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Model and photo by Leslie Ehrlich
CN RS-3 3016

There were two production  runs of the HO scale Atlas RS-3 in CN, but none were in the wet noodle.  There was a wet noodle version in N scale, but the grey stripe around the frame is missing.  In any case, all of Atlas's RS-3s in Canadian road names were limited editions and out of my price range.  This particular unit was purchased undecorated for about $55 in 1985, and the original shell met its demise after I made a futile attempt at spray painting.  I found a replacement shell in a US road name (Santa Fe tiger stripes) and partially stripped it before repainting it in CN.  The C-D-S CN roadswitcher decal set comes with two sizes of wet noodles, and the smaller wet noodle fits nicely over the blank spot between the louvers on the hood doors.  I photographed the loco from the fireman's side because the wet noodle is a little high on the engineer's side.  That's the problem with working with dry transfer decals - if you don't align them properly before you rub them down there's no second chance.  Oh well, remember the three foot rule.   CN RS-3s with louvered doors had small wet noodles halfway up the carbody.  Model Power's RS-2 and Roundhouse's RS-3 are correctly lettered, but they have the wrong road number.   CN 3900 had a large wet noodle and vertical box filters in the side doors.   And speaking of nit-picking, I found that Atlas's RS-3 differs in many ways from CN and CP prototypes.  The battery boxes, handrails, fuel tank, headlights, and engineer's cab side window on the Atlas RS-3 depict the early ALCO version (phase 1?), and the shell would require a fair amount of work to represent the MLW version.  I'm not that handy with a file and a hobby knife, so all I did was add angled number boards and a few other odds and ends to make it vaguely resemble a CN unit.  Close enough for jazz.

Make:
Atlas

Detail Parts:
Miniatures by Eric  N7 RS-18 Number boards
Miniatures by Eric  H9 CPR RS-2 Winter hatch
Miniatures by Eric  H5 CPR RS-2 Horn & Bracket
Miniatures by Eric  A1 CNR, CPR Diesel Radio Antenna
Miniatures by Eric  B17 TH&B GP-9 Bell
Detail Associates  SS 1301 Cab Sunshades

Decals:
C-D-S Lettering  HO-163 CN roadswitcher - original modern 'CN' logo (before stripe), pre-1973
 

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