You guys ever feel like, if it’s not one thing, it’s another? I have been saving up all month to buy the Atlas Masters GE Dash 8 40B and I drove 2 hours just to go get it. Got it home, mated it up with my Atlas Masters GP-38 and discovered, to my dismay, that the colors are QUITE different (see below). Maybe, if I knew the reason why, it wouldn’t be so irritating. I know they are different generations of locomotives. Did Santa Fe change their colors that much? Please explain if you know any reasons why Atlas painted these two locos with such different colors.
Yeah that is quite a difference. My own experience with Santa Fe is that the GP38 is closer to what I recall. For both the blue AND the yellow. I will be interested to see what the real ATSF experts have to say here. Frankly even if it was not next to a more accurate model I would have my doubts about that GE.
Having said that, sometimes the railroad dictated the paint and sometimes the builder decided. I can recall some differences in “new” BN green for example depending on source of locomotive.
We Chicago & North Western fans are very very familiar with this phenomenon – I suspect those who model other prototypes are too, except maybe our NS fan colleagues, but even there, there can be differences in what “black” is. If the colors are close, good weathering can tone down both to a common appearance, but what you show is so different I am not sure weathering can do the trick.
Hmmm…I don’t think this is the product of fading. All the Atlas Santa Fe GE Dash 8 40bs that I found on ebay or on google shopping have this brighter blue and more vivid yellow.
The Geep’s colors look more prototypical. I grew up in Phoenix, and Santa Fe had a yard there, and I would spend hours watching them switching. I based my first layout on the Santa Fe, and I remember them being the dark blue and almost mustard yellow color.
Are you sure you got the right one? According to Atlas’s web site, the most recent release ARE red and silver warbonnet. That one looks like either someone tried to repaint the blue and yellow over top or maybe it’s not even the correct locomotive.
IN fact, if someone sold you that as the ‘new’ run, you were badly mislead. Atlas DID do a blue and yellow Dash8-40B with road number 8610 - in 2002 as a BNSF ‘patch job’ with a BNSF patch below the numbers on the sides of the cab. The photo on the Atlas site is an actual model photo, the blue and yellow are correct there.
The current releases in red and silver are Dash8-40BW wide cab models. Those are from this past November and come in either DC as a SIlver Series or with DCC and sound as a Gold Series.
The 2002 release was a Master Series with DC/DCC dual mode motor only decoder and based on MSRP you shoudl be able to find those on eBay all day for $75 or less.
Forgot to mention, the Atlas factory painted BNSF patch jobs have a LARGE block BNSF in the battery box doors, not that tiny BNSF just below the numbers.
Nope, compare the photo he posted to the Atlas photo of the actual model I posted in my second message. The Atlas phot is of the model, not a prototype shot. Different BNSF lettering and a not all goofy shade of blue.
Only the wide cabs were painted in red/silver warbonnet. Standard cab Dash8s all were painted blue and yellow.
So blue and yellow is accurate for that particular model. However the colors are not good when compared to the almost spot on GP38. The blue is much too light, and the yellow is too orange. If it was an attempt to simulate a “faded” loco, it was not a very good job.
No…this was definitely new. It had never been opened. The railing was still in an unopened plastic container, the pertective plastic still on the body, and the paint job is flawless (other than it’s irritatingly vivid colors). If it is a homebrewed paintjob, it is the best I’ve ever seen…AND there are a bunch of them out there. Go on Ebay…you can find the exact one I have…with the small BASF lettering under the number. Atlas made this.
Hmmm, no contest on the conflict. 3501 looks much more like the prototype to me. In over 30 years of living along the AT&SF main line I’ve never seen a Santa Fe that looks as light as that one. Even when they faded I am pretty certain they did not fade to that shade. I know of no reason for that color. Some fluke at the Santa Fe shops?
Dangit…I’m going to return it and get something closer to what I am looking for. They also make this model in a green and orange BASF model that is pretty sharp. Think I will try that. Thanks everyone for your help.
I have this same feeling at times about other manufacturers also. Just saw that Walters is releasing a Proto1000 RS-2 in the SR green scheme. But somehow the illustration shown looks too light a shade of green. Of course it’s hard to tell from an image, but it does give a second thoughts about pre ordering some.
It is a serious error on the part of the model manufacturer. But that’s nothing new. I model CP Rail, and in all my years of modeling that road I’ve haven’t seen any factory painted models that come anywhere close to CP Rail Action Red. I painted the loco in my signature photo, and the shade of Action Red is much closer than any factory painted model I’ve seen. I had to mix a bunch of colours before I got something I was satisfied with.
Whoops, blame old age. You are right, and I have 4 of the standard cab units like the one pictured on my layout. And they are very much the dark blue. Atlas built as I recall. I also have the red and silver wide cabs and they are the ones I was thinking about.
Sounds like another quality control problem with China then. The pictures on the Atlas site show a lrger font for the BNSF patch as well as the correct colors. Since that road number was produced in 2002, maybe that’s why it’s been sitting on the dealer shelf all this time.
