My first Frisco modeling project (in HO) was an outside braced boxcar that I built following an Eric Stevens "Dollar Car" article in an old MR. I had met Jan Jester on a Burlington steam fantrip to Hannibal and we found out we were smitten by the Frisco bug. He and Gloria had my fiancee (now my wife of 47 years) over and I saw some of his work, one of which was the boxcar so I built one also. I still have it packed away somewhere. Haven't seen it since we moved. Prior to that as a kid I had a Lionel layout and painted up a pair of F units in black and yellow. Man that was a long time ago The fantrip was in 59 I think.
Two comments: (1) I misspoke on my first model. I actually scratchbuilt a standard depot (roughly depicting Rogersville, MO) a few years before the F7A. I actually hand cut and glued all the battens (which ended up "wavy"), hand-scribed the baggage doors, used styrene strip for window mullions (scaled about as big as a lumberjack's arm). It was rather toy-like but didn't survive my son looking at it when he was 3. (2) Andre, holy cow I like the photo-flats! It's going to seem "me-too" but its exactly what I'd considered doing for my KC Union Station headhouse since it will be butted against a backdrop. I'd love to see a separate post on how you've done this (is it mounted on foam-core board), and wouldn't mind if the photos were available for others to use.
Well everyone needs a laugh these days so here is my first Frisco project. Around 1975 I bought an Athearn F7, Walthers detail kit with all those grap irons about a scale 4 inches around, and Microscale decals. Painted the units in 1950's scheme (I thought) and painted it with a cheap airbrush and Propel can. I was quite pleased with the results. The Frisco rivit counter would have noticed I forgot the green anti-glare panel, well OK cut me some slack first attempt, right. But the real head shaker would have come from the yellow I used. Somewhere I had read something to make me think the yellow was gold, so I had used gold. So the results turned out OK for a first attempt, except it looked like the Monon had taken over. Those were the good old days when you could afford mistakes I on $30 locomotives I guess. Needless to say, those units have long disappeared. John
One of my first attempts at Frisco, and I use the attempt loosely!!, was a pair of GP20's, and I thought they turned out pretty good for a kid of 20 something! No rivit counting in my vocabulary!! The one I still have is missing the rear steps, but still runs. An old TYCO product. I have a photo posted in the HO diesels forum. Dan
yardmaster: To avoid hi-jacking this thread, I took your advice and started a thread to elaborate therein! See here: http://www.frisco.org/vb/showthread.php?p=17060#post17060 Andre
Looks like some railfan stole the bell, probably my son, about 4 at the time, who had several of my models down on the carpet when I came home one day. Just like the real 1352, just before it was moved from Swope Park, the real bell was also stolen and never recovered so your son helped with the accuracy of your model!
My first "Frisco project" was my Athearn Frisco GP40-2. My "project" was weather it. I ended up making it look bad. ANd I can't for get the SD40-2.....
I think before I started renumbering locos and cars, "first" would be an adventure in 1:1. The Bentonville Chamber of Commerce bought an old caboose and rehabbed it. Turns out it was a Rock Island. RITS even had a picture of it just out of shop rebuilt with steel sides. But now it sits by the depot masquerading as Frisco 2841 (part of the phone number.) Besides the fundraising work, we painted the handrails and I watched the local signpainter do the "Ship it" work. Anybody need a 1:1 caboose decorated, he's still around. Maybe that Roundhouse caboose came first, though, now that I think of it. But it didn't get done for a long time because the roorf was warped. Next time you're in town Rick, we can go tour the depot.
I wish I still had my first FRISCO model. I remember when I first got serious in the hobby I was going to model the UP, until, I went to my local train club one night and they were auctioning off an estate from a FRISCO fan who had passed on. I bid on everything the change mixed with the pocket lint would allow me to get, and couldnt wait to get them home and transform them into pretty shoddy looking UP power. I didnt think that the FRISCO was a real railroad until it was explained to me that the railroad running EAst and West just to the North of our location in the Santa Fe depot in Cherryvale was in Fact the old FRISCO main. Man was I hooked then......I took the only UP engine I had and looked up WALTHERS phone Number and paid for enough Decals for FRISCO UNITS to make my order worth the shipping charges walthers charged. Then I walked down to GIBSON's Department store and bought a can of white and a can of Chevy orange spray paint for cars mind you, and a roll of masking tape. Following the guide on the decals, I painted that old $3.00 locomotive up in FRISCO #33 I believe. I remember watching it go round and round on my oval layout I built on a garage door that I used my bed posts as the legs for it. It didnt run well but for my age and my experience as a modeler, it was as good as any club layout at the time.....Man that really strung out a whole heep of memories! I almost forgot to add that I bought that engine with a trainset that came from the grocery store at christmas time. If I am not mistaken I got the whole shebang for $10 bucks! It was just a cheap old Bachmann trainset with an age recommendation of ages 8 and up but hey I still made it look like it cost a little more!
OK, you asked for it: That Athearn U30B was my first serious attempt at modeling anything Frisco, and was done back in 1984 or so. The Bowser U25B was later on, I think about 1990. I also modeled the GP38ACs using the Atlas GP38 as a starting point, eventually doing 3 of those. They have the old Roco drive, but still run OK. They were also my first serious attempts at superdetailing diesels (lift rings, grab irons, nose Gyralites, plow pilots, proper air horns & rotary beacons, etc).
Looks pretty decent for a first-time job, in my opinion! I did learn early on that HO-Scale plastic lift rings were not a very good idea unless one is building a static model. I also lost count of how many I crushed simply trying to put them on my F7A. Best Regards,
Ha... My first Frisco modeling attempt was at about age 9, I think, I'm not sure. I didn't know anything about Walthers, Athearn, Roundhouse etc... I had the over and under trestle train set from Life-Like, Penn Central maybe, I'm not sure anymore, but it had a caboose similar to the Frisco w/v variety. I took some plain old Testors red paint, applied it (poorly) and cut out a Coonskin logo from a blank Frisco form from a pad of forms given to me by the depot agent from Seligman and glued it on. I think they had a new revision to the form out and these were outdated. Not accurate in font size, caboose color or type, or much else for that matter... but it was MY Frisco and I was thrilled.
