Duh…
I didn’t paint mine at all. It is the brown that the board came in.
Mine is green with skirts of RR pattern material that my wife sewed up
The LION is only contemplating fascia at the moment. The Lower deck is faced with a curtain, and so there is no fascia per se. The Middle and upper levels will need something, but this is a subway layout, and the background in many places is black instead of blue. Glossy green is a nice color, but there is no green on this part of the layout. I am thinking of using a glossy peep green for the middle level, and a glossy deep red for the upper level. This at least will mimic the colors of the elevated stations in New York City.
You could paint it hot pink with purple, fuschia, chartruese and ecru polka-dots. {Then you would have a fuschia fascia!}
There is no “right or wrong”. Pick the color you think most appropriate or like.
A Green tone would most assimilate to grassy areas, and brown tones to dirt areas, and sand tones to sandy areas of ground if you wish to match the ground cover of your layout.
It’s not quite like the sky, where any “sky blue” is the most appropriate.
I would, however, choose a flat paint as I don’t know if you wnat people to see themselves in your fascia.
Just my opinion others are sure to vary.
[8-|]
I am going to use the same brown that is the basic ground color on my layout.
I suspect it may be a combination of personal perspective and perhaps how our eyes see the color. For me, the idea of matching the fascia to the scenary color actually stands out more than it blends in. I think it has to do with the fact that the colors are close enough to look like they should match, but don’t, so that difference screams out. On the other hand, I’ve found a deep leather brown simply tends to disappear to my eyes. It’s dark, yet not so dark that there’s a glaring contrast. I just don’t “see” it. Perhaps a medium gray or gray/green would have a similar effect to others.
I use semi gloss mostly for the finish. Cleans up much better and doesn’t show wear as much as flat.
Looking at it from a photography point of view, a medium to dark gray satin finish paint. Gray is a neutral and you want your eye to go to the railroad model and not to the fascia. If you look at layout pictures with bright flashy colors on the fascia that is where your eye goes instantly. You want people to instantly look at the railroad. Also the satin finish holds up well and easy to clean. Flat paint doesn’t clean well. Gloss has to much glare. Hope this makes sense to you. It works very well for me. Doug
The color can be used to accentuate the theme of the railroad. If your railroad is in a verdant, forested area, then you might want a green or olive to make the fascia less intrusive. For a desert or grassland you might want a brown or tan. For an industrial area, a black or dark grey might be effective.
It also depends on how much you want the focus to be on the layout. A black fascia and valence creates a very distinct contrast, very theatrical, and really focuses your attention on the layout.
I personally find bright colors distracting and prefer greens, browns or very dark colors.