So I finally found two GM&O F3A shells from Intermountain, the shells are great ( I got both for thirty dollars) but they are not correct so I had to paint the top of the loco black to be prototypical. And here is what it should look like in picture two.
NICE ! Classy looking units. I would like to make some F units in the last solid red scheme, but the sources for decals for that scheme have dried up....
Yeah I know what you mean, before I got these I was contemplating to just get some F units and paint them in the GM&O scheme but as you said I could not find any decals, Micro scales didn't have any. I did some hoppers for the GM&O and I had to use the decals from a caboose.
I'm in the middle of painting a Kato F3 in the red scheme. I'm just glad that I squirreled away several of the decal sheets that Microscale used to offer. Of course, since they are so old, I needed to apply a clear finish on them before I cut them apart. After doing some research, the black should be from the first hatch back with the top of the cab the maroon or red. At least that is the way that it seems by looking at a ton of pics! It does make a world of difference by painting the roof black. Good job!
View attachment 16551 We are both correct Chuck, I looked at a lot of photos and I saw that they had two black paints schemes on the roof, some F3A's had the black till the first hatch as you said and then some others had the black till almost the windshield. So I guess I went all the way to the windshield. I'm using this photo as reference only since I did not take this pic.
That photo sure makes it look that way, but notice how above the cab, there is a little of the body color showing under the black weathering? Stupid GM&O; if they kept their locos a little cleaner, it would be easier for us modelers!
I looked through my GM&O F3 slides, and the following units (classic scheme) all have the roof red above the cab and the rest of the roof black: 800A, 801B, 805A, 807B, 809B, 810A, 810B, 811A, 880A. There is some photographic evidence to suggest that there was a very thin yellow border surrounding the black on the roof, but I can't say for sure. These units (all red scheme) show evidence of the same roof painting pattern: 803A, 806B, 807A, 884A, 885A, 811B, 883A. The other F3's I have photos of are just too weathered and dirty. Also bear in mind that when the GM&O repainted these things into the all red (except roof) scheme, they used different hues of red, so you'd have to look at photos that have units in both schemes to make a guess. I shot these photos in the early to mid 70's, if that's any help. EDIT: Here's another variation. The Bloomington shops repainted 883A into this scheme. Note the cast metal number plate and name plate, and how the front edge of the black on the roof curves forward to the back of the horn. (Company photo.)
David - Thanks for the info, and that is a fantastic shot! Since most F's of that era are so dirty, that is probably the first one that I have seen with the silver stirrups. Maybe I just haven't paid much attention to that...
GM&O wasn't good about washing locos. So usually, the roof is so filthy it's hard to tell where the red ends and where the black starts.
I think if you weather the loco, leave it alone. If not, then I would fix it by trying to match the factory maroon. That should not be too difficult.
additionI agree with cf7's advice: weather the roof and it will be accurate. This assumes you're not modeling the late 40's or early 50's, but even then weathering would have darkened the roofs and tops of noses. I have some slides of classic scheme F3's where I simply can't tell about the roof because of uniform weathering across the entire roof. EDIT: The more I study these photos the more confused I get. Here's a relatively clean F3 (photo c. 1961), and I can see (in a close up view of the original negative anyway) a thin (yellow) line separating the black from the maroon on the roof. This line follows the same pattern of curving forward to the center of the cab (not straight across) that I had thought was a variation. So maybe this is the standard classic scheme? This would be very difficult to replicate this on an N scale model (at least I would find it difficult) and weathering the entire roof is the best bet IMO.
David - That's the way I thought they all were. The black is straight to a point right where the horns are located. I could be wrong, but of all of the photos that I've seen (when the weathering is not too bad!), this is what they look like. Depending on the scheme, the thin striping may or may not be there. See your earlier photo on this thread.
