Athearn Blue Box Santa Fe Little Chief Build

[zzr1200guy]

Welcome back to Jack on Tracks! In this episode of the Back Shop, we begin work on the Santa Fe Chief passenger train project by completely upgrading an Athearn Blue Box F7 locomotive with DCC sound, LED lighting, and performance improvements.

This locomotive appeared nearly brand new, but like many older Athearn Blue Box locomotives, it still suffered from the notorious split axle gear problem. Follow along as we completely disassemble the locomotive, replace the damaged gears, service the trucks, lubricate the drivetrain, and prepare the chassis for modern DCC operation.

Hope you all enjoy this build and if you have a any question please feel free to ask and if you have any suggestions fire away.

 

[zzr1200guy]

Link fixed

Hope you all enjoy it

 

[zzr1200guy]

Welcome back to Jack on Tracks and another episode of the Back Shop! In this installment of the Santa Fe F-Unit project, we're moving beyond the DCC and sound installation and diving into the fine details that really bring these locomotives to life.

Today, we weather and detail the trucks using a combination of airbrushed metallic finishes, washes, pigments, and weathering powders to recreate the worn appearance of prototype Santa Fe locomotives. I also compare different pigment fixers from AK Interactive and Vallejo to see how they perform on model railroad projects.

Along the way, we'll install brake details, discuss upcoming grab iron and handrail upgrades, and take a closer look at how these Santa Fe unicts are coming together as a matched set.