FMIG 21 F-3A 5002

I did not forget to write you about my conversion of a Cary shell and an Athearn mechanism into the F-5 5002. Unfortunately, I have misplaced my notes that were made during the conversion so the following is described solely from memory.

My first suggestion is that when the conversion shell is purchased, also purchase an extra package of steps as I broke two of them during the construction. I started with an Athearn super-geared F-7, a Cary F-3 conversion kit, the plastic F-7 shell is cannibalized for the number boards, air horns, and roof fans.

The Cary shell was addressed first by filing off the cast number boards which are located on the side, the steam generator piping, and the dynamic brake grids. The area where the dynamic brake grids are located was filled with Testers plastic putty and then the entire area was filed and finally sanded with very fine grit paper.

The middle port hole on each side was filed down and the hole filled with putty. A piece of styrene was glued in place covering the underside of the hole in order to hold the putty. As with the dynamic brake grid area, several applications were necessary with sub- sequent sanding in order to make the treated area look like the rest of the body.

The roof fan section of the F-7 shell was removed with an X-acto saw, w blade. The roof fan section of the Cary kit was used to mark the cutting line of the F-7's roof. The roof section with the fans was then filed to fit the opening in the Cary shell. This step is necessary because the 5002 had the fans almost flush with the balance of the roof line instead of significantly higher than the roof line as is the case with the fan section provided with the Cary kit.

The number boards from the F-7 were filed to fit the nose of the Cary shell and glued in place. The air horns removed from the F-7 were then put in place after new holes were drilled in the top of the cab.

Fitting the body on the Athearn frame required some degree of filing. I chose to work on the frame and file it to fit the body. The body is heavy enough, along with a snug fit, to sit on the frame without any other means of fastening.

After fitting the body to the frame, the body was painted black and yellow. The body was cleaned using Floguil Metal Conditioner, first soaking the body and scrubbing with a fine wire brush. I used warm water to rinse and an air brush to fully dry the body. A coat of Floquil primer was applied with the air brush and allowed to dry for 24 hours.

I used Floquil Engine Black for the final coat on the body. Floquil Reefer Yellow was used for the yellow striping and nose of the body. The masking for the nose was cut from masking tape placed gently on a piece of glass. To get the distinctive nose design, I used a Berol RapiDesign Eliptical Circle Template and an X-acto knife. It took me two tries before I got a mask that was reasonable looking.

The nose mask was applied to the body and a strip of tape applied to each side in order to apply the yellow hand that runs along the bottom of the car body sides. The nose and the side bands were then sprayed. I overlapped the edge of the masking tape and car body with black paint prior to applying the yellow paint. If there is a seepage between the tape and the car body, the black paint will fill the gaps and prevent the "feathered edges" that can result when painting a masked area. After the paint had dried, the masking tape was removed.

I waited another 24 hours before applying the masking tape along the upper sides to form the pattern for the yellow band that runs the length of the body from the nose to the rear of the body. After spraying the yellow band, the tape was removed after the paint had dried. The final painting step was to paint the top of the nose green using Floquil Dark Green. The hand rails were "scratch Built" from either 22 or 24 gauge wire, I think. Kadee couplers were added to the model along with Cal-Scale hoses. My next project is to modify an old Varney F-5B unit to match the A unit.

COMMENT: I still plan to write an article on how I modeled this same unit as renumbered 62 and in O/W paint. It was photographed and included in the Newsletter following the summer 1978 meet in Kansas City. I followed basically the same path as Jack with a few additions, I added the beacon flasher circuit and constant lighting from the earlier MR article.

The photo at left and on the next page was originally planned for my article until I noticed that the negatives were printed reversed. I am presently doing a 1/4" scale drawing to accompany the article.

Other things I did beyond Jack's conversion were: Five-chime horn from Detail Associates' removed the fuel-tank skirting, New lift ring castings, grafted the Athearn louvered. air filters between the two side port holes, added Details West SA-123 spark arresters. Detail Associates hoses, added a Utah Pacific speed recorder drive to the front truck left side, added an antenna added windshield wipers and windshield glass, added a nose door handle, I built up the rear 1/3 of the side grill work from styrene following the methods given in October 1970 RMC, added an additional step and grab irons for the nose right-hand side, and a MV Products LS-II lens. j" have Ray Bullock photos of #62 in O/W and ff66 in peeling B/Y for prototype illustrations. I also have a Wally Decker photo of 5000 or 5001 and two Art Johnson photos of new four-unit sets of F-3's for the article. Did everyone realize that 5000 and 5001, since they came in January 1948, were an earlier phase than the rest of the F~3's delivered in the summer of 1948! The spotting difference is that 5000 and 5001 had the chicken wire between the portholes. That is why the yellow stripe was never painted between the portholes on these two units. MR*. painting diagram for Frisco F's is applicable only to these two units as a result. The yellow stripe could be painted between the portholes on the later units because the car-body filters were behind louvers on these units and were "out in the open" behind the chicken wire on the first units. DJH

EVEN MORE DJH COMMENTS

LifeLike GP38-2. Norm Eubanks wrote me a question back in February about mounting Kadees on the LifeLike GP-38-2, I am sure that he has solved the problem by now. I would like to pass along how I did mine. I consider this model to be the single most outstanding value in model railroading today. Hobbies For Men sell them for about $5.00 each. I think I paid about $12.00 for mine the first week they were introduced. They must be selling them in droves because Mr. Grain at LifeLike told me the dies cost them $25,000.00. The detail, except for the pilots, is superb. It also runs very well and has rubber tires on the geared truck. I use it for switching a lot and it can push about 15 cars up my Dixon Hill, although it does a fair amount of slipping.

I recommend that you current-generation modelers buy as many of these models as you can afford. At that price, you can afford a lot. To run four or five units, simply remove the motors from all but two. The motor is held by only one screw (which constantly needs tightening on mine). Their undecorated model comes with a base coat of white paint making the Frisco paint job much easier. Of course, to be prototypical, you should cover up the nose
headlights and replace them with a Pyle Gyralite casting. This will require that you repaint that area with white, and, since paint matching is so difficult, you will probably have to repaint the entire model.

The major modeling effort is those horrible open pilots. I cut the talgo couplers off mine at the trucks. I then cut .03" styrene to fit the open holes in the pilots. Once they were glued in place, I measured the proper height and size for the MKD5 draft gear box and cut slots. Those guys at LifeLike must be modelers at heart even though they concentrate on the toy industry because they left a nice slot in each frame end just large enough to clear
a coupler body-mounting tab. Fabricate two tabs from styrene or balsa about 3/16X3/8X the proper length to reach the coupler slot and glue them to the body behind the pilots. Tap a small hole in each for mounting the MKD's, cut the ears from the draft box, and test fit. They will extend out the front of the pilot slightly but it is not unsightly. Shin the draft box so it will not move about when the screw is tightened. Finish off the pilot with the
Details West 130 snow plow.

My unit runs very quiet, but I still plan to mount the motor in bathroom caulk* In addition
to making it run quieter yet, it should also keep the darn motor in place. There is a
lot of room in the cab for your favorite model of Charlie Dischinger (engineer) and A. W.
McBride (front-end brakeman).

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	FMIG Lines Reprints: Newsletter 21 continued