Kit Bashing a Fictional F38

Today I'll be building a fictional F38 locomotive. This particular engine is based off of Norfolk Southern's former F38s, which themselves were rebuilt from former MARC and Chicago Northwestern F units. They feature separate head end power (HEP) generators and operate with a non turbocharged EMD 645 engine.

The Locomotive's Backstory

The Blue Mountain & Southern runs commuter service out of Chicago towards Michigan. As such, the railroad needed reliable push-pull passenger units. Following my own lore, used engines were acquired and rebuilt for this service along the NS specs.

Starting the Bash

The first two of these units started life as a power dummy pair of Stewart F7's. I started by actually building both engines in a video game called Gmod. This is good motivation, as it shows roughly what the finished locomotives will look like.

I started with detailing the shells. The old horns were removed, and replaced with an M5 from Cal Scale. All the railings were then bend to shape out of Tichy 0.020 Phosphor Bronze wire.

Lift rings followed, along with more Sinclair antenna's. The lift rings were made by wrapping wire around the point of a mechanical pencil, then cutting the excess. In hindsight, the effect works but yields an item that's overscale. The Sinclair antennas are in theory for Positive Train Control (PTC), but I also know these are not accurate, and mainly just follow the NS prototype.

Ladders were then added to the right side of each nose. I used a piece of masking tape to mark my holes, then drilled through the masking tape to make sure the hole locations were correct. Once the grab irons themselves were installed, I drilled a second set of holes for Details West rivet detail. I think this really helps sell the grab iron's look.

Hand rails were then added to the cab roof. You can see the holes for the old horns.

HEP Box and Mufflers

The head end power generator runs completely separate from the engines prime mover. This requires a separate fan system and exhaust. To this end I built a small styrene box, then cut a hole in it for a Cannon dynamic brake fan. I'm guessing this is what Norfolk Southern used in their rebuild, as even the amount of bolts is correct.

A buddy of mine offered to 3d model the mufflers for me. These were then printed on my 3d printer. They require a lot of cleanup this way, as I use a filament printer. Once sanded they were mounted up to the old steam generator location.

Painting

First things first, the locomotive was primed using Tamiya AS-28 "Medium Gray". I like using this as a primer because it covers well and smooths out nicely once dry.

I started started with the white for Blue Mountain & Southern's "Twin Peak" scheme. Painting from light to dark allows for fewer coats to cover for each color. I used Testor's Semi-Gloss White Acrylic. This paint is no longer available, so I will be coming up with a substitute in future.

Ford Engine Blue or as I've dubbed it, BM&S blue followed soon after. Notice the engine has been masked along the twin peaks and around the base stripe. BM&S is known for their blue nose locomotives, so I figured I needed to do something with the nose on this engine.

After a coat of black and a coat of Tamiya Semi Gloss clear coat, the engine is done being sprayed! I ended up touching in the white for the railings with a brush. This Semi-gloss clear coat is from a rattle can, and serves as a more aggressive coat to lock in the acrylic colors below it.

Detailing & Decaling

Next step was to give the locomotive it's identity. These numbers are done in reverse on the back of a piece of clear plastic. The outsides are then touched up with black paint. A white decal is then put over the numbers. Once flipped, these numbers will be correct, and still allow for light to pass through them.

A KV models dual headlight piece was also added to the front headlight. This was done by simply gluing the part to the old light trace, then gluing a piece of plastic in front of it. this was then sanded to the same profile as the light trace.

This was then tested, and the locomotive was ready for the road. I am still waiting to order the main road name decals, as these will be done as one decal in volume for my whole fleet. I don't really feel like decaling each letter by hand at the moment.

Conclusion

This engine has become one of the mainstays of my fleet. It runs well, pulls well, and sounds good with it's Tsunami 2 decoder. When I do my next units, I will not be making my own lift rings. The noses of later engines have also been changed to make them easier to paint. While not every detail is absolutely perfect, I am quite happy with the result.