Original Kadee F7A vs. Micro-Trains F7A

Hello all. Newbie here.

I was into Z Scale from 1986 through 1999, but sold all of my early Kadee and later Micro-Trains models to a guy who wanted them more than I did. Later, I regretted it dearly.

In the past year, I have gotten back into Z Scale. American prototypes in Z have sure come a long way in those 24 years. Love the Geeps and six-axle power that is available now. The MTL and AZL rolling stock is outstanding.

I have a question about the MTL F7A. I originally owned four F7A's that I purchased in 1986. These things ran excellent. I recently got to see those very models running on a layout at a local train show. (I know the guy who owns all of my original Z Scale).

I recently purchased two of the last MTL F7A's, in the SP blood nose scheme. I was very disappointed in how they run. I'm not complaining about the noise. I know they "grind it out", but it is the wobbling that disappoints me. They run like old Bachmann N Scale engines. That is not a compliment.

Did something change in the design from the original Kadee Z F7A's compared to now? Those old ones ran so smoothly.

Thanks in advance for any replies and suggested solutions.

Steve

Steve,
The chassis molds simply aged beyond their useful purpose. Thus the less than ideal running characteristics. F7s are now history so if you can find any, grab them. They can be reworked to some degree for better running.
Loren

Hi Steve;

You will find that with the looseness of the trucks on the recent production that you can achieve some stability using the wipers from Glen. His web site has been down for awhile but the e-mail works and you can still get them if for some reason that does not work I have a supply on hand. <www.teetertottertreestuff.com>

They take a bit of work to balance the force on all four wheels but it does keep them upright and moving nicely. Some additional stability can be achieved by putting more tension on the tower wipers inside the chassis to the sides of the top of the gear tower, but this is not as good as the wheel wipers which add a benefit with better pickup from the track.

cheerz Garth


proud2bnokie wrote:

Hello all. Newbie here.

I was into Z Scale from 1986 through 1999, but sold all of my early Kadee and later Micro-Trains models to a guy who wanted them more than I did. Later, I regretted it dearly.

In the past year, I have gotten back into Z Scale. American prototypes in Z have sure come a long way in those 24 years. Love the Geeps and six-axle power that is available now. The MTL and AZL rolling stock is outstanding.

I have a question about the MTL F7A. I originally owned four F7A's that I purchased in 1986. These things ran excellent. I recently got to see those very models running on a layout at a local train show. (I know the guy who owns all of my original Z Scale).

I recently purchased two of the last MTL F7A's, in the SP blood nose scheme. I was very disappointed in how they run. I'm not complaining about the noise. I know they "grind it out", but it is the wobbling that disappoints me. They run like old Bachmann N Scale engines. That is not a compliment.

Did something change in the design from the original Kadee Z F7A's compared to now? Those old ones ran so smoothly.

Thanks in advance for any replies and suggested solutions.

Steve

So what is it going to take to get someone like MTL to look at tooling up a new F7/F3, or even better, pushing back to the FT era?

Thanks for the tips. On these new F7A's, it seems like the wheels, axles or gears are not concentric. Thanks again for info on the wipers.

I would guess that Micro-Trians' next generation of F units are well in-progress. They just won't mention anything until they get closer to production. Too big of a seller to let it die.

proud2bnokie wrote:

Thanks for the tips. On these new F7A's, it seems like the wheels, axles or gears are not concentric. Thanks again for info on the wipers.

I would guess that Micro-Trians' next generation of F units are well in-progress. They just won't mention anything until they get closer to production. Too big of a seller to let it die.

Maybe an FP7 or 9 instead as that can be fitted on a GP chassis

cheerz Garth

I'd be very happy with any of the above, but the F7 is still my favorite of the lot. As long as the next generation models come in Pennsy colors...


Were the SP bloodnose units just less popular than the others? Those are the only ones I've been able to find too. It's almost sad, like they're the last ones left after everyone else went home.

saundebn wrote:

So what is it going to take to get someone like MTL to look at tooling up a new F7/F3, or even better, pushing back to the FT era?

BTW you may model a close to prototypical FP7/9 using a Geep chassis and two F7 shells. Indeed the length difference between a prototype GP7/9/35 and a prototype FP7/9 is only 1 foot and 4 inches (according to Gerald Foster's "Field Guide to trains") ).

Translated to Z scale that means barely 2 millimeters....

To find some spare shells maybe you can try with Republic Locomotive works as they release Nn3 motive power using F7 chassis, thus probably having spare F7 shells...

Dom

dominique wrote:

saundebn wrote:

So what is it going to take to get someone like MTL to look at tooling up a new F7/F3, or even better, pushing back to the FT era?

BTW you may model a close to prototypical FP7/9 using a Geep chassis and two F7 shells. Indeed the length difference between a prototype GP7/9/35 and a prototype FP7/9 is only 1 foot and 4 inches (according to Gerald Foster's "Field Guide to trains") ).

Translated to Z scale that means barely 2 millimeters....

To find some spare shells maybe you can try with Republic Locomotive works as they release Nn3 motive power using F7 chassis, thus probably having spare F7 shells...

Dom

Is this what you mean F7B on shortened GP chassis and FP7A shell made from a couple of F7A shells and a F7B shell sitting on a GP chassis.

cheerz Garth

xactly. Congratulations I didn't remembered it was you who built a FP7 with a Geep chassis... I meant exactly what you did. But myself I don't feel skilly enough to modify a chassis in order to shorten or lenghten it.

Dom

Very nice Garth!

Nice indeed but I, like others here, am not quite up to the technical challenge in creating such a modification ... at least I'm not there yet