North Coast Limited/Mainstreeter (Kato Hack job!)

EMD F7A Feb 5, 2018

  1. EMD F7A

    EMD F7A TrainBoard Member

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    DEC923B8-E3C2-4A50-A1E7-C5CEDCA1B276.jpeg Airbrush worked well! Never done THIS much custom painting so fast. I’m the least protoypically concerned dude, someday I may be and on that day I’ll build correct cars... but for now, gosh I’m pretty pleased! The FP7 will be supplanted by an F3 ABBA soon... and yeah I paint and detail behind the mesh grilles before I reinstall!
     
  2. EMD F7A

    EMD F7A TrainBoard Member

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    681CDB32-6582-4DA7-98FC-2E8AE38070C2.jpeg Rest of the train will take a few days after the decals arrive..
     
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  3. HemiAdda2d

    HemiAdda2d Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Beautiful work. Love it!
     
  4. MK

    MK TrainBoard Member

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    Looks pretty damn good to me! :)
     
  5. jlundy46

    jlundy46 TrainBoard Supporter

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    It was a great looking train and your models are great too!
     
  6. Jerry M. LaBoda

    Jerry M. LaBoda TrainBoard Supporter

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    I know elsewhere it has been discussed how one would apply the lettering to the B-units... what's your secret???
     
  7. EMD F7A

    EMD F7A TrainBoard Member

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    Thanks, guys!

    Jerry, honestly it's not gonna be the prettiest but it'll do; I apply the decal to the grilles, let them tack, then go over with a pass of Walthers Solvaset. After a good day to cure, I then come back and re-soften with Solvaset again, but use a mild testers with stick brush to "poke"/coax the decal backing gently into/through the grilles. The end result is the white parts stay pretty visible, but it will really set that lettering into the grilles and not look so "plastic-y". It's imperfect but with the standoff grilles it's actually better, because the relief detail behind the grille will take your eye off the imperfect decal-ing that's over it!
     
  8. NorsemanJack

    NorsemanJack TrainBoard Member

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    I'm really looking forward to seeing more photos. The Lowey NCL is easily my all time favorite passenger scheme, and the one I always mention when we talk about our wish lists. I know I am far from alone on this. I didn't grow up in NCL territory, but I do remember a family vacation in the sixties to North Dakota. Swimming in the Best Western pool across the road from the NP tracks, and watching the Loewy passenger trains pass by, was as close to heaven as it got! (the sixties weren't all that great)
     
  9. EMD F7A

    EMD F7A TrainBoard Member

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    Jack, those sound like some great memories... I wonder if kids in the future will dream of Amtrak trains passing their crowded apartment complex? Times sure have changed.

    So, guys, I ran outta decals for the NCL. Ordered more, but I gotta be patient. In the meantime, I figured I’d use what decals I DID have, which happen to lay nicely on the sides of.......
     
  10. EMD F7A

    EMD F7A TrainBoard Member

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    0FDB52DB-FF26-42BC-A6E3-83D0964CDE4B.jpeg These!!
     
  11. NorsemanJack

    NorsemanJack TrainBoard Member

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    Likely not. That memory is rivaled only by the time my Dad put my mother and the rest of the family on a Burlington Zephyr for a short (~30 mile) ride to the "city" we were going shopping in (he just drove the car to pick us up). That Vista-Dome was unforgettable! I was a train nut since before I can remember (my mom told me stories of me wanting to park and watch for trains at the local tracks while my older sister was in kindergarten for the morning - I must have been 3 years old and certainly can't remember any of it).

    Are those "butter-knife" to be cars????
     
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  12. EMD F7A

    EMD F7A TrainBoard Member

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    Sir, what I wouldn’t give to have been able to enjoy some of that era in person... missed it by miles, so instead I write about it. Closest I’ll get. Just about done writing a novel about NYC in ‘46 (somewhat noir), next is 1950 Seattle sci-fi but it’s a good excuse to take a trip up there and see some of my favorite train locations.

    Yup, more decals to come today on the butterknife train! The colors are the newer tru-color paints and they match the Northern Pacific drift cards very well!
     
    Last edited: Feb 9, 2018
  13. montanan

    montanan TrainBoard Member

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    Nice work. Can't believe that no one makes an accurate model of the North Coast Limited. The same is true in HO scale. Walthers released some generic passenger cars painted for the North Coast Limited. I had an Athearn Genisis F7-A that I picked up around 10 years ago and was looking for another A and a B unit. Found a Stewart F-3A and F-7 B unit but the paint wasn't even close to the correct color. Ended up, like you, repainting and then detailing the Stewart units. Found some ROP's and an observation car to cobble together my version. Intermountain had A and B units available for the NCL but they were priced at way more than I was willing to pay. Sometime you just do what you have to do.

    When I was a kid, we used to take either the Hiawatha to Chicago to visit relatives in Indiana or the North Coast Limited to the Cities and then a connecting train to Chicago to catch the South Shore Line. Brings back a lot of good memories. Loved riding on the NCL. I operate at the Livingston Model Railroad Club which is in the basement of the old Northern Pacific Depot in Livingston, MT.

    Here's a quick video of what I managed to come up with.



    You have done some nice work. Waiting to see the project completed.
     
    Last edited: Feb 9, 2018
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  14. NorsemanJack

    NorsemanJack TrainBoard Member

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    That is outstanding!! (btw: make sure those red and green "weeds" don't get close enough to scratch that fantastic paint job).
     
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  15. EMD F7A

    EMD F7A TrainBoard Member

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    Got them cars finished on the 1947 NCL/mainstreeter... I’m all about the interiors. Lightning, and fully painted! Headrest doilies and wood-back chairs!!

    14AC1FED-D94D-4A7D-BB85-820007C5A14B.jpeg 6C75F14A-F46B-4FE5-80D3-70003E45DD3B.jpeg EA562DBE-1777-4ECB-8980-C83EAD4947BB.jpeg 0239004F-AC49-4194-8C39-F00DB69832D0.jpeg 9DAD9A6A-B47D-401F-B013-7FE23BB9D437.jpeg
     
  16. wombat457

    wombat457 TrainBoard Member

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    Darn they ARE nice. I have just got myself a Kato F7A and B undecorated. When I paint them I hope they turn out 1/10 as well as yours did. I really like the colors as well not to mention the very crisp lines you got for the white stripe. Can I ask what you used to achieve such a crisp line?
     
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  17. NorsemanJack

    NorsemanJack TrainBoard Member

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    UNBELIEVABLE!!! Those are fantastic!
     
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  18. montanan

    montanan TrainBoard Member

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    Excellent work. Can't believe that it is N scale.
     
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  19. EMD F7A

    EMD F7A TrainBoard Member

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    Thank you, all! I loved painting this train. It's a good job, but I am likely going to sell it and redo the whole lot with just a touch more precision for my long-term "keeper". Of course, the Loewy NCL gets finished first! Decals should be here any day.
     
  20. wombat457

    wombat457 TrainBoard Member

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    EMD F7A,

    How in hell do you remove the bodies from the Kato F7 A and B units? It looks as though you have to removed the couplers and wheels ... is that right?

    Okay found the Kato page describing things ... what a pain :(
     
    Last edited: Feb 20, 2018
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