N FP7A MP Modeler's Version- Review, mods, and CSX creation

[u18b]

This is the Modeler's Version of the FP7A.
Made by Model Power.

Spookshow has a good review.    http://www.spookshow.net/loco/mpf7.html




Comes in a nice box.   I got mine for a good price.




Well padded.



Shell is mostly metal. Pretty hefty.



Contours look pretty nice.



The entire shell is retained by the fuel tank.




Just press in just under the tabs to release the tabs.



You will need to remove the Rapido coupler to get the shell off. Just remove the two small screws on the coupler retaining plate.



With coupler out of the way, Shell slides right off.



Wow. A mess of wires. 70's era technology on a new millennial locomotive!



That black tape protects the wires, but it also provides a kind of heat shield for the plastic insert in the roof.



Hey! They "Beardenized" it at the factory! No inner worm bearing.  If it had one, the bearing would go between the red and black wires in that slot.



Yuk!!!!!!!!!! Tape and a gooey sticky mess! I removed all the tape.  The tape is supposed to retain the truck pin.  But the metal shell retains it fine- so the tape is unneeded.

[u18b]

Residue from the tape.  More gooey sticky mess to clean up.



Remove the two screws to remove the bearing retainer. Now you can see the outboard bearing.  Also, this flywheel was rubbing metal.  I used a NWSL Puller to move it away from the motor.



Here is the motor retainer.



I'm going to later use that space on top of the side braces.



Here is the hole to push on the motor.



There is a hole under the motor. By pushing a screwdriver through that hole, you can press up the motor. It is a big 3-poler.



Here is the worm shaft, with one single outboard bearing.

[u18b]

These wires are such a mess, there just has to be a way to do them better.



Headlight bulb is retained by rubber cement.



Here is my revised mechanism. Much neater.



I created two small circuit boards and mounted them over the motor retainer.



Here is the back side of the board. Notice that I made a cut in the metal trace so the the screw to the frame is electrically neutral.



Since the original screws stripped out on the motor harness, I drilled and tapped them for 00-80 screws.






That worm rides on the frame itself. The frame itself acts as a bearing.

[u18b]

Adding Micro-Trains couplers was a bit hard.  I did not use stock couplers but kitbashed some to fit.



Close coupling is moderately good with this kitbashed coupler.






There is not a lot of clearance between the back of the coupler and the truck.  A common problem with F units.



Here is the rear coupler. I kitbashed an old MT coupler.



I drilled a hole in the coupler retainer. I then used an Atlas coupler screw to hold the coupler in place. Works great.



Top is an old stock MT coupler. Bottom is the trimmed coupler.  I don't remember the MT number.  These go all the way back to the Kadee days.






This is a 1015 MT coupler used for the front and I have greatly trimmed the coupler box.



Top is a stock MT coupler. Bottom is the trimmed coupler. I needed a shim to raise this coupler just a tiny bit.

[u18b]

The screws holes are very unusual. You can strip them if you are not careful.  I did in fact strip a screw up top on the motor retainer.



That slot in the back looks like a perfect spot for a decoder one day.



The fans are part of a plastic roof piece. I needed a loco with a large dynamic brake fan- hence Pennsy.



Wow, that's a lot of glue holding the windows in place. But fortunately, the glue is brittle.  I was able to carefully chip the glue away.



Trucks can be removed by pulling the retaining pin.



The head light in the nose comes OUT. I'm also in the process of trying to remove all plastic parts for stripping and repainting.



I was able to remove all the loose parts- getting ready for painting.



I removed the single chime horns.  CSX had one 3-chime horn.



This section is plastic.  Detail is a little crude, but acceptable for what I'm doing.



I bought these coils from some guy on ebay years ago.  Lost wax brass castings.



Drilled two mounting holes in the plastic.




Then folded the pipe in from of the fan.  Ran it into a hole as well.



3-chime horn from an old Atlas/Kato U25B.  Slightly 2-dimensional, but VERY sturdy.



I filled in the unused holes.  Ready to strip and paint.



Sandblasted to get paint off.  Cleaned and primer applied.  Discovered that the intake grills on the side are plastic.  Since there are no mounting holes, I could not pop them out easily (just like the roof section).  I would have liked to prime just the metal and bake it in the oven, but that is not possible.

[u18b]

Gray was applied first.  Then masked for blue.  Then masked for black.






The blue decal strip is straightforward on most of the body- except for the nose.  The upper ridge should be blue.  But this large 3-dimensional portion throws the decal off.  The trick is to do it in stages.  First stage was to cover the RIDGE.  I don't even care about the top edge right now.






