So if Rapido made an F40PH phase one.....

[u18b]

You may have seen that Rapido will be bringing out the F40PH phase one in HO scale.

There were three phases of F40PH (not to be confused with AMTRAK "phase" paint schemes- I hate that confusion).

In N scale we have three four models of the F40PH.

The model power F40 is cr@p.  Next....

The Kato model is a phase 3.  Excellent model.

The Life Like model is fair.  It is a phase 1.

No one has made a phase 2 in plastic.  PFM has made all three phases in brass and are excellent (made by Samhongsa).

So, if Rapido made a phase 3, that would directly compete with Kato.

But would you buy a F40PH phase 1 or 2 if Rapido made one?

(CSX had a pair of phase 2, so I would be interested).

[John]

well .. thats four of them they could sell us 

[CBQ Fan]

I would not.

[bbussey]

No for me.  The Kato units deco'd for Amtrak work for me.

[Philip H]

If Amtrak had even once run north to Baton Rouge from the big easy I'd bite.

[sundowner]

No for me either, I already have all the F40's I need.

[Wardie]

I could use a VIA F40

[wcfn100]

If it had sound, flashing strobe lights and freestanding detail, I'd be interested.

Has anybody ever done the phase II paint?

Jason

[jagged ben]

Need more info.  I don't really do passenger but could be tempted to obtain a phase III superliner train to simulate Coast Starlight and/or CZ in the late 80s.  So what phase(s) would I want?

Also could go for a Caltrain loco in the early scheme, which Life-Like once did.  I think those were phase I?  And were rebuilt later?

[nkalanaga]

In my case, no, because they're all too new.  The only F40s I've bought were some Life-Like, years ago, to use for kitbashing a pair of SDP40Fs.  They turned out fairly well, but I could use a well-done pair, although Fs were still pulling the Empire Builder part-time in mid 1974.

[Denver Road Doug]

Jeez, I need to start paying more attention.   I assumed that the Kato would do what I needed it to do, which is allow me to convert it to a Cabbage with little fanfare.   Now I need to go look at Phase to see if that was an incorrect assumption.

So, for me I would definitely buy it if they could pull of some Cabbage tooling as well.   

I also need an F40PH in Phase IV paint, but not sure which Phase it is either.

[peteski]

I haven't really researched the phases of these locomotives but I photographed bunch of them at the Amtrak Northampton St. service facility in South Boston back in the 80s.  That was when you could just walk into the office and ask if you could hang around (staying clear of the track) and take some photos.

Using those photos as a reference, I build some F40PH models using the Model Power shells and the new (at that time) split frame Bachmann GP40 mechanisms.  The variations I observed were in the area between the trucks.

I build one model (Phase III paint) with the air tanks ahead of the fuel tank which had smoothly curved sides.   Then the other one I built (Phase II paint) had a tank with flat sides and air tanks behind the fuel tank. It also had battery boxes behind the fuel tank on the left side.  Is this the elusive Phase II  version?

I asked Kato if they could produce that version. I thought it would be a rather easy way to make another model (just change the fuel tank/air tanks molding under the loco. But they told me that it wasn't that easy since they would have to redesign the metal frame to fit tne new fuel tank arrangement. So I struck out.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

I am pretty sure all MBTA units were phase III so this is of limited use for me. Truth be told, if Walthers decided to slap a new chassis and refine some of the details like flush fitting glass and new fans, it would be a great model.

How about working in some Comet II/Horizon cars instead?

[peteski]

How about working in some Comet II/Horizon cars instead?

Didn't you find some on Shapeways?  How did those work out?

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Still waiting for the past to arrive. I only bought them because I was already shopping for an AEM7. I hope they turn out well. I may need to cast them if they do... No way I can buy 25+ and do all the finishing work required to make a decent model. And even if I do get then done, there are no trucks on the market that will fit it.

We really need a RTR model before they go extinct in real life.