SHOW ME YOUR F3 COLLECTION

Here's a set of K-Line F units I forgot about when I posted my other photos. I was running them at the Gadsden Pacific museum yesterday so took some photos. This is one of my favorite diesels. 

  

 

 

Blackbonnets?!?  That's as sacrilegious as Daylight cab forwards! 

 

Hopefully SantaFeJim doesn't come across those pictures! 

When he does, then he'll need to visit the for sale, column

and the chrome Santa fe hoppers

 

 

I don't have much of a collection, but this is my favorite.

 

don

MTH New York Central F3 A-B-B-A

 

20-2176-1, 20-2176-3

 

 

MTH 20-2218-1 F3 A-B-A Brunswick

 

 

 

 

 

 

F3 B units

 

PRR F3 in Tuscan - fantasy paint scheme?

 

 

A few Steamtown pictures.   Lackawana F3 foreground with a Reading F7 backround.  Chicken mesh side panels v.s. detailed side grill on the F7. There are some small roof top difference in these units. 

Additional pictures.

       

I don't know what happened to last post but my all time favorite diesels are the f units hands down. Here are a few of mine. Need more wall space to get the other dozen or so displayed. They all have the second b units as well.

I don't know what happened to last post but my all time favorite diesels are the f units hands down. Here are a few of mine. Need more wall space to get the other dozen or so displayed. They all have the second b units as well.

WOW!

Sorry for hitting the submit button a half dozen times. I'm afraid to post on the show your caboose tread now!!!😁

 

 

I'm a month late to the F-3 party, but I finally removed my F units from boxes after 10 years--doesn't seem that long, but it is.

 

My all-time favorite, childhood 2356 Southern F-3 AA's.

 

For some reason, probably operator error, I'm not able to put text between the photos at obvious point.  So, I'll do it here, referring to each road.

 

The CB&Q was my first try at repainting a PW F3.  It's a simple all white cab with decals.  On mine, I added number boards, third portholes, high fan shrouds, and on the A unit, a second headlight.  The vents in both units between the portholes were filled in.  This is prototypical for the B unit, but not the A--I did the A because I didn't want to disturb the red stripe.  Also, added scale porthole windows.

 

I used the Burlington prototype photo from Jeff Wilson's book, F Units:  The Diesel That Did It, p. 15.  When I went back to the book recently, it turns out that what I was replicating in many respects was an F2 which the prototype #153 was.

 

The GM&O F-3A and B are patterned after the "Abraham Lincoln" and has the Tomar Industries drumhead on the observation car.  Not a lot of modification to the basic LIONEL PW F units.  The main change to the A unit was to use scale number boards and prototype numbers.  The passenger car is included because it highlights a deficiency in LIONEL's and others 15" passenger car painting.  Typically, the car ends are not painted.  This was my first attempt and it turned out pretty good.  I also paid attention to where the prototype terminated its striping.  On these, they terminate at the car side.  If you look at the Burlington photos, you'll see they wrap around the end of the A and B units.

 

Last is the Northern Pacific "North Coast Limited."  This was a project I put away 10+ years ago with much still to be done.  It too received a second headlight and scale number boards.  I have yet to insert the lenses and numbers.  I still need to add scale portholes on the A unit; the B already has them as well as filled in vents between the portholes.  The "NORTHERN PACIFIC" script is not prototypical.  NP used essentially a sign board spelling out NP but in a much smaller size than what I used.  The correct size was not included in the Champ decal set. 

 

Also, apparently since I was buying decals when Champ was in the midst of shutting down, my F unit decal sets lacked all striping; ditto for the passenger car sets.  So all the white you see, except for script, was painted on.  I have since secured 3 of the older-stripes included-sets and have been tempted to redo these.

 

OOPS!  Forgot to include the NP NCL B unit; it's at the end. 

 

So, there you have my "accumulation" of F units.  Currently working on a Great Northern Empire Builder.  Again, apologies for not putting text where it belongs.  I'll contact the moderator to find out what I'm doing wrong.

With the historical society's and photo libraries for the prototypes, I do more research now than I used to.

 

Take the NP F3 A unit, I used a terrific photo for my model.  Unfortunately, I recently learned that the cab number is for an F9.  If I change the 7 to a 5, it would be prototypically correct.  I have the decals to do this, but not, yet, do I have the courage to change the numbers.

 

The donor F units were all cosmetic basket case F units, most often 2343 SF units.  The passenger cars are newer LIONEL smooth-sided cars.  Each of the passenger units have 5 or 6 cars, and no diesel will be more than an AA or AB--just don't have the room.

 

I am in desperate need of two sets of NP NCL decals.  I'll be happy to pay anyone on this forum who can make them for me.  Let me know.

This is my only F-Unit so far but I love it. It's an MTH Proto-1 ABA

Here, if an F3 is not Warbonnet, it's not here.

 

Some of my F3's