Black Widow F7 A-B-B-A journey

GaryMc · October 23, 2025, 03:52:16 PM

I have always wanted a F7 A-B-B-A Southern Pacific in black widow paint. Started checking the normal places looking and couldn't believe what this set was going to cost. I'm just a cheap curmudgeon and always looking for the best deal. So on evil bay I happen to see an A and B dummy units for cheap and picked them up. These units are the old rubber band drive Athearn but were sold as dummies and were actually F3's. I knew they would have to be re-painted, decaled and detailed. Also found an Athearn F7 A super power CP Rail for a great price and picked it up. The only engine in Black widow paint was a B unit also found on evil bay and cost me a bit more than the A unit. What was odd is it was numbered wrong according to what I could find on the web, so re-numbered it and added details. The first A unit was going to need another headlight so I switched out the body with a old Lifelike body I had in my stash

. Got the body re-painted in black as well as the red stipe.

Then off again to the masking and painting the silver, orange and the silver stripes on the nose lower section as well as the decal numbers and lettering.

GaryMc · October 23, 2025, 04:03:23 PM

Next up was all the hand rails, grab irons, front cut lever and air hoses.

Next came the B unit and received the the same re-paint, decals and details. Also re-worked all the trucks with new paint and fine tuning to make them roll smoothly.

and the first completed B unit.

GaryMc · October 23, 2025, 04:10:44 PM

the second B unit was real easy as it only needed to be re-numbered and detailed.

.
Next up was the CP Rail F7 and back to the re-paint process I went.

After the re-paint.

Numbered and decaled for it's next life.

GaryMc · October 23, 2025, 04:24:31 PM

This A unit was missing several parts on the trucks and had to order some replacements and found the missing horn in my stash of parts. I made my own sun shades and what I guess is the wind deflector mounted just in front of the side window as well as all the hand rails. Added air hoses and cut lever by others.

Also re-worked the head light mount which still used the original light, and re-wired.

Group photo.

The next issue was I needed a box to store them in and made one from mat board and card stock.

ReadingBob · October 23, 2025, 08:12:34 PM

Very well done sir!

jbvb · October 24, 2025, 04:18:32 AM

Good job. A lot of that kind of work got done in the 70s and 80s, before China and our importers developed the infrastructure to make dozens of different versions from one basic prototype. I did some B&M diesels in that period, I'll see if I have enough old photos to do a thread.

KentuckySouthern · October 24, 2025, 08:48:53 AM

Well done, enjoy them!

craftsmankits · October 25, 2025, 02:14:46 PM

Quite a journey, very well done, the box is a great touch. I hadn't seen anyone go to such lengths for a box build, but that is awesome. Mark

ACL1504 · October 25, 2025, 02:21:37 PM

Gary,

Can't find what you want, just build one. Er, I mean build four. Great job and they look perfect.

Tom

friscomike · October 26, 2025, 09:14:44 AM

Howdy Gary. The paintwork on the F3s is well done. The details added to the cab units make the units stand out from the norm. The storage box is a clever idea, too. Overall, it's an impressive build. Have fun, mike

GaryMc · October 26, 2025, 10:09:43 AM

Quote from: craftsmankits on October 25, 2025, 02:14:46 PMQuite a journey, very well done, the box is a great touch. I hadn't seen anyone go to such lengths for a box build, but that is awesome. Mark

Thanks, Bob, James, Karl, Mark, Tom and Mike for the kid comments. This past Christmas I had to build a unique box for a gift and found it was easy to do just time consuming. I have several engines I have bought over the years which need proper boxes so will be making more in the near future.