Picked up this Stewart F-3 on evilbay and finally got the detail parts in to get it done. The stewart medel is a great runner but does lack a lot, including road numbers. It was a bear to figure out how to remove the shell, but now let the games begin. Here are a few photos of the prototype that I have to work with.
There is no need to replave the grills. They just need to be painted. The freight units has stainless steel grills, but for looks, the NP pinted th frills the body color.
Ah ok, very convenient that they were painted on the prototype. If i am not mistaken the casting quality of the shell is very very good if one does not need stainless grilles. I am looking forward to seeing this project progress!
They are very good shells, but really lack a lot of detail. While bidding on the F-3, I also gave just a starting bid on an F-7 at just a starting bid of $20 and ended up winning that one also. Notice that they don't even have road numbers on them. The stainless grill on the F-7 is correct. I ordered Microscale decals for both units as well as a lot of detail parts. Both need items such as hand rails, Winterization hatches, MU hoses, 5 chime Leslie air horns plus others. Here is a photo of an NP F-9 I took the day it was leaving, in the early 80's I believe to go to Washington. The BN shops in Livingston, MT had just finished a restoration on it. It is now in service with the Mount Rainier Scenic Railway. Easy to make out the grills. Should keep me busy during the winter.
DROOL....OK, I mopped up all the foam. Should be good for now. View attachment 183802 Should keep me busy during the winter.[/QUOTE]
Working on a station for Albemarle City. Started with a Walthers "City Station" and painted it off-white. Always like the way the C&O station at White Sulpher was painted all white to match the Greenbrier, so I airbrushed this thing. Kit is not "great", I'm having to spend way to much time to get parts to fit tightly. But can't wait to finish it. I'm checking out LED lights for it. I figure I'm about 80% or so done. We'll see how this thing goes..
Likes me some F unit builds, I got a bucket of those Leslie 5 chimes, let me know if you need a couple, the Frisco used them on about everything. What about the "NP" on the B unit grills? That was a lot of cutting to cut all them out.
Here's the Stewart F-3 on the left after the decals have been allpied and an Athearn F-7 behind it. The handrails still have to be applied along with some other details, but the colors are a pretty good match to the Walthers coach on the right.The grills were just painted, like the prototype was.
Paint looks like a very good match. Plenty close, from what I can vaguely recall after too many decades are now gone.
I assume by "lack of detail" you are referring to separately applied parts like you see on Genesis models these days. But I actually feel Stewart did a very good job with the shell and there is a lot of nice molded in detail so I wouldn't say the shells lacks detail. Take a look at the air grills on the F7's. They have separate sections, rivets and depth. The F3's depth is on more than one level - quite good for a molded shell. With a bit of judicious shadow painting, you can simulate the frame members behind the grills and have a really excellent level of depth and detail. About the only negative of the Stewart shell is that the sides of the nose have parting lines which appear on the factory painted units, but if you paint your own, you can sand those off first and eliminate them. With a little effort and detailing the Stewart F units can stand up there with the top versions. The main advantage of the Genesis models is they have much of the detailing factory applied and of course the Genesis shell is widely considered to be the best representation of the US EMD F unit, especially with the complex curves of the nose. Only Rapido does as good, if not better job, but theirs are Canadian model mostly so US folks still have to rely mostly on other models for typical F's. Nice job on the NP F unit there. It should be a sweet runner too.
You are right about the Stewart units having decent shells. The details that they have is very good, but they didn't even have road numbers on them.The Genisis unit did come properly numbered and did also have handrails already installed, but a Leslie 5 chime horn will have to be installer to replace to 2 stock horns. The Genisis unit also had the winterization hatch which I need to add to the F-3. Both units will have fore cracker antennas and spark arrestors installed whenever they arrive as they are on back order. Hand rails, grab irons up to the hood and MU hoses are the next step on the Stewart F-3. Thanks for the comments.
Fresh off the workbench! I bought this Atlas U30C at a sale several months ago, previous owner took the decoder out and put the unit on the back burner, decided to part with it. I stripped and repainted the unit and added a standard Digitrax decoder. KY&N 432 will make its debut at a friends operating session tonight. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I picked up this older (1973) Roco V215 quite a while back: It seemed to have an issue which I guess is fairly common; one of the axle gears had split, so it made a nice "clicking" sound as it rolled along the track. If any of you have ever had a 70s-vintage O scale Atlas F9, chances are you've encountered this problem as well. Finding parts for these Austrian-made models can be a challenge, to say the least, and I was having no luck. It looked like I might have to purchase another unit on eBay.de from Germany and spend a ton on the shipping costs Eventually, I was able to find an FA-1 B unit, also made by Roco, which seemed to be of a similar vintage, about 20 miles outside of Portland. Indeed, the axles were a perfect swap, so now this old thing runs nice and quietly, and I have a "stash" of extra parts, just in case. Happy Thanksgiving! Mark in Oregon
Mark, Are you doing european O scale, or is this HO scale? Just asking as you mentioned old Atlas O. Guess I will have to see if you've posted pics of your layout somewhere now.
Here is my workbench with my recently completed, awaiting finishing touches, or active projects: A KATO cab car detailed with numbers applied, a scratchbuilt CE-11 caboose needing steps and paint (Santa Fe), a Silver Streak Hart Gondola needing paint, a Jordan fire truck needing paint, and an Eastern Car Works 4-4-2 sleeper(Santa Fe). I think I need to break out the airbrush pretty soon, or I’ll have a too big of a pileup. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Actually, a little bit of both. This loco is in HO, by Roco; the 0 scale V215 is by Rivarossi. No layout (yet)... Mark in Oregon
