CN F-3a project


C

CNR Glen

Member
My new project is detailing a P1K F-3a. I got the shell from fellow forum member Imachattack (trent). I mounted it on a Bachmann Plus F-7 chassis. It's already in The fifties CNR Scheme and the painting is really good.
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I have an F-unit detailng kit from Detail associates coming that includes the wire grabs, MU hoses, lifting eyes and some NWB castings. My issue is that the grabs are already molding into the shell and I don't want to shave them off since the shell is already painted
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I might try adding the side grabs over the cast-in grabs, The fact that they are painted in the body colors instead of the prototypical yellow might make that easier. Or I could just leave the wire grabs off and paint the side grabs yellow. I'm not going to do anything to the front grabs on the nose, other that maybe trying to add shadows around them.

The other dilemma are the horns. CN had a three-chime nathan style, not the two singles on the roof that are on the model now. I'll have to fill the holes and try to mask the fills by paint and weathering I suppose.
 
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I got my detail parts in the mail:
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Pictured is:
Detail assoiciates Speed recorder
Detail Associates F-unit detail kit

Minatures By Eric: Windshield wipers
Minatures By Eric: Roof mounted bell

I'll use the MU hoses, lift eyes and coupler cut bars from the F-unit detail kit

Heres a couple pictures of the real thing, courtesy of the Alberta RR Museum (It's amazing what you can get when you ask) I needed detail shots of the backside and they graciously supplied them

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I'll have to add the ladder and back up light to the rear. As well as the lift eyes to the top of the rear door.
I'm currently waiting for CNR green and yellow paint to arrive so I can paint the hand grabs and details as I apply them.
 
Looking good Glen. I know what you mean with the grab iron over the molded irons. On my old Athearns If I was not repainting I just installed the grab irons on the roof, and put the coupler cut bars on the front, add the diaframs etc.... If I was repainting the loco I shaved down the molded handels and then put the grab irons on. Its a Tuff call because its already a fresh shell in your road name.
 
Nice looking loco, how does the Bachman chassis run compared to the Proto?
Looking forward to seeing the pics when shes all done up!
 
Thank you I'm just starting tp add the detal parts to it. The Bachmann plus is pretty much their spectrum line without the extra details on the shell. The chassis runs pretty well,a little noisier than my Proto1000 c-liner at first but then quieted down nicely.
 
Did the proto shell mount without mods?
I've tried to put an athearn shell on Kato, Stewart, and IM chassis with no luck.
By the way... I was at your LHS a week or so ago, bought all the BN rolling stock there was. :)
 
I had to shave some of the mounts down iside the proto shell as well as remove the porthole glass. The shell is sitting loosely on the chassis right now. I'll probable mount it on the chassis in a more permanet fashion later.
I have to admit that I rarely buy anything from my local hobby shop (even though I live 15 minute walk away) I find him a little pricey.
 
I've ben slowly adding parts to the shell this week as I get a few minutes here and there. So far I've drilled the holes for the lift rings, added the the rear MU hoses, and installed the front and rear coupler cut bars. I had to modifiy both the front and back to fit. Detail Associates makes their bar as one piece but to clear the rear coupler I had to cut the center section out and attach via 4 of the lift eyes. Pics of the rear to come Later.
The front cut bar was modified using a 1997 MR paint shop article:
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Again I cut the center section out , bent the cut ends in a bit and used them as mounts. The loop under the coupler was fashioned using some brass wire.
 
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I painted the cut bar the other day:
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The front details are pretty much finished. You can also see the Minitures By Eric windshield wipers. Instead of trying to hand paint the brass cut bar I masked the shell off at the pilot and sprayed the whole thing flat black. Out of the pic is the roof mounted bell. I decided not to replace the single 'honkers' since it would be too dificult to fill the holes and match the paint properly. Besides in 1959 the F-3's could still have them.
I'm still waiting for my CN green and yellow paint so I can begin some detail painting like the side grabs (yellow) and the lift eyes (green)
 
CNR Glen said:
I painted the cut bar the other day:
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The front details are pretty much finished. You can also see the Minitures By Eric windshield wipers. Instead of trying to hand paint the brass cut bar I masked the shell off at the pilot and sprayed the whole thing flat black. Out of the pic is the roof mounted bell. I decided not to replace the single 'honkers' since it would be too dificult to fill the holes and match the paint properly. Besides in 1959 the F-3's could still have them.
I'm still waiting for my CN green and yellow paint so I can begin some detail painting like the side grabs (yellow) and the lift eyes (green)
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Looking good. Look forward to seeing the rear.
 
I finally got the paint I needed. The CN paint colors are hard to come by here in Canada, or at least where I live. Due to environmental restrictions oil based is currently not inportable so the enamel and laquer based paints are out. I also can't mail order acrylics right now because if it freezes it's useless. I ended up going to Micheal's yesterday and going through the acrylic paint racks there. After about half an hour and a dropped paint bottle (spilled paint all over their floor, they were pretty understanding) I found that Ceramcoat Antique Gold is almost dead on for CN Imitation Gold and Folkart Olive Green is pretty close to CN Olive green.
I painted the handgrabs on the sides, they look alot better.
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The high mount bell, windshield wipers and lift rings are also mounted to the roof.
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Finally a view of the rear. You can see the MU hoses, coupler cut bars and the engineer side ladder.
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The ladder is a section of Walthers feight car/caboose ladder with 4 small spacers made out of evergreen styrene. The MU hoses are painted grimy black.
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All that's left is the speed recorder on the front truck that will be coming shortly

I'm thinking of some light weathering, lightly airbrushing grimy black on the trucks, fuel tank, pilot, and lower rear. Flat black exhaust stains on the roof and some dirt on the front pilot. Any thoughts?
 
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Looks good to me. Great work on all the details and painting. Yes I agree with light weathering, too much will ruin that great paint job!
 
The project is now finished. I did a little weathering on the engine before it goes into service on the layout:
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I lightly airbrushed the trucks , fuel tank and pilot in Badger grimy black with a light coat of Poly-S dirt overtop. You can also see the speed recorder added
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I also gave it a light spray of Poly-S steam power black on the roof to simulate diesel exhaust. A word of warning here, a little black goes a long way, use it sparingly!
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Great work! You've really brought this loco to life. The trucks look very sharp.

I noticed that there are no MU hoses on the front. Were the F3's not designed to accommodate additional units coupled to the front? Also, what is the purpose of the coupler cut bar?

On an unrelated note, I like how your tracks looks. How did you go about weathering them?

-James
 
Thanks. There are no MU hoses on the front of the engine because CN didn't run their F units 'elephant' style. The fronts of the A's weren't to be MU'd with anything other than a snowplow.
The Coupler cut bar on the engine has the same purpose on any peice of rolling stock, to uncouple the couplers. Not many manufaturers model the cut bars on the front of the F-units I've noticed
Weathering track to make it look like this is the easiest thing. After I laid the track and soldered the joints and wiring I sprayed it all with a red oxide primer.
 
I decided to keep the original horns, again due to the existing paint and I figure in 1959 (the year I model) The single 'honkers' would still be in use.
Here's the engine on it's first revenue run.
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The end is brought up by the Juneco caboose i just finished as well
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