I have F units from Athearn (blue box and some older), Athearn Genesis and Stewart. I enjoy all of them and consider them all to look and run well. The old Athearns captured the F unit look but showed mold lines and many had poor paint jobs. Still, with a little work, they look good, are reliable and run well. I prefer the ones with metal sideframes as the newer ones with the plastic sideframe with add-on details will not take a sharp turn once the details are added.
The Stewarts have gone through many drive train changes and I don’t know which ones are the best, they all seem to run well and they really look nice. Just have to detail them. I have some from every era, I think, and at least the bodies look to have stayed the same. It was called the most accurate F unit ever made and maybe it is. They were the first plastic F to offer every phase of F unit production from FT through F9’s. I applaud their effort.
I have a couple of MRC F 7’s from their platinum series and they are nicely detailed, have stainless grills but I suspect the accuracy is not as good as Stewart or Athearn. They just look alittle different. Also, you almost never see them for sale so making up a set is not easy.
Then came the Athearn Genesis line. I’ve bought a few and like their looks. I have yet to run any but I’m sure I’ll be satisfied with their performance. Right out of the box, they have as much detail as any and rival brass in outward appearance.
I don’t have any Broadway Limited F’s but given their other products and the price that you have to pay, they are probably as good as brass, maybe better in some ways. I’m sure that I will own some of them at some point in time.
Of the ones that I have, it’s a toss-up between the Stewarts and the Athearn Genesis as to which is my favorite. The Genesis are more ready to go but it’s hard for me to say that I like either one more than the other. How bout the rest of you?
If it’s sound that you want, I think you’re stuck with BLI or
The only F-unit I have is a Stewart FT A-B with a Lenz Gold decoder installed in it.
It runs amaaaaazingly smooth and absolutely crawls. You’re right, you do have to detail them but they are still very nice looking. The one chip in Stewart’s armor is their paint jobs. It doesn’t take much to ding or chip the paint.
So far, Athearn Genesis.[:D] My Genesis SF Warbonnet F3A is the best looking and quietest running diesel I own.[:D][:D][:D] It’s even quieter than my Atlas 8-40B, or Kato SD80MAC.[:D][:D][:D]
I don’t own any cab units. [:O] However…IF I was going to buy a A-B set I would probably buy Athearn’s F7 RTR set…Yeah,those oldies would work for me…[8D]
Well, my fave is still the ol’ Athearn bluebox Fs. The price is right, and removing/adding/modifying detail is fairly easy. If I botch a project, I have found that acquiring a new shell is both simple and inexpensive. The units with the heavy weight are nice pullers and smooth runners once broken in, and maintenance is simple. I have a customized GN F7 that can pull over 50 forty foot cars up a 3.5% grade.
I also own a few Stewarts which I really enjoy for their variety of types of F units and smooth operation. I have even modified a coupla Stewart shells to fit Athearn drives.
I do own an Intermountain kit, but have yet to get the puppy road worthy.
Lotsa good choices out there depending on what one wants to invest monetarily.[C):-)]
Well, I had to look that one up in a diesel spotters guide. I don’t see that anyone had them other than NH, so finding someone to make them might be difficult. Looks like a kitbash project would be the only way. I think Atlas made some FP7 or FP9’s but you’d have to fabricate your own drive system. E units are A1A so if you could somehow shorten up an E unit chassis and modify an F unit B truck onto the front, you’d be about as close as you could get. Sounds like a challenge but I’m sure somebody could pull it off. Probably not me. I have ongoing projects that began almost 30 years ago.
Do you know what drive system they are? I’d guess Kato but not sure. I have a later set of FT’s for CB&Q and I’m not sure which drive system is used, maybe Beuler. It seems that all of them were excellent. Stewart might have done the best job in recreating the F units of anyone and among the best running as well. Just alittle work to dress them up and somewhat iffy paint jobs but all in all, very fine plastic models.
I think my favorite is the P1K F3s … the shells are excellent, even if they have cast on grabs, the paint is top quality and the drive is sooooo smoooooth. Bang for buck you can’t beat 'em.
