Mindful of the subjectiveness of color appreciation and the inherent limitation
of color continually changing under varying light conditions, I will,
nevertheless, share my experience regarding painting C.B.&Q. "gray backs". I
fully realize that my experience may be of very limited value because it is
nearly 40 years old, but I will share it, nevertheless, for whatever value
anyone can receive from it.
In the early '60s I was trying to match that color of gray when painting some
plastic F units. My late father, a Q brakeman, obtained a small jar of the
prototype "gray back" paint from one of the employees who was in charge of that
sort of thing at the Hannibal roundhouse. It was a very thick paint but I
thinned it down to where I could apply it to my models. Of course, it looked
good. It was the real thing.
Subsequently, I discovered that a model paint being marketed then was a "dead
ringer" for the prototype I had received from my father. It was Pactra's "Rebel
Gray". Thereafter, I used it, thinned but otherwise unadulterated, several
times on other F units. They were indistinguishable, colorwise, from the units
painted with the prototype paint.
So, now all one has to do is find some old Pactra "Rebel Gray" which has been
stored under ideal conditions for 40 years, and you are in business. Suggest to
your spouse or "significant other" that that is just what you want for
Christmas. Who knows? They just might be able to turn up some for you.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
|