2026 October Updates - GGDV2 Upgrades & SPHTS Convention in Visalia, CA

I'll start by saying, my contractors and suppliers have been busting their cabooses for the last month to get our new products ready for the release of the Upgrades for the Golden n Gate Depot V2 cars at the Southern Pacific Historical & Technical Society Convention in Visalia, CA starting tomorrow.

SPHTS Convention 2026 - Visalia

Sorry everyone!

Unfortunately, I caught a major bug this week, which still has me out of action. I know everyone wants to get the cool new models from OwlMtModels, not the newest share-ware virus which is going around. So I'll be delaying the release of our new stuff a couple weeks until I'm sure we'll not be shipping any 'hobos' with our kits.

GGDV2 Upgrades

Status as of 20261006 as follows:

Weights = Done - waiting for shipment to OMM.

Samples of weights, the upper weight is the "coach" version, the lower one is the 'diner' version.

Last week, I received the first samples, just after I got sick, so very little prototype assembly work has been done yet. I caught one small mistake on the drawing with these, which was corrected for the production run.

Draftgear = Done - waiting for shipment to OMM.

Windows = 1st lot Done - waiting for shipment to OMM. 

Stirrup Steps = non-brass resin sample proofs done, invest parts to go to foundry.

The bug has prevented me from finishing up the pre-production and demo assembly testing and also from picking up the product, which would have been on the way to the convention. I was able to cleanout the minor obstructions and install one of the weights in a GGD Diner last week, bringing the weight to 9.6oz, which is more than enough for these cars. In future lots, I may scale the weight back to around 8.5oz.

MSRP's are in hand now, so in the next few days I'll be getting the logistics of the website, packaging, etc coming together for these parts.

Extra "Secret Squirrel" Projects

The pre-production samples are done and waiting to be shipped to OMM.  I want to do the testing on these before announcing anything further, but these should be a pleasant surprise when they come out.

In Closing

I'll be making updates to this page through the month as things come together with the products and my pre-production work moves forward.  Sorry to all those hoping to visit and see our products at the SPH&TS Convention this year.

Jason Hill
OwlMtModels

2026 Sept News Update - Passenger Car Parts and Upgrade Kits Coming Soon

The Bay Area Prototype Modelers' Meet in June 2026 was a blast and great to see everyone there again.  In the last two months Owl Mountain Models has been working hard on several new projects which are far enough along that I can share some previews with the community.

2026 September News Update

Owl Mountain Upgrade Kits for GGD V2.0 Harriman Cars?

Like we've done for the MTH Daylight car with our Antenna Stanchions about 10 years ago, 

The new GGD cars have arrived at Owl Mountain's back shops for upgrades.

I'm switching from our previously announced projects, - namely our 2-8-0 conversion project (still not dead!  Honest!) and 3d printed boxcar ends which need to be redrawn, - to supporting the modeling community in working up some after-market 'fixes' for some of the noted issues in the Golden Gate Depot cars which have just arrived over the last month or so.  I've sighted some of these issues in my NightOwlModeler blog post Golden Gate Depot Harriman 2.0 Review - (Part 1) Out-Of-The-Box.

As of Sept 8, 2026, the following drawings are done:

• Draftgear (aka Coupler Box) - Body-Mounted "Fixed" - Drawings completed, files sent to be test printed, once confirmed, they will go into production.
• Weights - Drawings sent to shop to be produced.
• Brass Stirrup Steps (Diner & Lounge) - Drawings sent to be produced. Hopefully the patterns will be sent to the foundry next week.
• Windows - Drawings sent to laser-cutter for pre-production samples. - This should be fairly quick turn around and once test fitting is good, parts will be put into production.

Comments on Parts & Upgrades:

The new version of the draftgear which is shown here is the 'fixed' version, these are for those of us that want to 'body-mount' the couplers for operation on curves over 28" Radius curves.  The new draftgear will require standard Kadee No.11 (bulk #5 head whisker medium-centerset couplers), which we all should hopefully have in our standard modeling parts supply already.

I've also been working on designing a new 'swing' draftgear design for those in the modeling community that require operation on tighter radius curves.  So I'm not sure that the 'swing' version will be ready in early Oct.  Let me know if you need some form of 'tighter radius' coupler draftgear to be designed.  Whatever I come up with to address this must have restricted vertical freeplay and not sag.
Along the idea of non-swing draftgear upgrade parts, I've also had the requests for 'fixed' Draftgear for Walthers LW and HW cars.  This project will probably spring-board off the GGD replacement draftgear.

The upgraded weights should bring the models up from about 5.0 ounces up to between 8.2 ounces and 8.7 ounces, according to our CAD model weight estimates.  When we get the first weights in-house, I'll be sure to get a better update for exactly what they will bring the car weight to.

The brass Stirrup Steps project would be incomplete if I stop without doing a couple more versions for Common Standard Baggage and RPO cars, so those will be coming soon as well. - I personally have a number of kitbashed MDC/Roundhouse cars and head-end cars that need stirrup steps!  I'm not just a designer and manufacturer... I'm a modeler too!

Still More?

Yes, there are still several more aspects to this project being worked on including: Two Tone Gray Lettering & Stripe decals, various Underbody Details to be 3D Printed for Diner & Lounge, plus belt-generators for all of the GGD cars.  Plus new interior parts including Hamburger Grill Counter and a few other bits.  There will be more updates on these as we get them produced and in-hand.

Painting

Also in the works and coming together is some new interior painting research so that we can have charts of paint schemes and which cars and classes used which scheme as of August 1950.  This will allow us to upgrade the interior colors on our models!  This information will be posted on the NightOwlModeler blog when I do my rework of the GGD cars' interior colors.

In Closing

Another view of the Grand Canyon Railway's ex-SP 72-IC "Sub" fleet from 2017, Jason Hill photo.

Currently, I'm hoping to have some of the Upgrade Kits at the SPH&TS Convention in Visalia, California in early October for sale.  At least, have some samples to show of what's coming very soon.  Also, as the quantities of the early production are limited as this is a educated guess, I expect that some parts will sell out quickly and follow-up production batches will be required. - So please be patient if what you want is out of stock by November. 

Also remember to please subscribe to this blog where I'll be announcing these upgrades soon.

Jason Hill
OwlMtModels

P.S.  On my NightOwlModeler blog, I will be posting various "Upgrade Articles", which will be in instructional format on how I'm upgrading the GGD cars along with other articles on the rest of my personal passenger car fleet.  I hope the community will support this effort to put out some new information and detail parts.