O Scale Trains Magazine Online

The Creation of a Cam-Liner
John Fryant
What’s a Cam-Liner? A Fairbanks-Morse C-Liner with a TV
camera in its nose, of course. The project didn’t start with that
goal in mind, however, so I’ll begin at the beginning. Like many
of us, some years ago I became the proud owner of a set of
used Rivarossi F-M C-Liner Diesels, purchased at a train show.
My original intent was to convert the loco into a super-detailed
contest model with see-through fan and dynamic brake grilles,
separate handrails and grab irons, constant voltage headlights,
and other assorted goodies. I also bought one of the conversion
kits from Central Locomotive Works which consisted of a Pittman
can motor, gear driven wheel sets and universals for four
axles, and a brass frame. Being an NYC fan, I naturally wanted
to finish it in a lightning stripe paint job. NYC had more of these
Diesels than any other railroad. I may have even ridden behind
one of these units, having traveled as a teen-ager on both the
Ohio State Limited and the Cincinnati Mercury.
The locos and conversion kit sat in storage for about ten years,
with occasional openings of boxes and inspirational thoughts.
One thing I did accomplish during this time was the assembly of
the motor and frame of the drive conversion kit and installation
into one of the two A-units. I also purchased a reference book, C-
Liners, by David R. Sweetland, published in 1996 by Withers Publishing,
528 Dunkle School Rd., Halifax, PA 17032. This volume is
a very necessary aid for a project such as this.
Recently, I bought a set of P & D Hobbies F-unit kits. I built,
painted, and decaled them in the classic NYC lightning stripe
paint job. They turned out beautifully, and my compliments to
P & D for producing such gorgeous models. In the process of
painting the F-units, the light bulb of inspiration lit up above my
head, “As long as I’ve got all this paint and airbrush equipment
out, why not paint those C-Liner bodies too?” Great idea! Prior
to applying the paint, however, some modifications had to be
made, so I found myself off on a whole new project. Some of
my original goals for the models were abandoned, no contest
models with see-through screen grilles or real glass windows. I
did still want real three-dimensional railings and grabs, and the
pilots needed to be modified to reduce the oversize coupler
openings.
So with knives, chisels and sandpaper I went to work. All
of the cast-on handrails and grabs were carefully carved and
chiseled off. styrene inserts and backing pieces were made to
reduce the oversized coupler openings, and then cemented in
place. Filler putty hid all the seams and dings. Horns, headlights
and window glazing were carefully removed. The holes in the
lower body sides where the tabs from the chassis fit were covered
with pieces of 0.010 styrene sheet and a coat of primer
covered all. Then, each body shell was given two coats of Badger
Modelflex NYC dark gray. The next step was the lightning
stripes. To my knowledge no one makes these decals specifically
for C-Liners, so I used Micro-Scale #48-92 Alco PA decals.
They will work on the F-M units with some cuttin’ and splicin’
around the nose area. Short lengths were cut from the stripes
forward of the cab doors and these were used to extend the
vertical stripes at the bottom of the nose. The side stripes had
to be lengthened a bit, but I had some straight stripes left over
from the F-unit decals (Micro-Scale # 48-421) which worked
perfectly for that. Some of the decals had to be cut away around
the ladders below the cab doors and these areas touched up
with paint. I had to mix up a light gray to match the decal color.
A box of tissue and a bottle of Solvaset later, the decaling was
done and the paint touched up.
All of the cab and side door railings and grabs were fabricated
from brass wire and inserted into holes drilled in the plastic
shells. This was a bit of tedium, but the end result was worth
the effort. All of the railings were carefully attached with CA
after the decaling was done, as it would have been impossible
to apply the decals with them in place. When everything was
thoroughly dry, the body shells were over-sprayed with Model-
Master Semi-Gloss Lacquer overcoat, giving them a nice newly
painted out-of-shop appearance. The truck side frames were
60 • O Scale Trains - July/Aug ’06