The 3rd Rail/Sunset Models EMD FP7s

Mine just arrived last night, but they are the SP Black Widow version. I'll post some pictures later today.

Are your FP7's the 3 rail version? If so that would mean they are back from China and finally shipping. Scott hasn't updated the shipping status on the FP7's in a couple of weeks so I was wondering if they had been delayed again.

 

Ken

Yes they are the 3R version and obviously are back from China. I live in southern CA so mine only took a couple days to get here from northern CA.

Stock, right out of the box.

 

 

Scott includes these dummy couplers with the powered A units to tighten up the gap if you want to retain the claw. Unplug the electro coupler, remove the claw, and then install these with the screws provided.

 

Mine are off to the track for a test run, and then to the bench for Kadee's, 2R pilots, and some light weathering. I just ordered the 2R pilots from Scott to close up that hole after the Kadees go on. Pix to follow at a later date.

 

I'm glad I didn't cancel my order for these and go with the Legacy F7 Black Widows! This is a beautiful model from 3rd Rail!

WOW!!!!

 

I'm not a "diesel guy" but the SP black widow is my favorite EMD styling, and those units sure look spectacular! Very impressive.

Here are some photos of my 2 rail ones.  They are fabulous models, but then I am pretty biased. 

 

I wanted a set of 3R SP ones for my 3 rail club.  I love the black widow scheme as well.

 

Just crappy cell phones pictures for now.

 

GG1, I'm curious how big the gap between your units with kadees installed is? I swapped mine out to kadees last nights, but the gap between the A and B units is still quite large. Smaller than the claws obviously, but still too big for me.

 

I'm going to grind off the back of the Kadee draft gear box and drill new holes in the mounting bracket to move the coupler as far back as I can. There is not much room between the rear truck and the rear of the shell.  

You ask a great question.  My 2 rail FL9s do couple much closer than my 3 R ones, but I have not put the FP7s back to back yet.  They arrived and I have only had time to take them out for display.  I'll get a picture of them back to back for you and post how the 2 rail coupler is mounted.  Scott offered Kadee conversion kits for the FL9 and I suspect they will be available for the FP7s as well.  The change over was very straight forward. 

I got the Kadee brackets from Scott, and the B unit is completely different than the A units. Same brackets for both but the spacing on the engines is way different.

Would a Kadee 806 help?  It is standard for the P&D F units.

 

ChipR

I don't like using the short box couplers because the shank is different on the coupler end. I have found they have less side to side swing than the standard medium shank couplers. I need 072 ability and I always have issues with those 806's, especially on engines in multiple unit consists.

 

Here's the difference on the nose of the A units. I have 2R pilots ordered, so that big hole will be disappearing soon. Once the 2R pilot goes on, I'll cut the trip pin off, and add an air hose to the pilot. 

 

 

Here's the gap with Kadees, 740's. Still quite large.

 

 

Notice the A unit coupler sticks out quite a bit further than the B unit.

 

 

The Kadee bracket is mounted further back on the B unit because there is more room. The powered truck of the A unit really limits the space for the Kadee mounting bracket, and I had to modify it just to get it to line up with the mounting holes in the frame.

 

 

You can see the gear box on the rear of the A unit, and that's what is limiting the coupler mounting space. I'm going to modify the coupler box, drill a new hole in the bracket to mount the coupler further back. I might only be able to use 1 screw to secure the coupler, but it will be sufficient.

My Reading 3-rail FP-7 came today, sure wish I had the budget for a pair, and it looks and runs great. But, always a but, I heard about the truck mounted steps, not a big deal to me though was considering eventually changing them to a body mount. One thing I don't understand is why one set of steps on each side is not under the door. They appear to be mounted in the wrong side of the truck center spring so they are way off from under the door. Looks ridiculous. Haven't had a chance to look at what it'll take to correct. Is it like this on all of them?

Most of the other pictures I have seen including in this thread suggest the steps are correctly mounted.  But the steps are offset from the truck spring on the front truck, so I wonder if the truck is installed backwards.  Or if the sideframes need to be switched from side to side?

 

Jim

These look great. Did they make a Northern Pacific version?

great job on the couplers and tightening that gap.

Yes, a Northern Pacific version of this was made.  I'm not sure how many got produced.  I'd love to see a picture of a set though.  I'm curious how the artwork translated over on that version.  I've seen most of the other schemes.

 

 

Mine have properly mounted truck steps. They line right up with the doors.

It looks like the side frames just unscrew so should be no big deal to fix. I'm guessing when they went back to have the wheels changed they put the two side frames on the wrong truck during reassembly.

 

I'll definitely have to get the 2-rail pilot and put a Kadee up front.

 

 

 

 

Because of the speed recorder, this is the left front truck side frame.

 

Thanks, makes sense because the LF is the other one wrong.

The stirrups were just attached to the wrong side of each truck.  Unfortunately you have to remove the truck to reverse them and that can be a little daunting if you're unfamiliar with how the units were put together.

Can anyone post pics of the cab interior on the engineer side? I'm thinking of getting an FT which is supposed to have an "extreme detail" interior. Wondering what the FP looks like. Thanks.

Received my Union Pacific and Canadian Pacific models on Tuesday. They both look great. I have to double check to see if the foot steps attached to the rear trucks line up with the rear side doors. I chose the Union Pacific model because the Union Pacific is the oldest class 1 railroad in the U.S. operating under it's original name and also because I am a direct stockholder. I chose Canadian Pacific also because it is the oldest major railroad in Canada operating under it's original name and I rode behind these F units riding on the Canadian across Canada in 1981 from Montreal to Baniff and returned from Jasper back to Montreal. According to the book I have on FP7s and FP9s the Union Pacific only had 2 FP7 locomotives. Now I have to run them soon.

I tried to get interior shots but not the best camera. The interior cab is nice and spacious but I wouldn't consider it to have "Extreme Detail", hardly even "Well detailed". Each crewman has a seat and the engineer has a couple control boxes and a throttle around him.

 

The truck side frame/step latter issue was a simple fix. The truck side frames simply come off with three screws each. Swapped the LF and RR and all is better. The crewman no longer have to play Indiana Jones and jump from the step to the doorway.

 

The rear foot steps that are under the rear doorway on my UP and the CP units are in the correct location. I guess the person reinstalling the trucks on those Reading engines was not paying attention. Contact Scott Mann and ask him or his repair person what is best to do, probably send to back to have them make the adjustments.

Thanks but I fixed it myself. Just three screws hold the truck side frame on. I was able to swap them around with no problem.

Here's the Kadee coupler gap after I modified all the brackets. They still run on 072 curves. Did I mention how smooth and quiet these new models run? Man, they are the best runners in my entire fleet of locomotives, steam or diesel. One of the guys at the club told me they are "too smooth".

 

Wow, very nice.

 

Nice looking layout too.

Regards,

Jerry

 

Yep, I am with Jerry...WOW!!!  those S.P. units are beautiful!

 

Alan