Someone's customized Flyer

beautiful work!

@Dave Koehler posted:

beautiful work!

It is not mine--I cannot take credit for that; that K5 is pure art.

Guessing people don't mind a custom Flyer if it's done well?

K5's are plentiful, I see nothing wrong with a resto-mod of one that is condition VG or less. He started with a large motor 313 which is the best running version. My observation is the green is closer to a GN green than the dark, nearly black PRR green, it should also have less gloss.

@argent_lumber posted:

Is this considered taboo in the postwar Flyer hobby, or is it considered OK to repaint and customize older engines like this?

Well, I repainted two Flyer locomotives: a 293 (along with a bunch of freight cars,)  also added the smoke defelctor and boiler top air reservoirs.

And a 21085.

Nobody's been calling for my head on a silver platter (yet .)

And I've had a Flyer 316 K5 on the back burner for a couple of decades...

Rusty

I don't have any problems with it.  I repainted my Uncles Royal Blue and added smoke, a can motor and electronic e-unit.  The paint was trashed as well as the tender from both he and I running it for 40 years.

I have a couple that have been repainted 302 Atlantic turned into a Pennsylvania , a camel back that was using an Atlantic 303 and a Ballston camelback shell is now a Reading.   Currently redoing a GP-7 it will be a Burlington when done.  Sometimes the only thing to do is customize the engine because of ware.

Great looking paint, could be those headhunters have taken the day off. I mentioned in my thread that my 283 will have the Pioneer Limited paint scheme.

Ray

I too think that any item rescued from a "junk" box or in poor condition is fair game for a do-over.  I did a K5 for myself and a friend of mine a few years ago.   I stripped what was left of the old paint, filed the die parting lines, primed and painted the boiler and tender Brunswick Green, the smoke box "graphite", and the cab roof and tender deck a red oxide color.  I used HO decals with a Dalee reverse unit with large can motor and rebuilt the Gilbert smoke unit. The locomotive runs great, and pulls all the cars I car to put behind it.   Reproduction parts completed the job.

A nicely preserved original item is something else entirely.  There are a lot of us guys out there who will rescue  things like this.  It's part of the hobby we all like so much.

A similar debate goes on in the old car hobby too, but that's quite another story. 

That is a great looking engine Jerry. The Brunswick Green looks just right in the pictures.

If the item belongs to you, I think you are still able to do what you want with it including repaint or even discard it. 

Hello folks and sorry about reviving a dead thread, but I think after about two years of armchair modeling I decided to take the plunge into actually having trains again. So I got a #283 American Flyer "Pacific" in rough shape along with a pile of cars-- 7 freight cars and 9 cabooses -- for about what you'd expect me to pay for a cheap engine. I think I am going to clean it up and run it before deciding to redo it or not.

Have really liked seeing the "tinplate" side of American Flyer, but I also like the detailed customs and higher end modern S gauge trains -- so that's reason enough to try it, it looks fun.

So thanks folks for basically the free train information library online, because this might be a lot of fun.

Good on ya...keep us posted.

I remember that video.

It raises the question; is it "better" to leave a model in it's "original" yet compromised state (as in the case of the loco in the video) or to replace missing parts and restore?

Like most others who responded earlier, I'd say "go for it!" There's plenty of "as built" examples to be obtained, if that's of interest too...

Mark in Oregon

Well three years after starting the thread in 2021 I finally unboxed an eBay lot of American Flyer. It's all pretty rough but I like these a great deal, and am going to get it driving around before I decide whether to start modifying.

And I should also get some "stock" original American Flyer because they are absolutely charming trains. They are miniature classics really. I'm 25, not 75; childhood train nostalgia for me is Bachmann Spectrum, not tubular track and ozone and smoke. But I'm sorry, these are adorably old-fashioned little trains that are definitely toys and not ashamed to be such.

Here's a list:

283 steam engine, Pacific type, Aug. 1954 - gnarly condition but shell, armature, and gears are alright.

984 New Haven boxcar

940 Wabash hopper, cracked

Hopper with no numbers coated in silver paint

919 CB&Q operating dump gondola gravel car thing

976 Missouri Pacific operating cattle car,

633 B&O boxcar missing a door

3x 630 Reading cabooses, one badly warped from the lightbulb but two are okay

638 with American Flyer Lines

638 with just American Flyer

930 American Flyer Lines caboose

938 American Flyer Lines caboose

979 operating bay window caboose with lights and a brakeman standing on the platform at rear

Anyway I sure have a pile of trains to fix.