I bought some diaphragms for some early 1900s coaches, can some of you modeling guru’s tell me what colour I should paint them. Both to look new and also to look well aged if I choose.
Early diaphragms were typically black, so when aged they would have that washed out very dark gray color.
Sometimes the metal parts of the diaphragms (face, springs, torsion bars) would be painted the color of the car, I have noticed this in particular on Pullman Green cars.
Obviously well aged parts could include some rust and the canvas cover could be aged to a lighter gray.
Sheldon
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Diaphragms also hold road dust, and would not be well-cleaned by car washers as full-width diaphragms might. I’d expect sun fading of the cover at the top as it has little thermal mass to avoid solar overheating.
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