Newbie needs help with F7


gregind

New Member
Hello all,

I am new to this forum and to the hobby in general. After much personal debate I have decided that I prefer HO scale but N comes a close second so I have begun working on as much as I can. Without a large space to devote to a layout at this time I have instead decided to work on as many small peices of my eventual layout as I can. That being said I need some help with my first project.

I am not new to working with plastics, as a some-what experienced 1/24th scale modeler I can say with some certinty that I know how to do certain things with plastics, anyway a friend of mine walking through a flea market picked up a model loco for $5 and gave it to me. Not expecting much I was surprised when I discovered that the engine was a Athearn BB kit that had seen better days. I hooked it up to my small electronics bench to see if the motor would turn. It didn't at first, I cant say I was surprised, but not giving up is my specialty so I isolated the trucks and attempted to power the motor only. It worked! Yeah for me and actually to tell the truth aside from being a bit noisy it ran real well.

I decided that someone must have tried to rebuild the trucks(or just took them apart for fun) and forget an insulator somewhere. I already found replacements for $16.00 dollars and decided at this point it was worth it to try and get the loco running figuring it to be a good distraction till I get room for a layout.

Knowing that I can now get the engine operational I turned to my favorite activity: detailing. First of all the loco is an F7(incase I forgot to mention it). The body was in pretty bad shape when I got it and since I saw that Athearn sold a replacement for about $8 I decided I couldn't make it worse. I first drilled out the running lights in front and the number board so I could light them with an led. Well to make a long story short(too late, lol) I discovered serious problems with the body and also that the front end was not exactly correct. Its not totally noticable but to someone like me it is enough. I discovoered that this was that way they were molded by athearn!

I was wondering if anyone knew somewhere I could get a modification or a new body that fits the Athearn chassis that is correct to begin with?

Also if I end up having to mod the athearn body where I could get the detail pieces like: handrails, hand holds, the side vents near the top, better radiator fans, and better headlights!! The head lights, hand rails, and vents are top priority.

Thanks for hanging in there for the question!
Can't wait to read the responses and be nice I'm new!
 
WOHO! Welcome to our little forum here! And to MY WORLD! I love detailing just as much as you seem to by what I read in this article. I have never done much with F units, although I have one I started to detail.
Check this out:
http://www.detailswest.com/FUnit_info.htm

You'll wanna check for Details West, Detail Associates, or Cannon & Co. (Cannon). Those 3 are the "major" companies that come to mind. Cannon SHOULD have the approriate fans, I think, DW & DA will have everything else. Check websites like http://www.walthers.com and go to advanced search, make the catagory "super detailing parts" and scale "HO" and then type F unit into the keywords box, or just search as is. It'll take a tad bit a "learning" because not everything comes up on a narrowed down search, so you also have to know the parts you're looking for.
 
Thanks for the suggestions. I have found parts that I think will suit my needs. But we will see when they arrive.

I have a related question, on the unit I mentioned above I was able to get the trucks to transfer power and get it to run on a 3'x3' circle track I have for testing my projects. When the engine runs(especially at speed) the wheels spark, is this due to the possible bad trucks, the curve of the track, or due the wheels just need to be cleaned(they are kind of dull looking)?

Thanks again for any help!
 
Thanks for the suggestions. I have found parts that I think will suit my needs. But we will see when they arrive.

I have a related question, on the unit I mentioned above I was able to get the trucks to transfer power and get it to run on a 3'x3' circle track I have for testing my projects. When the engine runs(especially at speed) the wheels spark, is this due to the possible bad trucks, the curve of the track, or due the wheels just need to be cleaned(they are kind of dull looking)?

Thanks again for any help!
 
Does it spark at the rail joints? I know I've had some minor sparking from my Athearn F7A and an older SD40-2 & Tyco Alco, but I'd yet to get that problem from my other units. I'm not much of an electrical guy, maybe someone else?
 
