So I'm joining in a little late in the game but have a question. How much different externally is the F40PH-3Cs MPI rebuilt from the LL Ph 1 or Kato Ph 3 shells? I'm not looking for rivet counting accuracy but close enough to be worth it. I've been poking around and might get a couple LL units to play with. If I can get those and a few of the Athearn Bombardier cars I'll try my hand at an ACE train.
The rebuilt F40s have a seperate HEP unit with it's own Fan and Radiator section so I believe the entire chassis is extended. It would be a Kitbash project for sure.
The F40PH-2C and the various MPI versions were 8 feet longer than the standard F40PH. While technically this should be a phase III configuration with Q fans and low profile fan housings, the LL F40PH can be worked into a MPI F40PH-2C. You will need three shells for parts and a very steady hand with a razor saw: The chassis is an Atlas B40-8 with modifications.
I made a mistake and posted some mis-information early on in this thread. The Atlas GP30/35 truck, along with ALL other GP trucks, DO have the correct 9' wheel base. I was holding one in my hand and picked up a set of calipers to measure it again, and sure enough it came out to .673" ~ .675", or 8.975' ~ 9' As for the F40PH-2C/3C, I found these pages, but don't know if the data has been substantiated: Motive Power Industries f40ph-2c Sheet Morrison Knudsen f40ph-3c Sheet The frame I'm drawing for the original F40 could be lengthened to fit a modified/remanufactured version. Donnell PS - Caltrain has a couple of the -2C version, along with Florida's Tri-Rail, and San Diego's Coaster.
It appears, looking through photo archives that you need to watch your prototypes with at least the -2cs. MTBA appears to not be extended and might in fact have a different HEP configuration (hard to tell obviously)
You should run those run those plow drawings past Craig at BLMA and see if there's an interest there.
We really need to get Craig to do a injection molded detail parts line to include the following: Large older style plow Small debris kicker Amtrak style plow Cab signal box Porch mount hand brake Multiple types of airhorns that are not available from Atlas (5 chime, 3 chime forward facing etc.) Multiple types of bells (hood mount, cab mount, gong etc.) Spark arresters Winterization hatches Speed recorders Snow shields
Any reason we couldn't get all of these on sprues as a full detailing set? I'd pay a pretty penny for such a set! Also with sprue-based parts (like a model car) the tooling and molding/production costs are reduced significantly over part-by-part molding.....
Bump.. So now that Kato is re-issueing the F40's, what do to with the Life-Likes.. You did order the Kato engines, right??? Better get on it! Looks like I'll go back to my initial plan and make the LL unit a Cabbage unit. I bought a TF-4 decoder for it years ago with the idea of lights and whatnot installed. I just need to get it to roll better! Since I like how the GP35 spacing looks, I may go that route and mill down a frame, add trucks and built a new tank/box under it. Then I would have the electrical pickup and some weight to keep it coming off the tracks. Hmmm..
Well, I took a break on my F40 project, I sheved it about a moth and a half ago. I'm going to ahead and get the Kato's as soon as I can get the money. I guess I can convert my life-like to an f69PHAC! Vince
Would you guys apply all this work to the Model Power version? In some belated advice to SP9800. I have bought every variation of the Bi-Level gallery cars, both smooth and corrugated sided. Arnold....................(LONG OOP) ConCor...................(Still being sold) Look Models............(Etched Brass and Stainless - Custom Made) NGI ......................(Kit - Etched Brass walls with ConCor roofs and trucks ..............................with cast details and plastic or wood chassis - LONG OOP) Wheels of Time.......(First Version - OOP) Second edition released If anyone knows of another manufacturer, please let me know. The Wheels of Time display great. They give me the most running problems, I have replaced wheels and trucks, and have added weight. If you get the older ConCor cars with the underbody detail weight, they run great with no mods. The new cars run better with some extra weight added or the old casting.
So, I had an idea... When Vince first started this thread I immediately thought to repower the locomotive with an Atlas drive. My soul reason for doing this was because the wheelbase of the Life-Like Blomberg truck was a scale 10' instead of the 9' wheelbase of the prototype. The trucks where correctly space at about 33', but the extra foot in the truck wheelbase make for an awkward "big-foot" look. Fast-forward ten months, and my epiphany actually came. Well, I'm not entirely sure if it will work though. I wanted to complete this project without overcomplicating things and I think I found a way to use the original frame and get the correct trucks. Okay, enough suspense already. I first thought about adapting Atlas trucks to the LL frame, but then I remembered the LL GP18, yes, well the early version. It uses the same mounting system, a steel pin through the main drive gear. The only problem is that I don't have one on hand. Can any with both these units try a truck swap?
Since this is dig up old thread and loco day... Here is a photo of mine. It is amazing what a 3-dimensional fuel tank can do. It is made of solid pewter. I made the master for these and sold them to N Hobby Distributing. I'm not sure that they were really hot sellers, but they really improved the looks of this loco. If I'm not mistaken, John Coots of N Scale of Nevada actually did the casting for NHD so I wouldn't be surprised if Keith Wiseman had the mold.
Hi u18b, Your kit made a vast improvement on the stock Life-Like model. I had entertained the idea of making a new or replacement frame and still may. As I posted earlier, I would like to see if the LL GP18 trucks fit the F40 chassis, but then again, the availabilty of early GP18s or associated parts is limited. I may revisit the frame idea and incorporate changes to allow Atlas GP trucks to be used. The frame would contain provisions for body mounted couplers, utilize closed pilots, separately applied fuel and air tanks and battery boxes for ph1, 2, and 3 units.
On the question about LL first run GP18 trucks: The GP18 trucks feature a center mounted gear tower while the GP38-2, F7 and F40PH featured a gear tower mounted offset to the ends of the loco, so while the trucks may fit, it will change the truck centers quite a bit. On the 3D tanks: Didn't Republic Loco Works or something like that make an F40PH tank kit too? I know they did a tank kit for the GP38-2. I remember an early issue of N-Scale where someone rebuilt a Model Power F40. It looked very nice and probably took more effort than the shell was worth.
Hi u18b, Your kit made a vast improvement on the stock Life-Like model. I had entertained the idea of making a new or replacement frame and still may. As I posted earlier, I would like to see if the LL GP18 trucks fit the F40 chassis, but then again, the availabilty of early GP18s or associated parts is limited. I may revisit the frame idea and incorporate changes to allow Atlas GP trucks to be used. The frame would contain provisions for body mounted couplers, utilize closed pilots, separately applied fuel and air tanks and battery boxes for ph1, 2, and 3 units.
