Hi there … I’m looking to re-paint and decal some Boston and Maine equipment to add to my 1950s era New England themed layout. Does anyone have a recommendation for a specific Polly Scale acrylic to match the B&Ms maroon scheme?
Mike
For diesel locomotives, the paint is Accupaint B&M maroon. Some people have used Accupaint B&M passenger maroon (a slightly different shade) on passenger cars. Legend has it, that Accupaint mixed it to match a can of paint recovered from the Burlington shops. I tried it on one passenger car and found it came out more brown that maroon. Since then I have been doing B&M passenger cars in plain rattle can red, of several different brands. With a top coat of DullCote it looks about right. It matches some of the pictures in the New England Color Guide quite well. I showed one car off at the North Shore club, and a couple of the old timers (retired B&M employees) allowed that it was a little bright, but not bad.
Photographs from the 1950’s were mostly Kodachrome slides, a nice film, but sluggish, and it emphasized red. Many photos were taken in the late afternoon, (after school) with the setting sun also emphasizing the red. Put the two together, and even a very brown car could photograph as red as a fire engine. Ye pays yer money and ye takes yer chances.
Accupaint is long gone out of business, however, TruColor Paint is producing paints to the Accurail specs. B&M Maroon is TCP-63, and is available from Highball Graphics. I have bought a couple of these, and they are like the old Accupaints in my paint box.
http://www.mgdecals.com/Tru_color%20paint.htm
Or direct from the manufacturer
This is their color list sorted by road name
http://www.trucolorpaint.com/index.php?p=1_28_Sorted-Database-of-All-Colrs