North Coast Limited Project

[Cajonpassfan]

Now I need a new desk!  Mine has sharp corners.
Looking at your picture, I'm even more impressed with your skill at forming the skirts.  I tried a somewhat similar technique once and ended up with lumpy skirts.

Yea, and nobody wants to see lumpy skirts..
Love what you’re doing with that train @hegstad1 !
Otto

[Mark5]

Great work so far! 

[hegstad1]

Power.

It's a long story but the NP eventually ran many sets of F3A-F3B-F5A sets.  Late model F3s were called F5s on the NP.  I had a set of beautiful Intermountain F3s but I needed to change a few details and there were some minor paint changes I wanted to make too.  It pained me to throw them in the stripper. The F5 is an F7 with an F3 dynamic brake panel added.  The one (kind of major) change, was replacing the center porthole on the B unit with a louvre.  More details will be added after painting.

[Cajonpassfan]

Whoa, whoa...hold it!
What did you do with he the carbody openings? So 3D! Looks awesome
Looking at this makes one realize just how bad the BLI F3’s are, even the corrected ones. Katos not all that much better...imho.
Otto K.

[hegstad1]

Whoa, whoa...hold it!
What did you do with he the carbody openings? So 3D! Looks awesome
Looking at this makes one realize just how bad the BLI F3’s are, even the corrected ones. Katos not all that much better...imho.
Otto K.

I did nothing with the openings.  This is what is behind the etchings on the intermountain shells.  I haven't applied the screens and grills yet!

[Cajonpassfan]

Thanks Andrew, I had no idea. Need to look into it...
Otto

[Wutter]

Are you going to do the liftrings? I love all the detailing that the Intermountain F units come with but hate that their lift rings are huge half circles on the roof compared to Kato ones, the only thing preventing me from doing all of them is repainting to match. But since you've stripped all the paint already, it makes it super easy to get body color to match on the rings.

[hegstad1]

Are you going to do the liftrings? I love all the detailing that the Intermountain F units come with but hate that their lift rings are huge half circles on the roof compared to Kato ones, the only thing preventing me from doing all of them is repainting to match. But since you've stripped all the paint already, it makes it super easy to get body color to match on the rings.

You know,  I have had this argument with myself.  Is this effort worth the final result?  It's one thing to take a picture and blow it up online;  it's another viewing it running around the layout.  That being said, I think you just shamed me into doing it. 

[Mark5]

I love all the detailing that the Intermountain F units come with but hate that their lift rings are huge half circles on the roof

Crap! Now I can't "unsee" them. 

[hegstad1]

Are you going to do the liftrings? I love all the detailing that the Intermountain F units come with but hate that their lift rings are huge half circles on the roof compared to Kato ones, the only thing preventing me from doing all of them is repainting to match. But since you've stripped all the paint already, it makes it super easy to get body color to match on the rings.

So I said to myself, i said, "You're lazy. Why don't you just drill a hole through the middle of the dinner plates instead of scraping them off, drilling, and glueing a whole new part on there."  So that's what I did.  I think it's good.  This would work great on painted units.  Just be carful to barely drill through the opposite side so the bit doesn't scratch the paint.

[hegstad1]

Whoa, whoa...hold it!
What did you do with he the carbody openings? So 3D! Looks awesome
Looking at this makes one realize just how bad the BLI F3’s are, even the corrected ones. Katos not all that much better...imho.
Otto K.

Otto,  Is it me or did the Santa Fe go without grills on some locomotives?

[Mark5]

So I said to myself, i said, "You're lazy. Why don't you just drill a hole through the middle of the dinner plates instead of scraping them off, drilling, and glueing a whole new part on there."  So that's what I did.  I think it's good.  This would work great on painted units.  Just be carful to barely drill through the opposite side so the bit doesn't scratch the paint.

That looks really good. And a great solution for the few F units that I own (Southern and Western Maryland).

What size bit?

Mark

[hegstad1]

That looks really good. And a great solution for the few F units that I own (Southern and Western Maryland).

What size bit?

Mark

80

[keeper]

Tapping them gently with a hammer over the curved edge of my desk pull-out.

Ah, I see, nice. So it is nothing you can do on an aleady built car.

Thomas

[Cajonpassfan]

Otto,  Is it me or did the Santa Fe go without grills on some locomotives?

Ha! It’s not you Andrew.
It seems that when delivered in 1951, freight F7 units 259 LABC through 268 LABC (ABBA’s) came without grilles; they gave them up to upgrade the early “chicken wire” 16 class passenger Warbonnet early F3’s.
But that happened after my cut off period, so my early F3’s should be sporting the chickenwired body openings...
Otto