Correct UP/SP "Patch unit" Procedures

Herc Driver

Active Member
I know there's several UP experts who may be able to help me out with this one...

In keeping with my more modern theme, I want to take an Southern Pacific GP60 and correctly cover the SP logo/numbers with the new UP colors. I've found some pictures online that I'm using for my prototype in decal placement, but I'm wondering if I'm missing something else. Any structural changes to the shell? Anything? If this is a good and typical "patch" job by UP, then this is what I hope to turn the SP unit into.

For those that have already accomplished this "patch" job feat, do you first remove the old numbering so they can't be seen under the decals, or do you leave them to give a hint of the old numbering - further reinforcing the fact that the engine had a previous life on another pre-merger railroad? (Now, I'm modeling these in Nscale - so unless you have a magnifier, you can't even see the painted/covered over old numbering - but when you take a close-up picture, you see the old numbering under the decal.)

Any inputs would be helpful...thanks guys.
 

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UP SD40-2

Senior Member
Herc:wave: , normally nothing new would be added, if there was anything added, it would be at the time of an overall paint job:winki: . personally, i would just add the patch right over the old lettering, though being i was a paint & body man for 17 out of 23 of the years i have been working, i can tell you in real life the old paint SHOULD be sanded before the patch is put on for better adhesion:winki: . but i have seen a few real life patch jobs that you could clearly see the old numbers under the patch:eeki: . i guess the choice is yours:toug: .

BTW, FANTASTIC pic to go by!!!
:deano: -Deano
 

Herc Driver

Active Member
Thanks Deano for the reply - and I was thinking the same thing that you posted - but I'm glad you confirmed my guess.

I'm in the middle of patching an ex-Conrail Dash-8 into the correctly numbered Norfolk Southern version - again with a good picture of the actual diesel as a reference. At least UP adds their herald to the nose, NS just blackens (or whitens out) the old numbering and adds the new numbers in the opposite color, then adds "NS" below the numbers...not too inspired, but it gets the job done. I thought I'd learn how to add the Microscale decals on that project before graduating to the harder UP decal combinations. For Nscale, the UP decals need to be added one color pattern at a time...so I have to place the armour yellow, then the red shield color, then the blue shield over the top of it all. And if I understand the directions right, you can only place one decal at a time, allow it to dry for at least 8 hours, then add another decal over the first, so adding the nose patch will take three days minimum. Boy I'm glad I finally got glasses, those decals are small. (I really wished they printed the whole patch decal as one unit - would have been far easier on the eyes and simpler to line up correctly.)

When I get the SP unit done, and weathered the "Deano" way, I'll shoot some pictures and post 'em.

Thanks
 

60103

Pooh Bah
On the unit in the picture, is there an SP on the nose that has been painted over but still shows through?
If they made any upgrades to the unit, I think it would be in the radio and any signal system (trackside pickup) to let them run over all the system. This detail would be a) too small to model in N and b) internal.
 
Just drop the patches right on top of the old lettering. Don't worry about the numbers matching, UP didn't. :D Also throw in some small UP initals above, in front of the numbers. It was a quick and dirty patch job usually when UP does it. A lot of units got the patch and were never painted before returning them to the lessor or retiring them.

Greg
 

Herc Driver

Active Member
Thanks guys...I'm on the road now but when I get back home, plan on starting that GP60 SP/UP patch conversion...I've been trying to wrap up a NS conversion from Conrail colors too and now I'm really wondering why I chose to change the decals on an Nscale diesel...WOW they're small.
 

doctorwayne

Active Member
Thanks guys...I'm on the road now but when I get back home, plan on starting that GP60 SP/UP patch conversion...I've been trying to wrap up a NS conversion from Conrail colors too and now I'm really wondering why I chose to change the decals on an Nscale diesel...WOW they're small.

Opti-visor! ;)

Wayne
 

Herc Driver

Active Member
Almost finished SP patch GP60

Except for the new number boards (and I still don't know how I'm going to remove the old plastic numbers and replace them with the new decal numbers) this SP GP60 is patched to a UP unit. The blue shield on the nose is not centered on the red shield by a hair - literally - and I feel bad that even with a strong magnifying glass I just couldn't get the two decals to line up perfectly enough to make the UP shield look exactly right. From two inches away you can't see it...but on a macro camera shot, you notice it right away. Ah well, the joys of Nscale. Each part of the side patch was done seperately...first the armour yellow box, then the numbers, then the tiny "GP60", then the "UP" lettering. The end of the unit has the standard "UP" and numbering on the armour yellow box - a lot easier to do. Comments to improve on the next patch job are certainly welcome. And any great ideas on removing the old number boards and replacing with new decals would be appreciated - 'cause I don't know how I'm going to do that yet. Now, it needs to be properly weathered and I have to find a seperate decal sheet to add the UP shield on the side of the cab (You'd think the MicroTrain people would just add those to the "patch" decal set...but noooo, you have to buy a seperate one for that.).
 

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jbaakko

Active Member
Herc, just buy a Microscale number board sheet, you can slide the new one over the old board. Then decal the numbers. Thats how I do mine.
 

Herc Driver

Active Member
I've got the correct numbers...I was just worried that you'd see the former black SP numbering under the red UP numbering when the number boards were lit up. I was trying to find a way to remove the old numbers and allow the new decal numbers to be visable when the number boards are lit.
 

jbaakko

Active Member
I've got the correct numbers...I was just worried that you'd see the former black SP numbering under the red UP numbering when the number boards were lit up. I was trying to find a way to remove the old numbers and allow the new decal numbers to be visable when the number boards are lit.
Oh, well then lit boards are another story!
 

Herc Driver

Active Member
HA...yep I never do things easily, there's always got to be a kink in them somewhere.

The number boards are all lit - so I might try to scrape off the existing black numbering with an Xacto knife or the like, and place the decal over the top (after some smooth sanding to remove any roughness the scraping created). But I dunno...I'm still trying to decide the best way to attack this little problem.
 
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