CN F-3a project

[cnrglen]

My new project is detailing a P1K F-3a. It's already in The fifties CNR Scheme and the painting is really good.



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




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.

[CP_8530]

Are you sure those early units didn't have the single honker on each side, and later get them swapped out for a 3-chime mounted over one side? It looks like the later F7 units were delivered with the centered 3-chime but the F3's appear to have had single honkers on either side (possibly modified by removing them and mounting a 3-chime in one of the sockets later on):

www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=327107&nseq=2

You might be able to get away with just painting the cast-ons yellow; that's what I'd try first.

[cnrglen]

I think you're right. I'll stick with the original horns and try painting the cast on grabs. I'm waiting on the detail kits so I can add the MU hoses and lift eyes. I'm also considering the high-muont bell that #9000 has in the picture.

[cnrglen]

I got my detail parts in the mail:

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





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.

[cnrglen]

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:
i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc278/OkanaganIroc/model railroad/Engines/F-3a project/curbarfront.jpg[/IMG]
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.

[cnrglen]

I painted the cut bar the other day:


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)

[cnrglen]

If you mean the CN Sig paint by scalecoat yes. I was going to order the Trueline trains paint but it's Acrylic and it might freeze if shipped during the Canadian Winter!

[cnrglen]

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 envronmental restrictions oil based is currently not improtable 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.

The high mount bell, windshield wipers and lift rings are also mounted to the roof.

Finally a view of the rear. You can see the MU hoses, coupler cut bars and the engineer side ladder.

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.

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?

[graftonterminalrr]

Looks very good. Not often do we see a CN F unit in a late-50s time frame. It's almost always "as-delivered" or "almost on the deadline". Diesels in the 50s were very well kept, so subtle weathering rather than heavy weathering would be proper.

One thing to keep in mind regarding the restored unit, is that aside from the paint job, it has all the modifications made over the years. For example, it has the F7 style side paneling between the portholes, even though the CN (ex Grand Trunk) units are the so called "chicken-wire" F3s correctly rendered on the P1K model. In other words, the restored unit would be an excellent reference if you wanted to model the unit in the 1980s or just prior to retirement.

But it's also a good reference for some of the other CN details. For example, no F on CN had a peaked rear door overhang.

[cnrglen]

The project is now finished. I did a little weathering on the engine before it goes into service on the layout:

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

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!

[cnrglen]

Thanks for your input Kris. As I mentioned earlier I did not want to make major cuts or mods to the shell beause of the paint job, hence I didn'y cut the overhang off.
I also had several other refernce pictures from the fifties of 9002 and 9003 in service. many of the grabs that you see on the restored engine must have been added later because the fifties version is considerably less 'detailed'.
I don't know if the ladder was a 60's addition but I liked the way it dressed up the rear so I added it.

[eliebarnes]

Was this a "pre-painted" unit or a custom painted unit?

very nice job, i'd reccomend buying "detailing diesel locomotives" by jeff wilson. published by kalmbach books.

some details missing are

class lights
back up light
different truck journals (you could swap a proto 2000 f3)

i'd also shorten the coupler gap and cut the glad hand from the pilot's coupler, but leave a little bit so it won't come out.

could this be used to make the gtw version, which has extra grab irons and a step on the engineer's side?

i hope to do a model like this when i can.

[cnrglen]

This was a pre-painted Proto1000 shell on a Bachmann plus chassis. Since I took these pictures I have added the back-up light.
I'm sure you could make a GTW version but if you want to start from an unpainted shell, I would go with the stewart shell. Detail Associates makes the detail kit specifically for the stewart unit

[jmlaboda]

The ladder is a nice touch... I have never noticed this before on CN F-units (not that I have known about it before now) but it is interesting to see. Thanks for sharing your project!!!

[cnrglen]

That may be true on the proto pic of #9000 but other vintage pictures I have of these engines have the grabs in yellow. I'm assuming that there were a few 'artistic licences' taken when #9000 was restored.