My VIA F40PH-2D mods and builds

March 6, 2022: Now that mail delivery seems to be returning to normal, I was able to purchase these two second-hand Rapido beauties from a foreign seller without the shipping taking forever. The models arrived last month and I was pleased to discover they were in very close to mint condition. I decided to number these as two of the dozen or so units that were leased to CP Rail for freight service back in 1994, '95 and '97. I tweaked the models by repainting the cab seats to black, adding rerailers, replacing couplers with Kadee 158, reposition the wipers and uncoupling levers, paint black behind the pilots and steps, relocate the bell and paint the rear battery plug yellow. Finally, the models were renumbered to VIA 6448 and 6450 using Microscale decals for the side numbers and Rapido decals for the numberboards and rear numbers. I am not yet brave enough to weather these for their freight service appearance!

February 2022: Here are my very first ad-wrapped VIA F40PH-2Ds, both circa-2019 Rapido products factory decorated for the prototype circa-2011 Coors Light 6408 and 6445 pair. The prototypes had been previously retrofitted with a 3rd high-intensity headlight by the time they were wrapped for Coors Light. While it's unfortunate this detail was omitted from the factory models, I am still sufficiently satisfied with them and will not be attempting to add the missing light.

I tweaked both models to make them a bit more refined. This included bell relocation, bug shield weathering with black wash, black paint behind the pilots and steps, wiper angle adjustment, coupler replacement/weathering/trip pin removal and uncoupling levers angled downwards.

The cab seats and interiors have the correct colour scheme so it was not necessary to remove the shell. No outboard rerail frogs needed for this 2011-era replica either.

6408 and 6445 got wrapped for Coors Light after 20-25 long years of high-mileage service right before being rebuilt by CAD. For the highest degree of accuracy, the models should also have a heavy dose of dark rust + earth colour underframe weathering. Also, the prototype wrap extended onto the back end (both sides) rather than ending sharply on the side but I think custom decals would be needed to address that.

December 2021: I was recently inspired to do some modelling after seeing the great work Tim Hayman did to his VIA 6400. My five (5) original VIA scheme Rapido models were delivered to me in December 2014. Then several major life events occurred over the following 7 years and the models sat in their boxes mint and untouched. Finally their time had come and so every unit was removed from its packaging and placed in the display case for evaluation. Once I determined what had to be done, it was time to execute! I removed the shell and repainted the cab seats to black, adjusted uncoupling levers to a downwards angle, added 1986-99 era outboard rerail frogs (Rapido had forgotten to include them in the box back in 2014 but sent them to me by mail a year or so later), renumbered every unit plus couplers replaced, painted rust, trip pins removed, backs of pilots and underneath sills painted black, fuel fillers painted red, bell relocated, rear battery plug painted yellow and wipers angled per prototype. These models are now numbered VIA 6432, 6441, 6454, 6457 and 6458.

This Rapido model was factory-numbered 6409 but I decided to renumber it to replicate VIA's 1990s-era 6440-series assignments to western Canada and on VIA-Amtrak trains such as the International through SW Ontario and onto American destinations like Port Huron and Chicago.

VIA 6454 spent a lot of time in western Canada plus was one of the units used in 1994-95 eastern CP freight lease service. I am happy with how the renumbering and other tweaks turned out on this fine Rapido product.

This is my entire collection of yellow units -- three on the far left are Kato builds from 10 years ago and the five nearest are all Rapido models. This photo was also shared on Rapido's Facebook feed in Feb '22.

These Rapido rebuilt units were also improved with the same fixes to wipers and uncoupling levers plus the addition of electronic fuel filler gauges, Kadee scale-head couplers painted and trip pin removed, red HID headlight outlines, blackening of cab-top horns and pilot backings, addition of GPS antennas, add a silver rim around base of emergency light and I also moved the speed recorder to a different axle and replaced it with a MBE B22 journal. Click image for instructional PDF.

Here are three VIA F40PH-2Ds that started life as Kato Amtrak F40PH kits. It took almost three years and a heck of a lot of help by others to complete these builds back in 2010-12. Then two years later in 2014, Rapido released their accurate RTR VIA F40PH-2D. While these were my last major locomotive kitbashes, I still like performing minor tweaks and improvements. In late 2021 I replaced the oversized Microscale numberboards with Rapido numberboard decals that appear more correctly sized.

© 2022

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