3rd Rail Rio Grande F7 ABBA set
Release date: December 2015
Here are my studio shots of my heavily modified and detailed 3rd Rail Grande F7's. When I received these back in the December 2015, I was both excited and frustrated. Here I had the best plastic F7's ever made, ones that excelled in a lot of aspects but infuriated me in many others. Sure, I wasn't expecting brass quality, but I also didn't expect grills that were attached with ca glue.
Luckily for Grande modelers, the mods needed to upgrade these units were entirely additive and not subtractive, unlike Santa Fe modelers who had to remove the wrongly applied nose rings in their units. Nonetheless, modifications like re-doing the whole pilot and adding anti-glare paint were major and highly risky.
Painting is good, but not outstanding. The decorations could be sharper and the letterings could be crispier, there is room for improvement of that there is no denying.
I was only unable to correct three errors, the wrongly placed cab roof grabs, the end roofs on B units protrude as they do on F3’s, and the sand hatches style differ in A and B units. I’ll just have to live with these discrepancies.
The models are full of surprising details. My favorite feature is the light housing treatment. Displaying correct dual MARS, headlights and lenses, these look better than any other model in its range.
After 30-some hours of work, I was left with a set that would make any collector proud, one that rivals some of the best brass F-units available today. With Sunset’s recent announcement of the Alco PA's, we can safely assume that the first accurate plastic PA is in order. God knows we have waited. Personally, another Zephyr favorite, a Grande PA in “honeybee” would be nothing less than a dream come true.
I attached diagrams showing the modifications and upgrades, at any rate these models are outstanding. I hope that you agree.
