Started these in the Fall of 2011 and then they hit the back burner until 2022!
Here's what I did to these two Athearn Genesis Santa Fe FP45 Super Fleet
These are pretty much, stock, out-of-the-box units. The biggest changes are changing the color of the air conditioners from red (stock) to yellow, with one AC changed to a prime type (on #97). Also added was a beacon platform on #92, and Athearn dummy MU receptacles on both (front and rear). I did use a DW MU cable with receptacles to replace the below anti-climber receptacles and one dummy receptacles on 97.
I removed all grills and painted the areas beneath flat black. Then reinstalled the grills – for which I painted the horizontal grill areas flat black, then went back over and dry brushed silver or red back on in various strengths depending on the position – DB grills weather differently from radiator grills, etc. Also painted were the spare knuckles on the right sideframes. Some cab mirrors were also painted – engineer’s one on 97 received red paint on the front side; conductor’s one on 92 received red only on the “mirror” part, the frame remained silver. The sunshade on 97 is stock from the factory.
Cab interiors were removed and the EMD factory green was repainted with a neutral gray, with seats and control stand painted black. A crew was added to 97.
Weathering was relatively simple – an exhaust black/brown mix for the exhaust stack and then lightly over the roof center. I also used it on 97 below the rear circular recess. Some Tamiya black wash for the AC grills, and then very lightly over the rest of each AC to reduce the yellow brightness. The wash was also used in each round recess on the fuel tank to add depth, as well as very lightly below each fuel filler to represent fuel spilling down the side of the tank. I used Tamiya dark brown wash in the “dust bin” grill. Then pilots, sideframes, underframe and “bow waves” were done with Model Master Skin Tone Dark Tint. I went a little too heavy on 97 engineer’s side and removed it leaving some in the recesses, then sprayed more lightly again.