Metra roll call!!!!

Hi guys, I missed out on all the Metra F40PH premier releases, sadly. I have an E8 Metra that's really sharp. I painted my own bilevels into the RTA paint scheme. Then I got to thinking, why not just paint my own F40PH? So I was able to get a few older railking f40ph to practice my painting. 

My commuter railroad has slowly built up it's fleet. So far, it has secured a few F40PH's: 1 CSX, 3 McDonalds (1 functional PS2, 2 dead/dummies). This has provided me A LOT of practice. Also, Metra used to have a couple of F7A (305, 308) for work train purposes, so I was able to secure a railking F-unit with a bad 5V board, but thanks to GGG, I was able to install a used one. 

I'm still getting the hang of air brushing. My only successful airbrushing piece was METX 308 F-unit. The other's I tried, but the airbrush kept giving me fits.

Luckily, I found a shade of powder blue I liked for my RTA F40PH "city of evanston".

The other units are rattle can as well. Practice, practice, practice!

So below is what I've painted so far:

REPAINTED ROLLING STOCK:

RTA Pullman Bi-level coach and cab. (Formerly Amtrak Bilevels)

#1: Donor F40PH - CSX 9993 - repainted to METX #100 40th Anniversary Heritage

#2: METX #308 - work unit - F-unit (former Santa Fe #16)

#3 F40PH - RTA #128 "City of Evanston" (Formerly McDonalds #414)

Nice job!

Don't forget that Metra also has a few F40C's that are basically a SD40-2 with a cowl over it.

Looking really nice!

Yeah, just keeping myself busy till a premier f40ph pops up somewhere... might as well practice and attempt to model stuff that MTH hasn't done.

the F40C is tempting, actually got paint recommendations from member "tunnelmotor" who did a F40C scratch build a few years back.

645 posted:

Casey Jones2 posted:

Don't forget that Metra also has a few F40C's that are basically a SD40-2 with a cowl over it.

There were only (15) F40C's and only 611 and 614 remain on the Metra roster today but both have been stored out of service for a few years now. The other (13) F40C's were sold off and later scrapped. So it's not a "few" but a 'couple' F40C's still in existence today.

But Metra did have plans to rebuild them...that fell thru and now they're stored but still may be rebuilt. 

From the Metra website...

"While there is a possibility that the F40Cs may finally see their day in the shop at the tail end of the MP36 rehabilitation project, there are currently no active plans for their restoration. Until then, they will remain at the Western Avenue railyard."

My dictionary defines Few as 1, 2, 3 or a handful.  

Beautiful!!

So here is my latest F40PH repaint: Took a really beaten up McDonald's F40PH, repainted into Metra's rehab paint scheme. 

There’s one more still rusting away at NRE in Dixmore, IL. So that’s three. Check out the IHB NW2 next to it!

This engine looks great. Longtime commuter on the UP-NW line - I've travelled more than 650,000 miles on Metra.

jerrymouse25 posted:

So here is my latest F40PH repaint: Took a really beaten up McDonald's F40PH, repainted into Metra's rehab paint scheme. 

Jerry, really nice work on the new Metra scheme.

Question, how did you do the fade (blue to silver/white on the bottom)? Airbrush or is this a decal set?

If decal can you post the source?

Thanks.

Charlie

This long-time METRA commuter fully approves! I really like how you captured the "fade" on the rehabbed unit.

Doug Murphy posted:

This engine looks great. Longtime commuter on the UP-NW line - I've travelled more than 650,000 miles on Metra.

Thanks Doug, JayJay, and Charlie for your feedback!

Charlie, my go-to for decals has been Matt from:

circuscitydecals.com

He has many Metra sets in HO that he can resize for O. He also did a custom set for my early gen "RTA" paint scheme.

Re: fade from blue to silver.. rattle can (I still can't figure out airbrush clogs) I used the testors French blue over rustoleum silver. Then back masked- went back over to feather the silver to my liking

trial and error -

What I've learned from this beat up McDonald unit I am applying for my next donor McDonalds f40ph (currently in paint).

Hopefully I can improve on this one in preparation for a F59PHI which I have read Metra has recently acquired from Amtrak.

Also might also try my hands at doing a F40C following the path of member tunnelmotor.

Great job! I live near both the Metra Heritage Corridor and the BNSF Metra line, so I see a lot of Metra trains. Your repaints look spot on.

Nothing wrong with rattle cans. I used Krylon rattle cans to do up an entire Golden State consist. But I had a much simpler paint scheme. It takes practice but you can get a decent result with rattle cans if you're patient. 

Charlie posted:

jerrymouse25 posted:

So here is my latest F40PH repaint: Took a really beaten up McDonald's F40PH, repainted into Metra's rehab paint scheme. 

Jerry, really nice work on the new Metra scheme.

Question, how did you do the fade (blue to silver/white on the bottom)? Airbrush or is this a decal set?

If decal can you post the source?

Thanks.

Charlie

I go to Matt for my Metra decals.

circuscitydecals.com

Thank you very much for the information Jerry. The fade is hard to do and I think you did a pretty good job based on the photos you posted here.

