Perhaps the most attractive locomotives out there are the Connecticut Department of Transportation P32AC-DMs. These modern passenger locatives are painted in a revival of the New Haven McGinnis scheme. The mouthful locomotive designation includes the “-DM” as these unique P32s can run off diesel or drop a third-rail shoe to run electric.

Thanks Darienredsox

There is no one making a model of this great looking loco other than a very rare Overland brass model so I decided to try to make my own. I began with a standard Athearn model of the Amtrak version so first I masked the engine and gave it a repaint.

Microscale decals finished off the paint job. The complex scheme was not easy. My work passed the 3-ft test but wasn’t perfect. Here you can see some of the chassis details as well as the 3-color paint scheme and decals coming together. 

I used a Details West kit to add some detail to the chassis as well as added an assortment of grab irons and other details.

I wanted to add directional lighting as these are used in push and pull consists. There are several nice ditch light kits available these days that work well with digital command control or standard DC setups. The final touch was some weathering.

About when I finished this beauty, one of the Brass Overland P32AC-DMs came along and I was able to scoop it up. Here is a side-by-side comparison.