I’ve moved on from Athearn RTR’s to Genesis, but the other day I was looking at one of my RTR F7’s and I thought," I bet they would look alot better if you could replace the plastic grills with the metal Highliner ones" Has anyone tried this? Can you get the plastic grills off without damaging the shell?
I wouldn’t recommend it. That’s a lot of work for a cheap shell. I’d get the Highliners shell and start fresh (you may be able to get it to fit the Athearn drive).
If you just want to dress up the Athearn RTR F7A, that’s one thing (detailing, etc.). But removing the plastic grills is major surgery, IMHO. You could try just gluing Farr grills over the plastic ones, but that’s about as far as I’d go in that direction.
Good luck.
Paul A. Cutler III
Weather Or No Go New Haven
Long before Athearn Genesis (or even Highliners B-unit shells!), that was the single best upgrade one could make to the appearance of Athearn shells. It took a bit of grinding (the cast-on grilles were rather thick), but it could be done with a bit of care using a Dremel.
That said, Paul is right…these days you’d be better off just getting a Highliners shell and dropping it onto the Athearn drive. It can be done, but you have to grind down the “bolster” nub near the front a little bit to clear the cab ladder. And you’re not limited to just the F7 Phase I with Highliners, either…you can build anything from the F2 to the F9, any phase, or combine parts as your railroad did when shopping the locomotives.
Good luck!
Yes. I started such a project back in 1986 or so. It is a lot of work. The plastic grills don’t come off they have to be cut/scraped off. I spent 20-30 hours on it and then the “Highliners” came out. I never finished the project. With all the wonderful F units and body shells on the market these days the project is definitely not worth the time and effort.
Two comments–make that one comment and one question:
I have an Athearn F7 with metal grills glued over the molded plastic ones, and while it is not perfect, it does not look bad.
What are “Highliners?” I’ve been around this hobby more than 40 years and that term does not ring a bell at all.
Highliner manufactures high quality, undecorated F unit shell kit for both A/B units. The Athearn Genesis F units use these shells on Athearns own drive.
John
From Walthers website:
"Highliner was founded by Paul Lubliner in 1988. The company is located in San Diego, California. Highliner produces F unit body shell kits, wire screening for F3 air intakes, stainless-steel “Farr” air grilles, and sets of detail parts."
Back when Athearn was the only game in town, the Highliner shells were designed to fit the Athearn chassis. You could use them to make any F unit except the FT. In time Athearn bought them and use them as the basis for their Genesis-line F units. You can still get them, but now they’re more designed to fit Athearn Genesis chassis, but you can get them to fit Athearn blue box or Stewart shells with a minimal amt of work.
Here’s a link to their products on the Walthers website:
I believe they were designed to fit onto the Stewart Chassis, not Athearns. It should also be noted that the B unit was out for a decade before The A unit was introduced. I believe Athearn had a hand in getting the A unit done if memory serves me correctly.
Detail Associates make some etched metal grilles for EMD E & F units. I would use a medium grit sanding drum in a Dremel tool and sand the Athearn grills flat leaving the outline. Then apply some contact cement to the grille ares sparingly and apply the etched metal ones while the cement is still wet. Be careful to not fill the voids in the grille with cement.