TIPS & TECHNIQUES

USA F3 Diesels

    Charles Ro (USA Trains) has come out with another "winner" with its

F3 diesels.  These units reflect the EMD 1948 production run, with four

car body filters protected by louvers.  They also come with the larger

number boards, and are identical to the F-7's.  The only real difference

between an F-3 and an F-7 is in the internal electrical systems.  The

later production F-7 units had stainless steel or painted Farr-Air

grills in place of the "chicken wire" of the early units.  Both the F-3

and  F-7 produced 1500 HP and could be geared for either freight or

passenger service.  Some models came with steam generation equipment for

passenger train heat.  The USA units come with this feature, which is

evident by the intake and exhaust stack on the very rear of the diesels

(both A & B units).

    The USA model is a faithful reproduction of this classic locomotive,

and comes in a variety of road names.  The painting and graphics are

excellent, and an A-B-A set is available with different road numbers if

desired by the modeler.  Attention to detail is very high on this model,

including cab interior, coupler lift bars, air hoses, and a full

lighting package   The diesels scale out to 1:29.  The units perform

well together, but I will run connectors between mine to provide full

electrical pickup from all wheels shared by all units.  A major surprise

is that the coupler lift bars and air hoses are already attached to the

locomotives,  thereby eliminating a rather tedious task that I have

performed on earlier USA diesels.

    Both The A and B units have a backup light which works with the

directional lighting system.  When the locomotive backs up, the

headlights shut off and the backup light comes on.  All lighting is

directional, with the classification lights changing color (red/green)

depending upon the direction the locomotive is traveling.  The number

boards and cab interior are also lighted.  Some road names come with two

headlights on the "A" unit.  Prototypically one of these lights was

usually a MARS light (oscillating warning light).  Most roads made the

upper headlight the MARS light so it could be seen at a greater distance

as a warning beacon.  The lower light was a regular headlight, which

being closer to the ground, did an adequate job of illuminating the

tracks.  Prototype practice for a specific road should be checked before

cracking open the shell to change out the headlights.  There are two

diaphragms between the units, which causes the spacing to be  too great

to look prototypical.   I am in the process of figuring out how to

shorten the couplers and diaphragms.  One suggestion from Large Scale

Central was to remove the couplers and install drawbars to shorten the

coupling distance.  You would then remove one diaphragm from between

each unit.  The use of drawbars is prototypical, since many of these

units came this way, and an A-B-A set was counted as one locomotive.

    Caution!! Be very careful when picking up the locomotive, because

the side screens are very thin and fragile and can be destroyed easily.

This caution is included in both the instruction manual and on the box.

The screens and allow a view inside the car body just like the

prototype.  On the real locomotives they were called "chicken wire".

The manufacturer recommends that these units only be picked up by their

ends.

The locomotive is very smooth starting with good speed control.

Pulling power is excellent, and an A-B set should pull a string of

Aristo streamline cars with little trouble.  Gear noise is high, which

seems typical for USA diesels, but I have found that this quiets down

over time.

    Since the USA couplers only work well with other USA rolling stock,

I will change mine.  The Kadee company has instructions for changing the

couplers which is rather involved.  With their permission, I will

re-print it as a separate article. If you run an A-B-A set, you will

have to change  the coupler on the nose of the "A" units.  The dummy

coupler installed by the factory is for show only (dummy), and does not

function.

    A sound system can be easily installed in this unit's fuel tank.

USA has a system available which is manufactured by PH Hobbies.  Sierra

and Phoenix have systems for these diesels that are excellent, and can

be purchased  with both single chime and multiple chime horns.  I will

do a future article on putting a Sierra system into this diesel, along

with putting a MARS light in the nose of the non-sound equipped "A" unit

in my  A-B-A set.  Sierra provides the MARS light option in their sound

system for the sound equipped "A" unit.

    This EMD unit fills a need for large scale railroaders, since it was

a very popular locomotive used by many railroads for both freight and

passenger service.  It is a unit that has long been needed  by members

of the large scale community that run first-generation motive power.