N&W SW8 #2107 - On The Job
	Started out with an undecorated (not painted!) Proto 2000 SW8 shell. The first one I never had to strip the primer gray off of. Unfortunately short lived, Life-Like has gone back to priming the undecs again. This was supposed to be a really quick project. It was, in a relative sense.
	One of the obvious reasons why a complete Cannon cab precludes a drive shaft to the rear truck. At least one above the frame.
	The cab interior is pretty spartan... just like the real thing. Seat and controls stand not installed yet.
	Finally finished this little "two evening project" after two weeks. Has TCS decoder and lights on both ends.
	As always, VERY dark blue, in this case Scalecoat Wabash, photographs much lighter with the digital and flash.
	This loco is actually very dark under normal lighting.
	Engineer Mike Maloney is on duty in the SW8.
	This Proto 2000 front headlight casing was gorgeous until I got done drilling it and rigging it for lights.
	Still need a spark arrestor. And I can't remember what kind I used before (on SW9). Thought it was Details West, but couldn't find anything like in the Walthers catalog.
	Used the factory delrin rails, which will probably fleck nicely over time. That's Tamiya yellow on the ends. Adheres better than Floquil (a little) and doesn't turn my railings into "Funny Straws" the way Modelflex does.
	Broadside view shows the prototypical sag built into the side railing. Those side grabs are DA wire ones... which required redrilling the holes. Shell came with holes for the delrin grabs, which were the wrong shape for this prototype.
	Brakeman Jim Stokes is on duty, waiting for Mike to go pull the first cut of cars. Hey Jim, watch your head on that headlight!
	Eew yuck, the rear headlight is even more mucked up than the front. As nice as the P2K casings are, the fact that they are hollow is NOT an advantage for direct bulb lighting. I think next time I'll use the DA switcher headlight, which is solid and can be drilled straight through easily.
	There probably should be another seat in this cab, but the GSB kit only came with one. May have been an option. Most switchers I remember boarding had two seats. It sure is empty over on that left side.
	Cab roof doesn't want to set right... it's not glued on yet. I may leave it off a while until I am sure about the interior configuration. Also will be easier to deal with popped bulbs.
	The rear truck in this switcher is not powered. I had to remove the worm housing to allow for a full cab interior and floor. I also had to rig up my own way to hold the truck on. SW8 runs well enough, but will only pull a few cars. Ok, at least 8 Kadee box cars but less than 16. Somewhere in between there.
	The glare of the flash, as always, reveals every single blemish no matter how tiny.
	Its always interesting to see things from a 1/87 person's perspective. To the engineer, these headlight "conduits" would seem larger than the fattest HEP cable or even the SW's traction motor cables. Once the lid is on the cab though, they are pretty hard to spot.
	Microscale's venerable 87-22 set doesn't quite match up to the prototype's font size and/or placement on this particular loco. I cut the words apart and moved them slightly farther apart, that's all. Prototype appears to have a *slightly* larger font, as it takes up more room horizontally on the hood. But the other lettering that comes with the Microscale set is too large (for F units only). This is the first time I ever noticed this, but then again, I haven't built tons of switchers.
	Ahhhhgghhh! Help mee!! I'm meltinggggggg!!! My first attempt at the SW8 came to an abrupt end.
	Big city, bright lights, soft styrene, fresh Scalcoat... not a good combination.
	The shell never even felt warm under the lamp, but enough damage was done to warrant junking the whole thing! Only about 2 hours work lost though. So much for baking on paint.
	This is what the Wabash blue looks like with no weathering.
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