The MEC F3 #672 pictured in my Avatar is a P1K, detailed with cast grabs shaved off and replaced with wire ones and some other bits and pieces, and fitted with a DH163AO decoder.
I also really like the Athearn Genesis ones - their great too, better detailed, but much more expensive of course, hence second place.
I really don’t rate the Stewart models, the paint is poor on my MEC example to the extent that I’ll probably end up stripping it and re-paint. The mechs OK, but not as good as the Athearn G or P1K.
I had an old Bachmann F7 once - its mech got robbed out for another project and I used the shell for paint practice. It was dreadful.[:P] Edit: reading another thread it was probably an F9 - but its still sucked …
I think the Genesis Fs are by far the best available. I own a few of the Warbonnet F7s, and I think they are spectacular. The Highliner shells are REALLY close to having accurate dimensions. The nose looks great.
I expected more out of the BLI Warbonnet F7s, but those are terrible. I am glad I didn’t hold out for those.
Just went to BLI’s website and saw a picture of the SF F7s, and I agree, they don’t look nearly as good as the Genesis F units. So I know who’ll be getting my business for high quality F units.[:D]
On the contrary, you left out Penn Central, Amtrak, Conrail, Metro North, CDOT, Maine Eastern, Morristown & Erie, Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley, and Adirondack Scenic Railroad…not to mention the commemorative Metro North New York Central scheme applied to 2 units, and at least 2 PC schemes, 2 Amtrak schemes, at least 3 or 4 Metro North schemes, combined with a service life of 1957-2006+ and a following in one of the more popular railroads out there (New Haven sells quite well, just ask Atlas and Life-Like) and you have a sure winner the rest of the civilized world knows about.
There’s always somebody there to poo-poo an FL-9…its getting old folks…as is kitbashing a unit that should’ve been made yesterday…
I didn’t even know that P1k had F3’s. I nearly bought some erie built P1k’s but shied away because of the cast grabs. I’m not a great painter and have stuck with single color schemes. After a number of years, my decals look terrible so I don’t know if I’ll ever go through that process again.
Yes, the Genesis line is pricey but they are so nice that it may be worth it.
Stewart paint is just so so and depends on the road that you are modeling. If you are lucky enough to need a simple paint scheme, they may fit the bill very nicely and as everyone mentions, they run great. I still believe that they may have the most accurate body of all.
I have a couple of old Bachman F9 shells that I painted for NP freight and was going to adapt them to Athearn drives. I never found a Bachman B unit. Anyway, my project was also rather dreadful and the decals look horrible. I painted flat black and did not learn til later that decals don’t like flat paint. The shells are sitting in a shoebox and have been for 20 years.
My favorite F units are my Stewart’s. Half of the 18 units are older Kato drives and the rest are the newer ones. Stewart shells were always lacking in detail out of the box and it can be pleasurable to do all the detail work. Many of us, myself included, are becoming lazy in our modeling with all the fantastic RTR out now. The Intermountain/ Regal are not bad at all, but the Genesis is about the finest paint and detail of any yet. Genesis drives are good, don’t think they are as great as the Stewart/ Kato’s but they run smooth, pull well and so far haven’t heard of ant chronic troubles. I am still turned off with BLI, especially after the WM F unit paint/ detail screwup. Others haven’t been that impressed either.
So if you take the Kato drive and use the Highliner shell(Genesis) you can have the best F unit all around.
I love the old blue boxes too and have quite a few of them. I did give a set of Warbonnets to my son when I picked up the Genesis set. I’ve sold all that I had with plastic sideframes (powered units that is). The electrical pickup is a rather fidgety one but soldering and eliminating the sliding mechanism makes them run better. The ones with the full weight are extremely heavy and I don’t doubt that a single engine could pull 50 cars.
I haven’t picked up any of the Intermountain units but they do look nice. They just don’t seem as readily available. I buy almost everything from ebay.
