I bought a BB Athearn F7A undecorated some time during my teens when I was pretty interested in model railroading. That black beauty sat in its box while I planned layout after layout. Never gave a thought to how I’d finish the locomotive if I ever did build a track to run it on.
Well, a day or so after my 66th birthday I finally finished it.
Painted CPR Tuscan Red and Gray. A set of Black Cat decals for Block lettering scheme. Looked up and applied a real road number. Upgraded the couplers to Bachmann EZ Mate II (Kadee are a tad tight in the Athearn clip type coupler box) and added a window kit from Walthers. No point trying to fit the handrails and so on. The overscale moulded in parts would have to be ground off first. The whole point was to preserve the in period character of the BB model, in period referring to the period the model was new.
Besides, nobody told me that the CPR never bought a single F7A unit, especially one with the two headlights.
This is a strangely compulsive and multi layered hobby I must say.
It seems to be a perennial topic here and on other forums about what the hobby ‘should be’. Some say it is about ‘modeling’, and therefore fairly stiff fidelity toward the prototype. Who could disagree, if it’s truly ‘modeling’?
Well, a whole bunch of us, it turns out. Myself included. I know what I want, and you seem to be pretty solid in your own wants. In my case, I like certain steam locomotives, and I like the look of the ACE and newer cabs with that wedge nose on modern road units.
We gotta have fun, or it’s just an exercise in self-flaggelation. Fortunately, we each have permission from the ‘model god’ to entertain those druthers, those interests, those desires. It’s just that we often need to remind each other, if not ourselves, that the hobby has many rooms, and the doors of any of them are open to us.
I’m happy you have this latest success. I hope it brings you immense satisfaction.
If Athearn and other manufacturers could paint equipment in paint schemes they never wore, and we buy 'em, knowingly even, then more power to the modeler who does the same cuz he just wants to.
I have some of those Athearn ATSF prototype cabooses on my layout in SP paint, and they’re staying. I’ll eventually paint some non belonging locos like you did too. Dan
I model Canadian Pacific too, and I have a couple of fanciful CPR locomotives including this wee beast:
My oldest project dates back to 2003 when I first got into the hobby. It is a 4-6-0 that I am back dating to resemble an early Grand Trunk Railway loco. Not quite as old as yours but still not finished. I think when I finally have more than a piece of test track to run on, that will encourage me to get off my butt!
That’s what got me working. My son in law wanted to build a layout (big layout) and I eventually agreed to help.
So, having a layout (of any size) should be the motivation to make progress on projects.
I just had the one outstanding project (now I have many including building my own shelf layout). When I bought the Athearn BB it was considered to be a pretty advanced model compared to much of what was then available. During my absence from the hobby the detailing and quality of running has improved significantly.
Getting into this hobby now is a really pleasing experience. The stuff you can buy is amazing. My project is now a reminder to me of how far this hobby has developed just in my time.
There is a sticky thread that gives instruction on how to post a photo in the forums that is very helpful. There is also a current discussion thread on the first page of General Discussion.
When I try to post a link I get 403 Forbidden, but they are easy to find.
I don’t have the facility to post photos to this site. I read the instructions and decided I’m not going to try. I will if the site develops the capability to post photos as an attachment or embedded in the post but until then I’m going to pass on that.
The paint scheme on the pre 1968 CPR cab diesels is tricky to get right. I used decal pinstriping and was gratified the angles on the decals matched my by hand masking of the paint scheme.
I regarded this project as a test of my interest in doing this type of modelling. I enjoyed the process enough to try another. Maybe a F7B since CPR did buy a few of those, there being no such thing as an FP7B.
Think about PMing or e-mailing a couple to Ed, or Randy. They have the resources and skill to post them ASAP, and I for one would like to see a couple.
I have a numer of vintage kits unbuilt that I bought when they first came out. Some are over 40 years old. I still plan to build them. But at 73 they may not all get built. Hopefully someone else will get them after I’m gone.
I still buy the old kits from time to time as they appeal to me.
I agree with others who say have fun in the hobby - whatever that is for you.
It sounds more complex than it actually is. It takes maybe 30 seconds to post a photo from your camera once you have the host site set up and get used to the process. Yes, it is more complicated than it needs to be but it isn’t difficult.
