My own Atlas conversion kit will be available this fall. BUT, I'll be selling the photoengraved brass details (handrails, cut levers, all handrails, cab sunshades, ground plane antenna) separately and the steps are .005 brass. There are two sheets, one in .005 and the other in .010. They are due in from the photoetcher any day now. Updates will be posted on the randgust.com webpage. I'll actually have the photoetch sheets available before the resin parts are. I've got four different cabs, 2 frames, stacks, air conditioner, number boards, side steps and battery boxes as all separate parts, so you can accurately model the particular CF7 you're looking for relatively accurately. It's designed to fit the Atlas CF7 chassis but if you insist on the GP15 frame it can be milled to fit.
"It's designed to fit the Atlas CF7 chassis but if you insist on the GP15 frame it can be milled to fit." If Atlas has a CF7 then why are you doing one? (Sorry, couldn't resist.) B )
OK, yeah, that was an 11PM posting BF moment if I ever had one. GP7 chassis. That JnJ shell brings back a lot of memories. Boy, those things are rare. Back in the 80's a friend and I were both kitbashing with reckless abandon, he managed to sell two masters to JnJ that he'd done for copies. I had already done a round-roofed CF7 and inquired to the original JnJ owner (not the current one, the business was later sold) if he was interested in a CF7 square cab for a master. He was, we agreed on a deal, I built the master from a Roco GP9 long end and everything else scratch. It fit the original Atlas/Roco chassis (which dates this, as you can tell, to late 70's technology - that was the best GP of the time). Months and months and months passed. Finally I had to ask for either payment or return. I got the shell back with a note 'didn't use it'... but the inside and miscellaneous areas were still showing scraps of molding rubber. It had been used. So then JnJ announced the CF7 shell, you can imagine my reaction, but I've never held a shell in my hand. As far as I can tell he actually didn't use mine, but may have used mine for development of the master he did use. Whatever, there were very, very few produced. The fishbelly frame is next to impossible to make in a one-piece shell due to the undercuts, you'll go through molds with mold damage pretty quick. Like many of the 80's JnJ, it was freely done with using existing shells as patterns. Those are all copyrighted. So if you go that route, don't expect the manufacturers to idly stand by, that's why shells are copyrighted and why I copyright my own masters as well. Later on I finished the shell up myself and painted it, and it was published in Railroad Model Craftsman with the round-roof CF7. The ones I'm doing now are all new work. But the deal I made with Atlas was to make it to fit their chassis and use their long hood part - not copy it - as part of the kit. They're OK with that, just don't copy it. It's way better than what I can do anyway. Those that know CF7's will know that's what ATSF did, was to copy the GP7 hood from EMD, just make the entire thing 6" shorter due to the frame buildup, along with blanking out the rear numberboards and insetting the handbrake. On the new model that 6" is offset down into the frame members. But yeah, for anybody that has one of the actual JnJ' CF7's, the Achilles heel was always the handrails and details, and my etched parts should work just fine with them and as soon as they are in and checked I'll offer them for sale separately. FWIW the new owner of JnJ and I have had good relationships
Wouldn't a person need permission from BNSF (or prior to 1996, Santa Fe's permission) to produce a CF7 model that would eventually be duplicated and consequently offered for sale?
Only UP dug in their heels on model railroad copyrights of logos, and it came out quite badly for them. They 'want' you to get permission (and basically it is free, see their web page) but the days of witch-hunt prosecuting on UP railfan calendars and pull-toys appears to be over. Certain companies are absolutely nuts about things, you'll never see a model UPS truck without a license, its always a 'package delivery truck', and just try, just TRY to buy 'caterpillar yellow' paint. Same thing with all things John Deere. The odd thing about the CF7 is that it was a copy of a GP7, particularly on the long hood. For good reason - ATSF wanted all the parts interchangeable - doors, filters, fans, the works. That thinking later migrated to the cab - same windows and doors as a GP7. Copying shells is another matter entirely. Look at any model railroad injection-molded part and you won't see a patent, you will see a copyright. That's what I'm talking about; it is Atlas, not BNSF, that has every right to clear their throat if somebody is taking an existing part as a pattern and reproducing it in resin. At least in the old days, JnJ was doing that on a widespread basis. I have no-changes, dead-nuts copies of the Roco Atlas GP9 shell produced by JnJ. Now the company has to exercise their copyright rights; which means that for all intents and purposes a lot of the old stuff (think Roco, Rivarossi, probably others) it may be a violation but there's nobody left to care. On the other hand, if you're out there using new Kato or Atlas shells as a pattern, and reselling shells, don't say I didn't warn you. I had one guy on Ebay attempt to reproduce my kits and sell them. He was mailed the US Copyright notice, he apologized, and decided that becoming a vendor on building and selling my kits was a better idea.
Randgust: When will the details be available, price, how do I get a few sets? I also want a couple of the complete cf7 kits! Nick: Thanks, you need to come by the club on a off day to run. Hit me up!
Cat Yellow isnt that hard to find. Just go to your local CAT dealer. It is readily available in New CAT yellow and Old CAT yellow in rattle cans. I spray a little bit into a dixie cup and then pour it into my paint jar. I will warn you though.......IT IS NOT CHEAP!!!!!
You must not have Fleet Farms where you are from, their shelves are full of "New Caterpillar Yellow", "Caterpillar Yellow" and the JD colors... But I digress, randgust, I'm really looking forward to seeing your whole CF7 project come together, it has a lot of potential!
