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Project Builds, Detailing, Painting, Weathering

Athearn CF7 project


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I've just bought this ugly brute from my local Hobby shop, at 20% off MRP I couldn't resist...

post-7117-0-52116900-1331417947.jpg

It might be ugly but as far as I'm concerned its loaded with character.

The plan is to detail it and repaint it to get it to look like this

http://www.rrpicture....aspx?id=290229

This particular one because there appear to be many pictures of it on the internet and it's also a loco that is relatively local to me. I've seen it myself a couple of times.

It looks like the project will be a fairly easy one. We'll see how it goes

Ian

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A whole load of pictures of #302 here http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/locopicture.aspx?id=55641

The most noticeable things are the relocating of the horns and that platform thing (waits to be told what it actually is... :scratchhead: ) on the cab roof. I've yet to find a picture of the roof of the engine compartment so I can't tell if there's any change to the exhausts and fans there. A picture of #300 and 301 show everything to be as is on the model. A change to the fuel tanks is needed too.

 

Ian

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They certainly didn't win any beauty contests, but they were remarkable performers and very cost effective. The prototype cost $60,000 to convert, compared to over $200,000 for a new road switcher of comparable power. Even with high inflation in the 1970s, by the time the last one was converted they had got the cost down to $40,000 each. Santa Fe only stopped at 233 because they had run out of F units to convert. They would do almost anything the driver asked without complaining and were very reliable considering some of them had run millions of miles before conversion. The only complaints were the early conversions were a bit draughty (this was fixed with better door and window seals) and the "comfort station" in the small hood was a bit noisy, being right next to a blower motor.

 

But consider some of them were built in 1949 and are still in service today.

 

Cheers

David

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  • 2 weeks later...

Platform Thing = stand for aerial - presumably some reason not to bolt straight to roof?

 

It's a 'ground plane' for the antenna...gives better radio performance than just mounting the antenna on the cab roof.

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  • 4 months later...

I've only just finished my CF7 repaint, and posted about it here.

 

Here's a picture of my loco from that thread, as I've borrowed Ian's OP pic from here to illustrate the loco I started out with. I hope you don't mind, Ian, and like my model. Any progress with yours..??

 

40588b22.jpg

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