I then split a decal and ran it on the body.  I thought I would have to do more piecing, but this worked well.  I did add just a bit of blue decal on the top surface of the ridge (not seen in this angle).



Blue, gray and black are done.  Now we need the yellow safety colors.



I decided to try something new.  Instead of hand painting the safety colors, I decided to try decals.
I had some yellow stripe already on hand, so I used them.



Used a ruler to measure what I needed.



I laid the decal on the molded on railing.  I worked hard to get it straight and laying on the top surface of the railing.



Solvaset made the decal lay down and wrap around the outside edges.  This makes for a MUCH straighter result than painting.



These decal were REALLY old and would crack easily.  So I tried to keep them from curling when placing in water.






Looking pretty good.










I added silver decals for the side plates in the step area.



The steps have yellow safety colors as well.  More in a minute.
Don't to forget to mark "Front."




Don't forget the nose.  And the 118 road number came from a Burlington Northern set of decals.  The CSX decals did not have the letters spread out enough.



The fuel level sight glass and the fuel filler cap should be red.  Rather than painting, I once again used deccals.  From this GATX loco set, I used the number 0 for the level gage and the tiny Os in Capital Corporation for the cap.



One decal helped, but was too dark.



So I added more decals.  The oval sight level is two decals deep, and the filler port is three.



Those hash marks from this Suzie Q decal set are the correct color, and I'll trim them for the steps.






This is an HO scale CSX set.  I needed the blue tiny numbers for the back end of the loco.



I need 118.  This group is close.  I ran the blade lightly between the numbers and then made the cut out.



The left and right are a little different.  On the left side, I tried to do it all at once- but it was VERY hard to position the decals.  On the right side, I set the middle number by itself first.  Then added the other two.  This worked better.

[u18b]

Shell is done.






I used a motor tool to totally remove the metal for the inner bearing.  That way the friction would be reduced from the worm rubbing on the metal.



All assembled.  Looks good.




Now I need a B unit numbered 119.


































The era does not match, but currently, the Rapido passenger car is the only accurate CSX passenger car available.

[u18b]

Here is a prototype shot.

http://www.trainweb.org/csxphotos/photos/FP7A/0118CSX-s.jpg



As for running qualities of the model, it runs pretty good.   The reduced friction allows for more flywheel action.
But the 3-pole motor is still a bit growly for me.  I might replace it one day.


For now, the loco is analog.  I may install a decoder and an LED for the headlight one day.

[peteski]

Excellent review and nice repaint.
I would have been on the fence whether I would have posted it here or in the product discussion section.  I might have split it up into 2 treads.

One thing that bugs me about this model (not specifically your version) is the gap around the number board units.  I would have filled them.

[Philip H]

Well done as usual. For those lacking a media blasting unit- do you think these would strip in some other solution?

[u18b]

Excellent review and nice repaint.
I would have been on the fence whether I would have posted it here or in the product discussion section.  I might have split it up into 2 treads.

One thing that bugs me about this model (not specifically your version) is the gap around the number board units.  I would have filled them.

Yes, there are a couple of things that make this loco a bit lower than a Kato or Intermountain.
For example, the grills could be a bit better.

I obviously wanted to put some time in this.... just not too much time.
I'll eventually make more-- but painted in the Bright Future scheme.

[u18b]

Well done as usual. For those lacking a media blasting unit- do you think these would strip in some other solution?

Phillip,
I don't remember what I used.
But I do know that the plastic is of a more delicate variety.
I would start with 91% alcohol.

But I honestly don't remember if that worked.

[Santa Fe Guy]

Great right-up of the complete process. This must help many who are contemplating any such work.
Rod.

[u18b]

Here is an irony for you that sort of fits this thread.

Many years ago, I wrote an article on taking a Life Like F7 and making it so much better.
I cut 1 or 2 mm out of the nose to correct the shape.
Added flywheels to make it run better.
And a whole lot more.

I wrote it up and sent it in to Model Railroader.
Jim Kelly rejected the article on the following premise-- if you are going to all THAT much trouble-- why not use a Kato loco.

Which missed the whole point of the article-- getting good results from lower cost locos.

Here is the set I built for that article.

[craigolio1]

I loved reading this. The best part for me? The decals you used for the sight glasses and fuel fill. It's a small detail but the application was very well thought out and made for an awesome looking result. I'm going to use that.

Craig.