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    The year 2006 will be the 125 year that Canadian Pacific Rail has been in service.  In September of 1998 CP Rail took possession of the first of it's new locomotives.  Manufactured by the Electromotive Division of GM the SD 90 MAC has the highest horsepower rating of the CP fleet.  These Engines are over 80 feet long. and will add a new dimension to CP's pulling capabilities.

    Earlier this year CP did a loan trade with Union Pacific.  UP got 4 of CP's GE4400's and CP got 4 of UP's SD-90MAC's.  These were tested by CP in the interior of BC on the coal runs.  Since I decided that the primary road names on my layout would be CP and UP it is only natural that I would want to add this giant to my loco collection.  But the question was... How???  The only one available was the Overland Models Brass one.  This was WAY out of my budget.  Even if I starved for a year.  Then just before Xmas I discovered a Rail Power Products SD-90MAC shell and chassis set.  Well that solved my problem of how to get one.  Now came the worries of how to paint it.

    With the new CP Herald and paint scheme being unveiled in '98 I couldn't rightly use the old SOO red with the twin flags, and CP had trademarked the new scheme and wasn't letting anyone produce it.  This is where I had a flash of insight.  I really liked the Tuscan and Grey scheme of the 60's and this big monster would carry that scheme beautifully.  So it was settled.  I would do it in the Tuscan and Grey scheme.  Now all I had to do was justify it.  CP had shown that it wasn't going back to that scheme as it was to costly to paint the engines with it compared to the one colour it stayed with.  After many random hours of thought it occurred to me that the 125 anniversary was coming up relatively soon.  There!  I had it.  I would make this a One-Of paint scheme to celebrate the occasion.  I even came up with an idea for the consist it would pull, but that's another story.
 
 

    The assembly was fairly straight forward.  I followed the instructions that came from RPP.  I bought an Athearn SD-40-2 and took the power and drive system out of it to power the MAC.  The first deviation from the standard assembly occur when it came to the couplers.  I cut the piece off the chassis that the draft box would be mounted to and mounted that to the body both front and back.  I cut out the area behind the nose piece so that I could run lights to the headlights.
 
 

  Yes it got more fun as things progressed.  Now I had to start doing the detailing.  Using an issue of Model Railroader that did beautiful drawings of the SD-80MAC I started to work on the railings.  I wasn't aware of the railing sets that were available for the RPP MAC unit, so I made my own railings.  I used the posts and the anti climber railings from the Athearn SD-40-2.  The main railings on the sides I bent from copper wire.  I also custom made all the larger grab irons that are on the nose and rear sides of the unit.  The grab irons on the nose and tail are after market railings.  I used a fuel tank detail kit to do the fueling pipe and level gauge on both sides of the tank.  The plow and the MU hoses were mounted on the pilots .  So now I am sitting with an unpainted shell with the railings off but grab irons on.  Time to do the painting.  I airbrushed the grey on using a Gunze grey and put it aside to dry till the next day.  Now I was facing a bit of a dilemma.  How to do the red without screwing up the grey paint and having it match the shape of the decal striping. I decided after examining the red paint that I would decal the stripes on then hand paint the red.   Applying the decals was quite a challenge with all the doors and grates that are on the sides of the body.  The other question was where should the upper strip run along the radiator intakes.  I finally decided on running it right below the intake, that way it would be an unbroken strip straight to the back.  The height of the lower stripe was easier to set.  I just used the reverse down stroke to set it with.  I did all my heights by eye.  I have found through my model building that if it looks right no one will question it, at least no one worth listening to.  Even if you use a ruler or other professional straight edge, if it looks crooked it will be assumed to be crooked.  The trickiest areas were on the fireman's sid of the body.  There is a recess behind the cab that required extra care to maintain the illusion of straightness in the line.  And on the upper stripe there was the large grill for what I believe is the turbo charger intake.  This I just skipped over instead of giving myself a headache trying to get the decals to settle down into the grill.  Once I completed the decal stripe I was ready to hand paint the red on.  I gave the decals overnight to dry and settle.  The next day I began carefully painting the red onto the body.  This was done while the railings were still of but the grab irons and other body details were still on.  Lots of practice has given me a steady hand when it comes to painting- as I have always tried to avoid the difficulties of masking.  The paint I used was Badger Precision Design Model Flex #16-13 Dark Tuscan Oxide Red.  This paint brushed on beautifully with out a single hassle.  After leaving it to dry for a few hours the body was now ready for the final detailing and markings.  This is an aspect that is still ongoing to this day.  I decided on using the number 9800 as the road numbers based on the fact that 95 and 96 are being used on the GE AC4400's.  As it turns out CP is apparently using the 8100's and 9100's for the first batch of MAC's.  I figure that using 9800 is still viable as they used two different numbers on the 4400' so there is a good chance that CP might eventually use 9800 and higher for the units yet to be delivered.  As well, I built it during the year 1998.  The Canadian Pacific is in the script style and is applied on the grey stripe in the same yellow as the stripes.  The Beaver Crest is applied low on the nose.  The rest of the smaller marking have yet to be placed.  The last major details that have to be done are the windows, and thanks to Rus Goodwin and his article in the October '98 issue of Model Railroader I now have the part number for American Model Builders Laser cut window set.  I have used these on my 4400 and my CP SD-40-2 and they make a world of difference, especially when window wipers are applied.  The last thing to be done are the lights.  The ditch lights came with bulbs and are just waiting for the circuitry that will come with the head lights.  I plan on using a lighting kit that is available for the 4400 as the lights are the same size.  Here are two pictures of the unit as it sits now.
 
 

    The above picture was taken on  my front steps.  The other ones were taken on the store layout at Chinook & Hobby West in Calgary.  Unfortunately their layout was not designed for large engines like this one so I was only able to place it and shoot.