Yes, I know there;s a book somewhere, but I can;t find it in HS’s, Local or not. So we ask here, what;s key in designing a paintscheme. Probably on early GeePs, Fs, BL2s, and in later era GP 60s. Last one I designed wound up looking liek a DNR representative
Simplicity mostly.
A lot depends on era. Early units you can’t go wrong copying a builder paint scheme or a contemporary unit in different colors.
For example, the LV, MEC, DRGW all had variations of EMD’s F unit scheme. GP’s tended to be more solid colors with contrasting lettering, maybe some visibility stripes.
Later units (GP60’s) will have brighter colors or stripes on the nose and a visibility stripe down the side Coal roads tended to have darker colors. Western roads tended to have brighter colors.
Dave H.
I think it depends on your taste. We have local regional line near me and they use a grey with red stripes, simple but really sharp.
Dave
There is the Genesee & Wyoming paint scheme. Orange black & yellow with silver trucks. Really great scheme. They have applied ti to the regionals they operate. Here in Oregon it is Portland & Western and Willamette & Pacific.
Our club has a blue and yellow with white trim and lettering scheme. E-mail me and I’ll send some photos.
Railfan and Railroad did a two-part story on EMD’s designers, probably the early eighties. You might still find that at a flea market etc.
Very few railroads designed their own scheme, most used one of several standard designs put forward by the diesel builders. EMD F-unit paintschemes often have a “bow wave”, the stripes along the sides swoop down towards the pilot/front coupler. EMD GP’s and SD’s often have a stripe going all the way around the engine about at the top of the side doors on the long hood. Sometimes the railroad would choose to use the stripe as a color separator, like have black above the stripe and red below it.
This is the paint scheme for my freelanced Moose Bay Transit Authority:
The pattern is simple - straightforward horizonal lines. Of course, with trolleys, the lines are broken up by windows and doors, and the unit is small, so the pattern doesn’t look like a “wall of the same color” anywhere.
I chose the colors because they were the ones I found at the hardware store in spray-paint cans. I don’t have an airbrush. These were the better-quality spray cans, not the low-grade stuff like primer. The cream color is a glossy paint, and the maroon color is satin finish. After decalling, I sprayed the whole unit with clear satin overcoat. I used blue painters’ tape to mask the car when painting, although you’ll see that I also used natural dividing lines whenever possible to get a better-defined border.
I made the decals myself on the computer. Home-made decals are best if you can apply dark lettering to a light background, so the red-over-cream lettering was done rather than try for cream-over-maroon.
First, that is a huge gap in time periods. For early units EMD had some catalog paint schemes that many railroads used on E & F units. The colors varied but the scheme was basically the same for many railroads. Many early railroads choose a very basic scheme for the GP units - consider Santa Fe’s black with silver zebra stripes. At the opposite end of the spectrum consider Rock Island’s winged scheme. [wow], so elaborate that it could have been a major factor that sent the railroad into bankruptcy! [oops] Most of the railroads who had at one time had an elaborate paint scheme eventually simplified. The GN Empire Builder scheme comes to mind as a prime example.
GP60s are another matter. They come from a time after the railroads were deregulated and booming again. Paint budgets would have been a little larger. The Santa Fe returned to the War Bonnet scheme for their GP60s.
In general if you have only done one scheme that you don’t like you are not doing too badly. I’ve done tens maybe even a hundred duds, before I got some I liked. It is a trial and error sort of thing. Even then I finally painted a real model with one of the scheme’s I had been using on paper for years and years. It looked great on paper but terrible in 3D on the model - back to the drawing board.
Yes, but it’s one shortline in 2 eras, probably running the old stuff in the new time if it still works. And we’re cheep. So if we can keep the same/similar scheme, and the same paint, all the better.
mr beasley: Yep, Scothc Blue does wonders, eh?
As a guy who loves freelancing (I have almost zero space top prototype), I have designed several. I agree, it’s all about your taste. here’s my Aiken-Latta RR scheme:
This one had bright, eye-catching colors, while still not being too complex. The colors blend well, and who can go wrong with green and yellow?
Now for the SEC paint scheme. Just add In big Yellow letters “SEC” on the side, and white letters under the cab window.
This was not inspired by the L&N. MNy grandma brought me a can of neutral gray and clear yellow. I thought about what I could do, and came up with the gray and yellow stripe. now, this idea was inspired by an L&N paint scheme and the M,R,&T one: Why not make the nose yellow and the back end yellow? So tell me what colors you want, and I’ll try to come up with one. BTW, one of the locos I have posted is a GP9, and here’s an F7.
I think sometimes a freelance paint scheme depends on your painting abilities. Painting and masking, etc.
I am not good at masking off etc., so my freelance scheme for 1960’s era Geep’s is a simple blue for the bodies, black for the running boards and below, and a white decal stripe on the side just below the running boards where the handrail stanchions attach. Road name lettering is white. Handrails on the ends where the steps are is yellow. very simple and easy to do. Trucks are black also, but silver trucks would add a little pizazz.
Here’s an Example that might help.
While in Winona I got the train I wanted. A DME one. DME had the same paint scheme as ICE. I’m pretty sure they’re the same RRs, but ICE might be a subsidiary. I’m not sure, but it’s a fairly easy paint scheme. Stripe down the middle with the “Dakota Minnesota and Eastern” on the long hood. The Stripe bends down at the nose and back of the unit. Also something unique about the DME and ICE is that they have city names on the side of the Cab. DME 6070 happened to be City of De Sault.
If you want more Examples Check out this:
Go to the Regionals and Short lines in the “Railroad” tab. Wisconsin Central is in the Fallen Flags.
Here’s more of the DME:
http://www.railpictures.net/showphotos.php?railroad=Dakota,%20Minnesota%20%26%20Eastern
It depends also on your skills with painting.
With such a paint scheme you have to mask and work a lot with decals.
But it’s fun!
Wolfgang
As long as it;s a straight line, I can probably mask it. I have found a cetain enjoyment in unwrapping a Masking job, to see if the finished product came out. Decals are anothe runfortubnate story, but we’re getting there.