A train here,
The photo isn’t as good as I hoped. This is my first attempt. I’ll get better. hope it works.
Hey guys, how is every one? I have good news, I just saved a bunch of money on my F45 by switching the motor. -lol. Some may remember my post last month or in Dec. 2005. Can’t remember. Any way, my post was asking for a better chasis drive for a Athearn F45. I even asked for Antoinio FP45 advice. Everbody who responded gave good useable advice.
My thoughts was maybe a SD45 was the answer. Some said to repower it with PPW motor and chassis. I did no of thoes. It just so happen, I had 2 P2K FB2 (POWERED) laying around. It was being used, but I said to myself, I don’t need 2 Powered B units. So I took the motor out of one of them. Remember, in the P2K FA/FB. they have the same 4 hole in the midle of the chassis like Athearn BB. But the motor is much better. Fit like a glove. Way smooth and I must be deaf because I can’t hear a thing. Also, I didn’t have to buy Nickle plated wheel to replace the Athearn wheels. I also took the wheels of the FB2 and replaced the FB2 wheels with Athearn dummy wheels. Now everybody (my locos) are happy agin.
Now, time for details on the F45. I painted the fule tank and the trucks (platnium) to my standard’s along with the side grills and fan vents on the roof(same color). Just to let you know the road name of this loco, it’s THE BIG BN #6642. I added the number board #'s too and made the cover to the lens white.
I even took it a little further and made the number board light up. How? I drilled 2 holes behind where the number board pops out from. Looks great. I also added grab iron to the front of the hood where Athearns had just the immitation lines. 1 more thing, I also painted the front and back step grill’s. I added at least $40 -50 more detail to this engine and now it’s my favorite again. I wish I could post pi
got any pictures?? Inside and out. It sounds like my kind of project!!
I never post any pics before and don’t know how. I got a digital camera and the tools to link it to my PC. I just don’t know how. Fill me in and you would get to see my BN collection.
To post pics: assuming you can get them to your “my pictures” folder (or whatever stores pics) it’s easy. first you need to sign up at www.imageshack.us it’s free and you don’t even have to sign up if you don’t want to (but there are more features if you sign up)
after you upload them you can copy & paste the adress for “forums” (or you can just post a direct link). If you have questions, just ask.
Way to go, amigo! Proof that when someone is motivated, they will get things done no matter what gets in their way.
Even though the P2K motors are Athearn clones, one of the forum members mentioned before that their are more windings around the armature and the magnets are of better quality resulting in slightly better performance than the 1990s 2nd generation style Athearn motor. I don’t know if this is true or not, however, I do notice that my P2K units run better than my Athearns and draw lower current.
Re: Your paint scheme. I went to www.railpictures.net and did a search for Burlington Northern F45s. Number 6645 is one of the units featured, but I didn’t see any platinum colors anywhere on the old girl. Just the cool white stripes on the nose. Did you do a “freelance” version of her?
Suggestion: Great what you did for the number boards. You may be interested in trying out what a friend of mine does. To make his number boards light up, he runs a pair Fiber Optic cables from the headlight or rear light to the numberboards. Really makes them stand out.
Are you into DCC? If you are or decide to get into it, don’t forget that the cowl units have ample room for sound. If you go that route, the closest sound decoder that comes to it (I may be mistaken) would be the Soundtraxx EMD 2nd generation with the S3 horn.
BTW: I bumped up the post on posting photos. Check it out.
Congrats to you! Keep us posted. [:D][8D][tup]
O.K ATrain, now I understand…[8D]
I LIKE THAT PHOTO! Very cool version that could have been. If you can, please take closer shots of the side, front and rear and post them.
Your shot is slightly blurry. You may need a bit more lighting.
In any case…Super Cool![:D]
Thanks Antonio FP45. I know this is your kind of loco. This is totally freelanced. I wanted a new look . Something to make you stop and say whoa. You mentioned that you bumped up the photo! Menaing what? Did you make more clear? Where is it? I would like to see it, but now that I know how to do it. Expect more BN photo’s for sure.
I was referring to the thread on posting photos, but you don’t need that now since you quickly learned how to do it.
One more suggestion for “later on”. The prototype had the yellow flashing beacon on top of the cab. Really neat to see working beacons on models.
Looking forward to seeing more shots of your work.
Yeah, I know about the flashing beacon on top Just haven;t been able to find one. Currenlty I got the dash board of a Bachmann Spectrum F40PH that failed on me. I took out the dash board an placed it in the F45. Why, becuase that dash board has the flashing lights for the F40PH. So, The flashing lights are inside the F45 until I could find the beacon. You can’t see the light while she’s on duty. When I find the beacon, I would have a real working beacon. How’s that for a neat trick?