@CAPPilot posted:I just put this on the 2 rail forum so I thought I would here too. While I'm leaning towards 3RS, I'm not there yet. I do want to mention that 3rd Rail did the correct number boards for the Pennsylvania Railroad's F3s. This had not been done by other manufacturers other than high end brass. 3rd Rail's N de M's F3s also had the streamlined number boards. It looks like I should thank the N de M folks for pushing for their F3 since there may not have been enough PRR orders to do this unique feature.
Ron,
Originally the concept behind the project was to pick one of the 5 phases of F3 production and make it work for all roads. As is typical with 3rd Rail work, that went out the window fairly soon when we all realized that most of the advertised road names couldn't fall into a single phase. Then the decision was made to produce all but phase I F3s as they have the 3rd porthole in the center of the A units and would be a major tooling change. Finally the project developed into who has done what and when. Since a phase II (early) PRR F3 had not been done it seemed an obvious choice. The big spotting difference as you point out is the FT style number boards. While the PRR didn't own a lot of these early F3s, it was unique enough in the model world to make this choice. PRR would go on to buy lots of F3s in all phases up and through the model transition to the F7. For anyone who cares to know more, the late phase II F3 introduced the short roof fans that would continue through F9 production. These early ones share the same fan design as the FT as well.
Glad you are happy with them! This was a fun project.
Now it's into tooling for GP7/9s and there is a lot of variation on those as well especially anyone who wants a version of the flattened long hood of the GP7 which was common to CNJ, B&M, and CNW. You won't likely see those in O anytime again.
