F-unit diaphragms--Color question

[Anonymous]

I thought I'd install American Limited diaphragms to some of my Athearn and Proto 1000 F-units. American limited makes their products in gray and black, and realized I have no idea what color the diaphragms should be. None of my F-unit photos show diaphragms. Did railroads leave them in black or gray, or should they be painted the same as the main color of the locomotive? I have some CB&Q units (graybacks) I'm trying to do now, then UP locos.

Gary

[ndbprr]

As far s I can recall all diapraghms were made of rubberized canvas and were black when new. I suspect they weathered to a gray color as the rubber oxidized and that may be the reason for two colors.

[AntonioFP45]

Gary,

Good question. Here's the clincher: Both your answers are correct!

In the early streamliner years, some of the well known railroads painted diaphrams to match the rest of the locomotive. Florida East Coast units had them painted red and if I'm not mistaken so did Southern Pacific.

As time progressed, diaphrams became quite grimy so it was simpler for maintenance forces to repaint in black or gray. Replacement canvas material, as NDBPRR mentions were gray or black.

Also, paint on the striker plates could peel over time, so again, black or gray repaint. A few like Burlington had silver.

Best move would be to check www.railpictures.net and look at photos of streamlined cab units. Books from Don Ball, that have plenty of color photos of the early years are another great source.

Hope this helps!

[Anonymous]

You are indeed fortunate to model the Q. You saved yourself some worry with the diaphragm color as they didn't have any. A great source besides the Mike Spoor and George Spier Morning Sun books is the Burlington Route Historical society's F-Unit issue. It is a smaller issue and can be had from the society via the web or snail mail.
Most roads removed them along with skirts and coupler covers into the 60's as it was a maintenance issue.
If you want to detail a Burlington motor, don't forget the grabs up the fireman's side of the cab, the foot ledge above the lowest rows of rivets, the wagon wheel antenae, backup headlight and the Deail associates F Unit underframe set.
The bigger issue is, if you are painting them, what color is greyback??
Most photos show an Off-White, the paint dagram shows "Aluminum".
They were neither Bright Silver or Bright White. The Genisis color looks about right to me. For matching color I've used Modelflex "Antique White" which is NOT the same as Floquil's color (too green).
The heartache is using Microscale's revised decal set. I was told that the Red printing ink on these sets are bad and that explains why I went through 8 sets of decals before I gave up and stripped my FTs again. Find an original set or Champ's.