Charlie

Jerry, that fade paint job looks spot on!!! I was hoping MTH would make one but you beat them to it!!!

Ok- my second go around was much better in my eyes and the process was more "streamlined" this go around. 

That's really impressive paint and decal work. Way beyond my skills in that department.

BNSF-Matt posted:

That's really impressive paint and decal work. Way beyond my skills in that department.

Thanks! Just got in my very own version of an Amtrak F59phi second hand... haven't seen any pics of this into in Metra colors to go off of but assuming it will be similar to the MP36 paint scheme?

Wow! You have mastered the look. 

I have the MTH Metra bilevel silver passenger cars. The one thing i dont like is that it is smooth sided; when it should be fluted. So I was looking at my 3D laser printer and I said to it ( I talk to it all the time) why cant I print the flutes, paint them and apply them to the cars. 

I would need to remove the Metra Signs or remake one. This is just an idea at this point.

A member from the Chicago transit forum provided me with some Metra paint scheme drawings of the 21 soon-to-be acquired Amtrak F59PHI units (October-November). So I got to work on my Amtrak Cascades unit.

That looks great.

Is Metra using these to replace some unrebuilt F40s?

Lou1985 posted:

That looks great.

Is Metra using these to replace some unrebuilt F40s?

I think to supplement fleet....

I wonder why the special paint on only the first five units?

They seem to be following the Amtrak scheme, just changing the shade of the blue and changing the name. The others will be a much more elaborate repaint.

I have a lonely Metra E8 awaiting a set of cars.  Hope MTH rolls out a few more of the passenger car sets

VistaDomeScott posted:

I have a lonely Metra E8 awaiting a set of cars.  Hope MTH rolls out a few more of the passenger car sets

My first Metra was the E8 with no bilevels in site. Then took matters into my own hands and repainted some Amtrak bilevels into RTA pullmans. Next thing you know, local train show here, the occasional Bay find there... the Metra bilevels start appearing for the taking. 

Relevant to this thread - I learned on r/trains on Reddit that Metra is sending a number of their locos down here to Georgia for rebuilds at the Progress Rail shops down in Patterson: https://www.reddit.com/r/train...e_on_a_freight_line/

So for any Chicago transplants to Georgia (or along the RoW back up to Chicago), keep an eye out on CSX main for a potential glimpse of some F40PHM-2 on their way down or back up as F40PHM-3s:

(not my photo - original imgur link: https://imgur.com/2HOXdfN)

I don't have any Metra equipment yet, but after seeing @franktrains in action, it's on my short list!

MTH SW1500, former Burlington Northern, now METX #6

Those Metra units look outstanding!!! Very nice work-

Just about finished my Metra Heritage-Rock Island "fantasy" paint scheme on my other F59PHI. I call it a fantasy scheme as Metra actually has a similar paint scheme on a MP36 unit but not on an actual F59PHI unit. Have one more Amtrak F59PHI unit to mess around with. I might just try doing a simple Metra "patch" on a former Amtrak Surfliner unit as this is what Metra is doing on the initial Amtrak units in order to expedite these into service. OR... might try another fantasy heritage paint scheme: CNW or BN... not sure yet.

Hopefully not departing too much from the Metra theme, but I'd love to have a three-car set of the original Milwaukee Road bi-level cars from the 1960's. Con-Cor makes these in N scale but unless I've missed a catalog at some point I don't think anybody has yet put them out in O.  

So here is my version of Metra's express paint job in "Metra Oceanside Blue".

I could not get the Amtrak lettering off with light sanding so I masked off everything except the old Amtrak blue swatch. Then hit with a rattle can of Testors deep dark blue.

Again using an already designed HO circuscitydecal set resized to O scale, was able to come up with Unit #77.

The unit is an old Amtrak Pacific Surfliner F59PHI MTH Railking 5V PS2 unit.

I basically went off what I saw on Metra's facebook page and a video on YouTube. Real life units have black painted trucks but I'm leaning towards keeping it silver for now.

Here is a screenshot of the video already on YouTube  of the real life units #73 & #77. Not sure how I feel about those black trucks.

jerrymouse25 posted:

So here is my version of Metra's express paint job in "Metra Oceanside Blue".

Real life units have black painted trucks but I'm leaning towards keeping it silver for now.

Here is a screenshot of the video already on YouTube  of the real life units #73 & #77. Not sure how I feel about those black trucks.

Great work. Agree, with the matching silver trucks the units flow.

Tried another fantasy "heritage" paint scheme. Former Railking Rtr F59PHI Amtrak #3010...

Now "Metra Heritage CNW" #94. 

Interesting Metra chose to do this "Surfliner heritage" express paint scheme instead of the Metra Fade scheme as it appears they sprayed the entire cascades unit anyway.

https://youtu.be/rCaMAq4pKzs

Jerry,

Any interest in doing work outside of your own? Would like the CNW colored version myself.  I'm in the Lake Zurich area.   Joe

Rigatoni Express Railroad posted:

Jerry,

Any interest in doing work outside of your own? Would like the CNW colored version myself.  I'm in the Lake Zurich area.   Joe

Joe, message sent. -Jerry

Jerry, your work is really impressive!! Thanks for showing it to us.