BB Athearn have sintered iron wheels. I don't know exactly what that means but they don't wear out but can attract dirt. I clean mine with a paper towel with cleaner (alcohol, goo gone, etc) laid across the rails. Holding on to the locomotive and with power to the track put one truck then the other on the paper towel and let the wheels spin the dirt away. Serious accumulations require lightly scraping the crud off with the tip of an xacto or similiar.
 
gregind,
Welcome to the forum. Glad to have you aboard. If you don't have one yet, I'd suggest picking up a copy of the Walther's HO Catalog. It is the largest wishbook that I know of in the model railroading industry. It has a lot of great products with pictures and descriptions in most instances. You can usually find one at most hobby shops, but be warned, they cost about $25. I think it is a great investment every few years, but personally have not seen enough different from year to year to get one every year. If you can't find what you're looking for in there, there's a good chance it doesn't exist. The main exception to this rule is the product line of Horizon Hobbies, which includes Athearn and MDC Roundhouse. These products are no longer carried by Walthers, if my memory serves me correctly.
Anyhow, I'd again like to say welcome to the forum and enjoy your visit.
-Joe
 
F7A/B Detailing

I took the stock Athearn blue box F7A/B set, browsed all the prototype photos I could find (about 6) and added a bunch of detail parts (including the wrong sunshades!), touched up some paint here and there (the steps) and greatly improved the original models.

Just to give you some inspiration.
 
Just as a FYI, sintered iron is basically powdered iron under high heat to form a solid. The heat level is below the melting point. Sintering is most common with bronze, to make bearings. The process allows for porosity so lubricants can flow freely.

For our wheels, it's bad because of all the pores and pits between the grains means a nice craggy surface to pick up dirt. Which is why the blue box wheels are bad! bad! bad!. Solid nickel wheels don't have this problem, the surface is smooth, and the nickel doesn't pick up dirt as well.

Here's a real world example. You're wearing shoes with a totally smooth sole. Your buddy is wearing sneakers with a super complex tread pattern molded into the sole. You both step right in the middle of a cow pie (I was gonna say Dog Poop, but...). Which sole do you think will pick up the most poop, and which one will be easier to clean?

:D

Kennedy
 
Sintered wheels pull better than NS wheels but I don't miss them on new locos or locos that have gotten their wheels changed out.
Paul
 
Curator - nice job and that is about whatI am planning but I also have thought about adding some stryrene in the cab area and a driver. It wouldn't look great but I think it would add a lot to the model, also I found a place that sells the vents on the sides pressed in metal for about 6.00. Thanks all for the great ideas! I have two questions, one - if i decided to change the wheels eventually how hard would it be to get wheels that worked with athearn BB kits? two - this question is slightly un related to the F7, can some one tell me the easiest way to identify the manufacturer of a loco? I have bought on ebay a Alco PA-1 model painted in my fav road - NKP and now that I have it here and working on my test track I was trying to figure who made it.
 
Model power, or Walters made PA1's IIRC, there's not many different ones on the market. Custom finishes has Cab interior kits that are awsome, I have two modified ones in a SD60M & Dash8-40CW, both RailPower shells. They're great and add alot to the cab! As for the wheels, some company made blackened metal wheels for Athearn BB kits, I'd hope they come with instructions too. I havn't gotten as far as repacing wheels yet. If you want to go totaly insanely detailed, I'd suggest looking into P:87 (that Proto 87), they're a Special interest group that has EVERYTHING to scale, including wheel widths & switch frogs. The only problem with P:87 is there's no commercialy available kits, you have to take normal kits and kitbash them all to have P:87 wheels and such. I settled fine with the couplers from Sergent Eng.
 
Check out Highliners F unit shells. They look pretty nice, though they may need a little modification to fit a standard BB athearn unit. They're very cutomizable too, I believe each kit has enough parts to make any thing for man F2-F9.

I don't think they have a website, but a search through the walthers website should find them.
 
gregind said:
I was wondering if anyone knew somewhere I could get a modification or a new body that fits the Athearn chassis that is correct to begin with?
As Hawkeye251 says, the Highliner. This was originally made specifically for this purpose. In the early 1980s people were getting fed up with the funny proportions of the Athearn Fs, and there weren't many alternates at that time. They took too long to get the units out, and by the time they were, the Stewarts had come out and stole the show.

The Highliners have all the appropriate slots and spaces so you can make an accurate variation of any F (except FT of course) you want.

The Highliner is the body used on the Athearn Genesis line.
 
I still prefer the old brass wheels for pullin'.:D
The BB wheels will work however,I am getting partial to Nickel Silver wheels and *may* start a replacement wheel program some day.
NWSL makes replacement wheels for Athearn BB engines...
http://www.nwsl.com/
 



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