Group, Did Mantua make a F7 painted R/W? There is one for bid on ebay and the poster said it was orginal (reply to message). However, I can not find any documentation of a Mantua Frisco F7. Thanks, Jerome
Jerome, I am not aware of any manufacturer painting any Frisco F unit in orange and white with only the recent exception of the Intermountain FP7. Don't think those are out yet. Some of the sellers on Ebay are not real knowledgeable and may sincerely think something is original. Frisco Faster Freight! Rick
I just sent the seller a question, asking specifically what the label on the end of the box says. I've never heard of, or seen this one before. Doesn't mean it isn't legit though. It does appear to have incorrect paint seperation lines, which to me would indicate that it was "original" and not a custom. Manufacturers over the years have been notorious for getting things close but not right.....whereas a custom painter would be more likely to get it right. We'll see what he says.
It is a legitimate model. 1981 Mantua Catalog. Item 402-12 If you want it, you'll have to outbid ME They also did a Katy unit. I was not aware of this either.
I am not interested in bidding on the locomotive but I would love to be able to say that I saw one. I have tried everything I can think of to search for it on eBay but it doesn't come up. Would someone please list the ebay number?
I just did a search for "Frisco F7" and found it right off. 320349580386 I did hear back from the seller, and he confirms it to be an original Mantua. If you look at their old catalogs on line, you'll be amazed at what they supposedly offered, but most of us never saw.
Wow. Never saw those things. Ever. Not bad. The color separation lines look pretty good so it looks like it was manufacturered to me. The orange looks believable too. They say you learn something new everyday so this takes care of today's quota. Good luck on your bidding. Frisco Faster Freight! Rick
It took me a couple of tries but it finally came up. If I just type in Frisco like I usually do it doesn't come up on the list. Most be something with this new IE 8 I am using. danged old Bill Gates anyway! By the way it is pretty cool to see something out of th past that I never knew existed. Bob I'd like to ship it on the Frisco but there aint nuthin left to ship.
In my Cincinnati days of model railroading - limited to Kurt's Christmas train layout, we had a Mantua F7 in Santa Fe colors. (Kurt is still a Santa Fe fan, which is good since he now lives in Olathe and they seem to come through town about every 30 minutes) The Mantua F7 looked about as good as the Athearn F7 did to me, and it ran OK, as good as the one Athearn unit we also had then - an ATSF SW7. All I recall doing to the F7 to improve it was to add Kadee couplers and to change out the headlight lens. I don't recall if it had window glass or not. The ATSF paint decor was pretty well done. It ran for many years until we finally sold off the Mantua/Tyco stuff at a McDonnell-Douglas RR Club swap meet. Ken
Got it ! Somebody ran me up to $72. for it, but I didn't buy it to run, I bought it for my collection.
I know this is an old post but it caught my attention because I ordered one of these Mantua Frisco F units from the catalog back in the time. They sent me a Rio Grande F unit stating the Frisco had not been produced yet ! But I also ordered a Frisco 2-10-0 from the same catalog and it arrived and I still have it today ! It runs well but doesn't like curves less than 22 degrees. Does not look correct but it was really cool to me when I was very young.
