Señor plow

 

I have previously covered my lightweight GP9 build on this blog.  One notable (at least to me) missing item was the plow between the footboards on the CN GP9 fleet.  As the models come from Athearn and Proto 2000 they lack this feature, although Athearn has apparently remedied this on later models.  

I wanted to complete my models as close to the prototype as I could so I needed these plows.  I gave thought to scratchbuilding them for each model, but making reproduceable parts would be a challenge with that approach.  What about 3D printing?

I lack a printer myself, but my friend Mike M. has one.  I broached the idea to him and he was receptive to the idea.  I sent him a bunch of photos and based on those and some measurements from the model he quickly created a 3D model and got them printing on his printer.  Being conservative I asked for 30 plows for my current and future fleet... I'm quite happy with the result and my GP9 fleet is now pretty much ready.  I do need to weather the plows a bit but they look good to my eye. 

Test fit of the plow on 4206

Painting the plows while still on the sprue

Plow attached to the model


In service on the layout.  The plow needs some weathering to blend in better.  I really should do some scenery at some point as well.


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