I’ve been trying to find a good green for my passenger cars - I’ve used Floquil Pullman Green, but it seems to me to have too much gray in it. I’m looking for a green like Athearn put on their BB Santa Fe heavyweights. Any suggestions?
TIA
In the late 90’s Badger came out with their own line of acrylics. Their Pullman green was as good as it gets…also had just the right amount of gloss. I have no idea why these paints were dropped from the shelves. I thought they were excellent, but sometimes a bear to clean up the airbrush after extensive use.
From time to time I still see these offered at our Timonium MD train shows…but I doubt that they would be any good now…but who knows? You could get lucky.
I have added parts of cadmium (reefer) yellow with some gloss engine black to Scalecoat Pullman green, but still not exactly right. When I was custom painting, I used an auto lacquer (Ditzler?..just not sure). I think it was called British racing green. Again, just too long ago. This color I found to be excellent, and I’m sure auto supply stores will still stock this color.
Best of luck…I share the frustrations about such an important color for period modeling not being accurate in today’s model paints. Also have you tried the military colors offered by so many and can be found in most good LHS paint racks?
HZ
Star Brand Paint Systems produces a UP/SP/D&RGW dark olive paint which is a tiny bit greener than Pullman green. But I don’t know if that is a closer match for your cars. You’ll likely have to order Star Brand paints via mail since few dealers carry it, unfortunately.
Mark
What about polyscale. I think I remember a fairly good green out of them.
I’ll second the Badger/Accuflex Pullman green as being the best from what I can see.
Thanks for the ideas, guys. I’m going to have to make the rounds of auto supply stores and r/c hobby stores in the area… Anybody tried Floquil’s Depot Olive? I just remembered they have such a color…
Pullman green is basically 50% black and 50% yellow with a touch of red. There is no blue in it. You vary the mix to get the tone you want to match. Too much red turns it brown as in UPS brown.
Floquil/Polly Scale are being discontinued by RPM. Bader came out with AccuFlex paint as Howard noted. It was not eco-friendly and the manufacturer who made it for Badger had problems trying to reformulate the product. Bottles just ‘gooped up’ still sealed on the LHS shelf! Badger dropped the line and then came out with the ModelFlex line of air brush ready acrylic paints. They spray great out of the bottle, but are just too thin(IMHO) for brushing. A lot of folks are still thinking AccuFlex disaster when they see the ModelFlex paint at the LHS.
You might want to look at the ‘coach green’ variations as well to see if they match up with what you remember.
Jim
Canadian National Olive Green is a nice choice. Neutral yet clourful!
Gmcrail,
Take a look at Micro-Lux paints.When you get to site, click on color chart and see if Dark Green or Signal Green would work:
http://www.micromark.com/microlux-acrylic-paint-rust-2-ounces,11280.html
Frank
Hi, GMC
I agree with others that the Badger ModelFlex was excellent paint. I have a dozen or so bottles left and they all look like they’re in good shape for their age. I don’t have the Pullman green, though.
FYI: I do have Pullman green in Scalecoat and your thread had me curious since I have not used it yet. I think it is probably accurate for Pullman green but it appears dark under typical layout lighting.
I have the Polly Scale as well but as you know that does appear to have some gray in it, which could represent a sun-faded Pullman green but not what you had in mind.
Many rattle-can makers, Krylon if you can find it, or Rustoleum, have a Hunt Club Green that might be to your liking (there’s Forest and Hunter green as well.) There are literally dozens of shades in that range so you’d have to pick one that looks best under your lighting…
Hope you find something you like! Ed
A relatively simple way to get the olive drab shade you’re looking for is to mix equal parts of Floquil Coach Green and Roof Brown. A number of railroads used this shade on their heavyweight passenger stock.
After reviewing this thread, it appears some do not have the correct mix of the primary colors to achive the desired color. So I thought I would pass this on, from my own experience and teaching.
This is basic color mixing guide. If you have 3 primary colors: RED, BLUE, YELLOW, and you want to make different color like:
- BROWN, then mix Red and Green together
- PURPLE, then mix Red and Blue together
- ORANGE, then mix Yellow and Red together
- GREEN, then mix Blue and Yellow together
If you want to LIGHTEN a color, ADD White or Clear into the base color. Be careful, White may create a MILKY look.
If you want to DARKEN a color, ADD Black into the base color. Be careful, black may make your color look dull or muddy. As in Pullman Green.
Painter of Real time Trucks, Cars and Models
Frank