The Santa Fe Bicentennial was my biggest and most challenging project of the summer! About 120 hours went into the 5700. The first challenge was to transform Aristo Craft’s SD45 into an SD45-2. First I had to extend the frame 1.25 inches to come out with a scale 68’ 10”. Next, the flared radiator fans were removed and new ones were scratch built. The dynamic brake blister needed to be redone so that it would match up with the new radiator section. I also redid the trucks to make them look more like the prototypical Flexicoil trucks. The brake wheel was removed as well as many other minor changes. Details were added to the cab and pilots along with underbody piping. Now that the easy part was done, it was ready for paint. This is by far the most challenging paint job I have ever done. Thankfully, I had Athearn’s HO scale model to get some accurate measurements off of. The warbonnet and stripes were indeed a challenge! Decals were done by Jeff at Shawmut Carshops. If you would like to see the whole process, start to finish as well as a parts list, please check out the PDF file below. I have made a step by step photo documentary of the project. https://share.acrobat.com/adc/document.do?docid=4d22acc9-ef5a-4dae-ada7-8ab282f118a9
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