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[quote user="boxcar_jim"] I think my favorite is the P1K F3s .... the shells are excellent, even if they have cast on grabs, the paint is top quality and the drive is sooooo smoooooth. Bang for buck you can't beat 'em. The MEC F3 #672 pictured in my Avatar is a P1K, detailed with cast grabs shaved off and replaced with wire ones and some other bits and pieces, and fitted with a DH163AO decoder. I also really like the Athearn Genesis ones - their great too, better detailed, but much more expensive of course, hence second place. I really don't rate the Stewart models, the paint is poor on my MEC example to the extent that I'll probably end up stripping it and re-paint. The mechs OK, but not as good as the Athearn G or P1K. I had an old Bachmann F7 once - its mech got robbed out for another project and I used the shell for paint practice. It was dreadful.[:P] [/quote]I didn't even know that P1k had F3's. I nearly bought some erie built P1k's but shied away because of the cast grabs. I'm not a great painter and have stuck with single color schemes. After a number of years, my decals look terrible so I don't know if I'll ever go through that process again. Yes, the Genesis line is pricey but they are so nice that it may be worth it. Stewart paint is just so so and depends on the road that you are modeling. If you are lucky enough to need a simple paint scheme, they may fit the bill very nicely and as everyone mentions, they run great. I still believe that they may have the most accurate body of all. I have a couple of old Bachman F9 shells that I painted for NP freight and was going to adapt them to Athearn drives. I never found a Bachman B unit. Anyway, my project was also rather dreadful and the decals look horrible. I painted flat black and did not learn til later that decals don't like flat paint. The shells are sitting in a shoebox and have been for 20 years. Bill
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