Hello all, I just ordered 6 FA-2 bodies from Model Power for $0.50 each and 8 FB-2 dummies complete for $1.00 each. What I am wanting to know is are there decals some where so I can build these into Frisco units? Can you buy the rest of the parts to make dummies out of some of these? I know that they were black and yellow right? Or were they also Mandarin orange and white? Thanks
Hi Craig, The FA-1s never made it to the Mandarin orange and white stage, at least, as far as I know. There were many different phases of the black and yellow paint schemes. If you snoop around the site, you can find many of them. I think that Mike Condrens site has a few FA photographs. As far as decals go, N-scale should not be a problem. Oddballs, microscale, Walthers, just to name a few. Undercarriages for the bodies, maybe e-bay, or just see if anyone has old " scrappers" they do not want. Good luck. Dan
FYI, for the record, the Frisco's ALCo cab units were FA-1s and FB-1s. Not FA-2s and FB-2s. The -2s were a little more powerful than the -1s, 1600 HP vs 1500 HP. By then the air-cooled turbos were junked in favor of water-cooled turbos, so that issue was solved for good. The physical and visual differences, however, are substantial. The later units are 4' longer, have different rear side radiator panels and a longer wheel base. The latter is not a substitute for the former. Ken
Thanks for the information. Hey Dan, You mentioned decals in N scale. I am doing these in HO. Do you know where I can get them? So I guess it will be the black and yellow colors. I like those a little better anyway.
Hi Craig, Well, if you can order on line, Oddballs has them, as well as Microscale and Champ even still have a few Frisco decals in HO. I would be a little suspect about the Champ items, though. They have not produced new decal stock in quite a while, so what they have is a bit old. I have some Champ decals in HO, very old, and recently tried to use them as "guinea pigs" for trying to blow up to a large scale item. Well, they just did not work well. They came apart in pieces when I attempted to slide them onto a surface. I would try to stay with one of the other lines of decals. Good luck. Dan
Well does anybody have any "old scrappers" they would like to sell? Also what kind of changes would I need to do to convert these into FA-1s? I know it is minor, but can someone let me know or is this even worth doing?
I would recommend forgetting the FA-2s and instead finding a Proto 2000 Frisco FA-1 and FB-1 on eBay. The P2K's do not cost much, yet are very nicely done and run very well. The things you have to modify to make them an almost perfect Frisco model are minimal. See my FA-1 SLSF 5200, FB-1 SLSF 5300, FA-1 SLSF 5215 set in the pictures posted in my album here on frisco.org. Just my two-cents worth. Ken
Well I might turn them into Burlington Northern Santa Fe. I like their colors better anyway. Seeing that is what happened to Frisco, anyway do you really think Frisco could have made it this long? Doubtful.
Blasphemy! The pain, I don't think I can stand it! LOL Not to mention that all of that railroad's FA-1 and FB-1 units were long gone, retired and scrapped way before that successor railroad's successor was even formed. If God intended rotten pumpkins to roll on rails, he would have given them wheels instead of leaving it up to some Yankee northerners.
