Lone Wolf and Santa Fe model railroad layout

Making Cargill 305 EMD GP9 from an Athearn Blue Box Kit

This model started off as an undecorated Athearn Blue Box Kit

The shell was removed. Holes for the bell and the horn were drilled. The dynamic break blisters were removed. The holes were filled.
The horn and a Athearn bell were installed. The shell was and painted white. It took several coats of spray paint.

The fan for the dynamic break was removed using an exacto knife with a chisel style razor blade.

A piece of styrene was measured to fill the hole. A larger piece was cut and glued inside the shell to support it.

Torpedo style air tanks were purchased and then painted.

the air tank holes were drilled and the tanks were mounted
The hole was filled in with contour putty and painted. Then the air tank holes were drilled and the tanks were mounted.

Piping was included with the tanks and was installed on the far side.
Custom piping was made by bending a piece of scrap hand railing to match the prototype.

The piping was glued on and painted.
The antenna and rotary beacon were made from scratch and installed.

The bottom of the shell was painted black along with the window weather stripping and number boards
I designed custom decals and printed them on a laser printer. They were cut out and applied.
Another antenna and rotary beacon were made from scratch and applied.
A Details Associate drop step was installed.