaining extrusion flush to the part. I then scrape clean the outside ring of any signs of mold extrusion.
For the top ring it’s a bit trickier to clean. I leave the ring on its tree and clean all mold lines and flash on the inside ring. These rings are thin and easy to damage if you’re in a hurry, so take your time. You don’t need allot of pressure to clean these.


When I’m done cleaning the inner ring, I remove them from their tree to finish the outside. I follow the same removal procedure as the bottom rings. To clean up the outside of the ring, you need inside diameter support so you don’t crack the rings. My first tool was the end of a large reamer. I then made a dowel to slide the ring over to clean up the sides. I made the OD of the dowel .532. Making a tool similar to this or using the back end of a large drill really is the key to cleaning the outer ring. It’s very tricky to clean these without any inner support. When these fans first came out, my fans looked horrible because I couldn't get the outer ring cleaned right. And of course I damaged a few. I currently use a tool made for Brian Banna to help clean up the rings. Apparently he wasn't happy either with his original results. The only problem using just a tool like a dowel is you do have to hold the ring in place. With the tool Brian had made, it’s held in place by the tool itself. I don’t understand why Dave at Cannon hasn't produced a tool to aid in this process. But anyway, when I get the outer rings cleaned up, I set these parts aside until the body work is complete. The fan blades, motor caps and screens will be grit blasted and painted separately. So I’m not going to bother with these until I’m ready to paint.
For the dynamic brake fans, I do the same procedure as the radiator. I will use Cannon 1853 for the dynamics.
Now that the work on the Cannon fans is done, I’m going to remove the Kato fans. I started by locating the center of all the fans. I use a heavy needle in a pin vise as a center punch. I then push the pin into the fan to mark center. Starting with a small drill helps to keep the hole centered. I start with a #75 drill bit and center drill all fans. Then I use a #70 drill and work my way out with larger diameter drills. I open the hole large enough to place the end of my step drill in. With the step drill in my drill press, I set the drill press to its slowest speed. I then slowly drill out the holes and get them as close as possible to the inner fan ring edge. I take my time with this process so I don’t melt the plastic. I do what is called pecking. You drill a little and pull drill out and repeat until you’re done. If you don’t have a step drill, use a sharp #11 blade and cut out the remainder of the fan material. When I get close to the inner ring of the old Kato fans, I use a half round file to get an inside diameter of .570. Cannon gives you a plus/minus number to work with on the back their package. I just make my holes a little bigger in case I went off center a little. Make sure you keep rotating the file to keep the inner diameter center. Now I take a Cannon fan base and use it to check the diameters of each hole. When the fan fits properly, I run a piece of masking tape down the length of the fan hatch to protect the bolt detail on the hatch. Don’t forget the ends. Now I shave off any remaining fan ring off the top of the hatch. I also remove the cast on lift rings and sand fillers. I sand flat the rings of the Kato fans. I test fit the fans again to make sure they are now sitting flush on the hatch.


The dynamic hatch fans are done the same way as the radiator. When I’m done cutting away old fan material, I remove the dynamic hatch to clean up the top surface of any trace of the old fan rings. I then glue it back in place. Now, I've had this happen to me before. Once in a while the hatches would pop off while drilling out the fans. If that happens to you, your choices are to finish the holes while the hatch is off, or glue it down with CA and let it dry well and finish the job later. For me, I always did choice number one. You choose what’s best for you if that situation occurs.
Next, the Reading units did not have a brake vent on the roof. I removed the brake vent and used scrap styrene as a plug and glued that in. I sand the area smooth and use some putty over the plug. I wet sand the vent area again when the putty has dried.


Next I’m going to remove the exhaust stack and replace it with Cannon 1952. The dust bin will also be replaced with Cannon 1353. To do the exhaust hatch, I used a #17 chisel blade to shave the hatch off. I start from the top and work my way down to the base plate. I then shave the base plate down to the top of the hatch.
Now I’m going to remove the dust bin. I drilled around the raised portion of the bin and then cut that away. Then I shaved away the base flush to the top of the body. I then sand the dust bin and exhaust hatch areas flush to the body. I test fit the parts to make sure they are flush on the hood. If you have any gouges that are going to be seen, putty them up. At this point, you do want to make sure there are no sanding scratches on the top of the hood. I wet sand the areas including the fan hatches with a series of 600 and 800 grit wet/dry sandpaper. This will make sure you’re free of scratches that will be seen after painting.
Next, I clean of any dust at the top of the dust bin area. I glue the Cannon dust bin down with liquid cement. I make sure the dust bin is in its proper location towards the rear of the body along with side to side.



I'm going to let this sit a couple hours before moving on.

This is a very thorough upgrade. Love it!