I recently found an inexpensive F-7b and a free F-3b shells. The F-3b is a cast metal Cary shell:

and the other F-7 shell:

I'm not sure the manufacture of the F-7 shell. I think it's a Bachmann.

I drilled both shells for the hand grabs and lifting eyes on the roof. The F-7 was pretty easy, since it was plastic. The F-3 was considerably more challenging. The casting is thicker and the cast metal is soft enough to gum up a hand twist drill. (I drilled all holes with a #76 bit) I used some Vaseline for drill lubricant.
After drilling the lifting eye holes I installed the lifting eyes, then I airbrushed the CN yellow in the sides.

I masked off the yellow stripe and airbrushed the CN green


Then I unmasked. The critical part of the Masking is the space between the upper yellow and the body line above it. there has to be enough room in the green for the 'Canadian National' Logo. I painted a CN F-7 A&B set a few years ago and messed this up, making the logo run up over the rivet line.

Then I masked off the car bodies and painted the ladders and skirts black.

I also masked around and lightly sprayed the F-3's dynamic brake grills on the roof.
A couple things I forgot to mention. the ladders come separately on the Cary bodies and you have to file a relief for them on the inside of the shell. I also wanted to mention that the winter hatch on the F-7 was a brass casting from Miniatures by Eric.

That's coming along nicely, Glen, and it's one of my favourite paint schemes.

Wayne

Looking good Glen. I love to see that old stuff coming back to life!

What paint manufacturer did you use? I personnally used the old Accupaint but I fear all the bottles are now dried (it was old stock salvaged from someone's basement many years ago).

Matt

Thanks Wayne and Matt.
Matt, I used True-Line's acrylic paint for this project. It can still be found in certain places. That being said, I'd like to try Rapido's line when and if I find it.

Finally getting back to this project. I decaled both engines last weekend.

the decaling was pretty straight-forward. The only real difficulty was the very thin black pinstripe that separates the green and yellow. You can also see where the 'Canadian National fits between the yellow and the beltline on the shell. Now I have to start bending up some hand grabs for them.

I bent and painted the side grabs for both engines:

Since each location was a custom bent piece I had to mark where they would go on the card I used. I sprayed them in primer and then the CN yellow.

the two shells are pretty much ready for mounting on the athearn chassis that I have. I glued the grabs in from the back using CA. Now all they're missing is the MU hoses and window glass.

Next are the chassis. they'll be getting a repaint. The F-7b shell originally came painted painted in Tuscan with the gold-painted sideframes you see here. That's definitely going to change.

I finished off the two B units this morning but first I thought I'd show what it takes to mount a Cary shell onto an Athearn F-7 chassis:

You have to grind the mounting tabs off both sides of the fuel tank, and also grind off the small molded-in pins that are above the trucks.

you also have to cut a slot in the coupler mount to allow the Cary shell to drop down to it's correct height. After this the shall will have a friction fit onto the chassis.
When I finished all the chassis modifications I painted the sideframes and chassis in flat black.

Here's the two finished engines:

I did a bit of touch-up and gave them both a bit of weathering, concentrating mostly on the trucks and lower parts of the body. I did add the diesel soot stripe to the roof, trying not to overdo it (it's not an alco after all)

the F-3 tips the scales at 18oz. without adding the drive. I figure this little fellow could get over 2 pounds if the dives and the large Athearn internal weight was added.
One thing I might look into is the chicken-wire grill for it but for a 1970's shell I'm fairly happy with how it turned out. I might even look for the matching A.

The Bachmann Plus B unit came out the same way. weathered in the same way as well.

Now it's time to put them into service. I posed them behind my Proto 1000 F-3 unit.


One thing I should look into is some shorter couplers and diaphragms. It's quite the leap between the units.

And this is my Bachmann Plus F-7a that I painted a few years ago. you can see where I placed the yellow stripe wrong, causing the 'Canadian National' to be placed over the rivet line. I also painted the grabs black when they should have been yellow. I'm thinking of getting another shell so I can have a correct one for the New 'B'.

Nice work, Glen and good-lookin' paint, too!

Wayne