F3B SLSF 5117, SLSF 167

Here's a model I have been playing with for several months that I finished today - Frisco F3B SLSF 5117, later SLSF 167, in the austerity (ugh) scheme. This is a Stewart F3B sitting on a Stewart/Kato powered chassis.

I bought this on eBay a few years ago at a very low price just to get another Kato drive. It was in SP colors - the body was kind of beat up but the drive was in great shape except for the coupler mountings, which I replaced with the Kadee close-couple kit for Stewart F's.

I'm going to do a Frisco F9B in the austerity scheme using the Highliner kit - to run in between SD45's. Since I hadn't done the austerity scheme before, I decided to do this F3B in it just for the experience. The little yellow dash stripes are a bit of a pain, but it worked out OK. The unequal spacings are accurate. The Kato drive is smooth as can be, and runs very well with Athearn Genesis units.

I made some early mistakes - being lazy, I guess, and because I was just doing this for the heck of it, I didn't remove the F3 dynamic brake grids from the roof early on nor did I remove the skirts. Now that the thing turned out OK, I'll have to go back and remove these after the fact, or just ignore them. The d/b grids are easier to ignore than are the d/b fans on the Intermountain F7B's! The skirts are fairly obvious.

I think 5117 was the F3B that Karl mentioned had steam line piping early in its life, but I assume this feature was long gone by the time the austerity boys got to it.

I don't think I will ever do an austerity scheme A-unit F3, F7, F9, FP7 or FA, because they are so ugly, but I guess the B's in this scheme don't look so bad - as long as you like black.

Ken

 

Very nice work - but I agree; ugly subject.

 

It may be black, but at least it ain't GREEN and black!

Nice work, by the way.

 

Nice looking engine Ken, very nice indeed. They sure liked those little Yellow stripes didn't they.
I had no idea that Kato and the Genesis would run together.
Tom

 

Tom -

Thanks! From a premier Frisco modeler like you are, this comment is much appreciated.

This F3B turned out looking much better than I thought it would. As I said, I was just working on technique for the later still-to-do Highliners Frisco F9B, and didn't worry about the fine points.

I might even keep this thing! It does run well with the Genesis F3's, but it looks different as it is weathered a bit. My Frisco Genesis F3's (5 units, AAA,BB) are still pristine.

Notice on the pics how the bottom batten strip is showing a bit of red? - that's the SP color showing through from my frequent handling of the shell. I didn't even strip the original paint. This was just an experiment.

My handrail technique needs to be improved - a couple of them are a bit skewed. A bit too much adult beverage, I'd say! Amazing how a digital pic shows the flaws better than the does the naked eye.

Ken