Canadian National GE 70t truck frames...

When I began planning my Prince Edward Island cameo, I picked up a cheap Bachmann DCC fitted GE 70t from a UK model shop...

This model was cheap, less than £70 delivered, all wheel pick up, heavy die cast chassis, noisy but smooth and controllable - once I connected the motor directly to the pick ups (these cheap DCC control boards are RUBBISH) but I retained the board for lighting.

However, the more I looked the more I noticed things that would need altering. People suggested the Kaslo Shops shell, which does look superb, and if all else fails is my back up option - however I wanted to see if this cheap base model could be made to look the part. Once of the biggest errors for a CN machine, even over the door grilles, is the truck frames. CN didn't have the cast basic trucks of the industrial machines, but a more traditional bogie frame. I drew these up and have had them printed - along with a few other parts to ease the conversion. They arrived this morning and I couldn't help myself fitting them - they fit well, and have printed really nicely. They're now in white spirit to degrease them before painting. 

I'm not planning on doing Canadian models for customer commissions, but if you're interested in a set of these I've put them on my Shapeways store ::here::

Meanwhile, the body has been stripped down of handrails, I've carved off moulded on details and it's dunked in IPA for a few days to soften the paint - the wasp stripes are already peeling off! More soon, this is one of my Christmas projects so probably quite a lot more soon!...