This is a Bachmann ATSF 40’ stock car, and if anyone knows what this color is called, I sure would appreciate being edified.
Can’t really tell from the photo … looks like the generic “boxcar red” color used on a lot of boxcars of that era.
Quick google search shows that they used “Mineral Red” or possibly “Tuscan Red” … but that’s from google, and I’m by no means a modeller of western roads (or eastern atm, due to space [:'(])
Tuscan Red or Mineral Red are good guesses. Most RTR models use proprietary colors that are not easily matched except by trial and error.
I do not have my Walthers catalog nearby as I type this but isn’t there a paint color chart for Floquil and perhaps other colors in the catalog?
There are also some online paint charts but there things can vary so much by how your screen is set up that I’d be reluctant to rely on it too much. But they might be helpful
MicroMark has this one for Floquil
http://www.micromark.com/colorcharts/floquilchart.htm
And this one for Polly Scale
http://www.micromark.com/html_pages/misc/pscalechart.jpg
Badger has one too
http://www.badgerairbrush.com/library/Paint%20Chart%20Images/Railroad%20Colors.gif
Dave Nelson
As you know, to match it exactly might involve starting with the above referenced colors and then tinting by trial and error to match exactly.
Richard
Thanks, guys. I was not aware that there were some color charts on line. Looks like it is the Floquil Boxcar Red or Tuscan Red.
Just about EVERYTHING (including a lot of things you’d rather not see) is available on line, if you know where to look.
Go to the Megahobbies website (http://www.megahobby.com/Megahobby-plastic-model-paint-store.aspx) and select the type of paint you’re looking for. For several common brands, when you click on the image for a “close-up” of the bottle of paint, you get the color chart.
The Testors (and therefore Floquil / Pollyscale) color charts are also available on the Testors website (http://www.testors.com/model_and_hobby).
Could be freight car brown…
[:$] That’s the color I was thinking of when I said “Boxcar Red”, hahahaha
It looks closer to “Southern Freight Car Brown” to my old eyes. [swg][(-D]
I’m curious as to why you’d want to know: are you planning to paint other cars to match it, or simply wishing to touch-up some areas on that particular car?
If a car’s safety appliances (grab irons, ladders, sill steps, etc., etc.) needed repairs, the railroad on which the car happened to be at that time was required to perform the work. The shop would use whatever paint they normally used for such work, so it wouldn’t necessarily match that on the rest of the car.
I replace many of those details on my rolling stock with metal parts, and while I think that it improves the appearance, they don’t look so hot if the paint gets damaged. Every once in a while I gather-up all such cars and use a brush to touch-up the missing paint. I simply select one of several colours in my paint cabinet which looks approximately the same, then do all cars using that colour. The next session may or may not use the same paint.
In my modelling era (late '30s) cars began to receive a second grab iron on the left end of the car’s side. While most cars come with that feature, I often replace only the bottom one, eliminating the top one completely. On some other cars with two grabs in place, I’ll paint the upper one on a weathered car with fresh paint of a slightly different shade, indicating a recently-updated car.
Wayne
Dr.W, I was afarid someone would ask me the Why question. Actually, I have two of those stock cars and spaced it when I bought the second one which has the same rcar number as the first stock car. So, I was thinking of getting some paint and eliminating one number on either end of the car number, so I would have that second car with a different road number.
I was afarid too… but I got better. [:D]
Actually, this is even better for you. Prototype railroads change reporting marks all the time, and they’re seldom very careful about the paint they use to do it. A patch of black with white letters is not uncommon, nor is a close but obviously different match. Just try to get a clean line around the area and a legible stencil, and your car will look very realistic.
I sometimes change the numbers on a single purchased car just so they’re not the same as everyone else bought, but more often than not, I re-paint and re-letter the entire car, often after modifying the car to some degree.
I have a friend who bought several similar cars (same road name and number) and wanted to keep the road name but alter the numbers. The most difficult part of this exercise is finding numerals in the same style and size as the originals. I have a pretty good selection of decal and dry transfer alphabet sets, but I also save useable stuff from lettering sets made to do a single car. I usually store the latter stuff together, so it takes some sorting to find something suitable, but uses-up less storage space. So far, he hasn’t been able to stump me, but I’m not above attempting to hand-paint a digit or two, if necessary.
If you’ve got suitable replacement numerals available, be selective in choosing the ones to change. Your car appears to have a five-digit number, so unless you know your prototype, don’t touch those first two digits (and in a six-digit number, leave the first three).
The best one to change, in my opinion, is the middle one of the remaining three, but if you have a number of cars to be done, vary the one (or ones) which you change.
I prefer to remove the existing lettering rather than paint over it, as painted-over lettering often leaves a three dimensional “shadow” which can be very evident under certain lighting conditions. For this, you can use a chemical stripper such as 99% alcohol or PollyScale’s Easy-Lift-Off, or you can use a mechanical method to remove random digits. If the chemicals won’t easily remove the lettering (often, they’ll remove the surrounding paint well-before affecting the lettering) I like to use an X-Acto #17 blade to scrape away the numerals. Hold the blade perpendicular to the surface, with the non-tapered edge leading, and while applying li
Here’s an idea. Bring this car along the next time you visit your LHS, preferably one that stocks Floquil or Polly Scale paints. Then simply match the car with the correct shade of paint. You could also try using the color chart for aforementioned paints in the Walther’s reference book.
Good idea there, Bob, to which I’d add – make it known you are bringing your freight car TO the shop or you might be challenged when you try to take it OUT of the shop. When bringing bolts or nuts to the local hardware store looking for matches I am sometimes given the buffalo eye when I leave with my own stuff.
Dave Nelson
Yeah, I usually start those days with “I’m trying to do [whatever] to [model] … any suggestions?” and eventually the conversation turns to “oh yeah, it’s out in the car”.
Alternatively, when the owner isn’t with another customer (i.e. the store’s empty), I’ll just start the convo with “so, i have this here model and I’m trying to do [whatever]”
There’s certainly nothing wrong with bringing the car to the store, and it may help you to find a closer or exact paint match. This assumes, of course, that the paint is a type and colour available to the consumer, as I doubt very much that drums of PollyScale or Floquil paint are taking sea cruises to China. Also, paint in the bottle, or on a colour chart, and especially on a colour chart on a computer screen doesn’t always look the same as the same paint dried on the model.
Using the method which I described, I doubt that you’ll need any paint for what you wish to do. If you plan to paint-over the existing numbers, and expect to do more renumbering projects, why not simply buy three of four bottles of similar shades, then mix your own matches to each particular car?
This is one of those simple tasks that becomes more and more difficult to do as one continues to think about it. Many of these jobs never get done because of this. [swg]
Wayne
If I dont need an exact match, and if numbers are changed all the time, then Dr. W, your method is the way to go. Now all I have to do is find an acceptable stencil. Every time I use decals, I just foul everything up.
Well depending on how good your MS Word-fu is, you could CMYK or RGB the color and find the appropriate font. Make a box, fill it in, Type out the number, print and very carefully cut and then paste the number to the car.
It’s not the best option, but it’s an option. You could also make your own stencil this way.