Sears Paint Codes

Model Railroader Layouts and layout building
1

In the Dare Frary Book “How to Build Model Railroad Scenery”, he quotes Sears paint codes for sky blue and earth tones. Does anyone have codes to cross reference the Sears numbers with Valspar or Behr paints?

Sears #125 Royal Blue Medium Bright

Sears #600 Autumn Wheat Dark

Thank you,

Don Carman

2

I don’t know how current these colors are. Paint manufacturers have a nasty habit of changing their color selections fairly frequently. I might be wrong, but I don’t think there is any way to go from Sears to Valspar or Behr paint colors even if you have the Sears color formulation. You might go to a Sears store to see if these colors are still available and if they are, get a color chip and take it to Lowes (Valspar) or Home Depot (Behr) to have them do a computer match. Both Valspar and Behr make excellent paint, but is there some reason that you don’t want to use the Sears brand? I would think it would be adequate for most model RR applications.

Bob

3

HD & LOWEs can match any paint chip ,but it may be difficult finding those chips ,may be out dated. take a picture or magazine picture with you and try to match as a backup…Jerry

4

Another possibility is to use Joe Fugate’s method for selecting colors for a model RR layout. Take an outdoor color photo of the color you’re trying to duplicate on your layout. Get some color chips from Lowes or Home Depot that are close to the color in the photo. Bring the photo into your train room and select the color chip that most closely matches the color in the photo under the train room lighting conditions. You can then have the matching color made for you.

It is important to do the color selection under the illumination found on your train layout since these are the lighting conditions under which you’ll be viewing the color when it is applied on the layout.

Bob

5

Here is a paint up-date…I’m not able to get to Pennsylvania for soil samples to compare colors, so I rely on Train magazines, books and photographs for help.

The Royal Blue Medium Bright…is still available at Sears (New Number - CC333)

Regarding the Autumn Wheat Dark color, Sears could not find it. I found Dave Friary’s website and e-mailed him. His replied very quickly…

"Donald,
Paint colors are like fashion, they go out of style almost yearly.

Here’s a few from the 3rd revision of my Scenery book:
Ben Moore 1B-1122 Cocoa Sand
Ben Moore 2B-1075 Fairway Oaks
Dutch Boy 2A-4 Basketweave
Dutch Boy 3A-4 Grand Stand Tan
Sears Easy Living II 122 Burro Beige

Or get a dirt sample and have the paint store match it.

Good luck,
Dave Frary"
www.mrscenery.com

Looks like I’m all set…and I don’t need to go to Pennsylvania after all :slight_smile:

Thanks everyone,

Don Carman

6

Don,

Thanks for doing the research and getting the info. from Dave Frary. I printed a copy of his list for future reference.

As I said in one of my previous posts, before you buy a large quantity of any of these colors, I’d get a paint chip of each color and bring it home and view it under your layout lighting to be sure it looks like the color your trying to duplicate.

Regards,

Bob

7

Sometimes you can get a sample can of paint for $2-3. If so, get one, take it home, and paint a swatch where you’re going to use it. It’s easier to visualize a two foot square than a paint chip.

Enjoy

Paul