To add another log to one of the oldest fires in the BRHS.....
Back in 1963-64 Joe Legner and I managed to get a dipped sample of the
Aluminum Oxide paint for the F units from the Clyde Diesel House.
This paint sample was very dark gray. When some HO locos were painted with
this "prototype"matched color they were way too dark. The N Scale
Burlington FTs from Hallmark were painted this way....and the paint is so
dark that the contrast between the black edging on the red nose herald and
side striping.
Even though I admit to being nominally red-green color blind I will give my
definitive theory on this paint.......
The original FTs were the first Q units painted with this color. Other
railroads used the same Dupont Aluminum Oxide / Imitation Aluminum
color.....Rock Island, Boston & Maine, Maine Central, Southern and more....
The color "reads"more white, very light gray, than gray. The wet liquid
paint in the drum is very dark gray......darker than Harbor Mist Gray.
Two things happen to the paint as it is applied to the unit....
First, the paint is applied under high pressure. This reportedly oxidizes
the aluminum and turns the paint to a lighter shade.
Second, the paint is being applied to an object the size of a house. This
means that the color receptors (I am not an eye doctor so have the technical
terms incorrect here) or "rods" of the human eye (which are the same number
when viewing large prototypes or small models) are receiving more reflected
light volume from the prototype than the model. Even if you hold a model
painted with the same paint up to the prototype it will appear darker
against the prototype....
Even the Q got screwed up in this mess...... sometime in the F3 production
it looks like EMD or the Q changed paint suppliers or specifications.....and
guess what....the paint got darker! I have seen movie shots of the 637 on a
fan trip at Aurora where there is an F Unit in the background that
apparently had wreck repairs....with two different shades of "gray" applied.
Later in F unit production the color reverted to the original light (almost
white) gray....and maybe even white was substituted.
I remember seeing one of the passenger Fs freshly painted in freight colors
at the West Burlington shops (at the time of the 5632 "Birthday" Fantrip)
and even inside the shop with bad lighting the unit seemed to be as white as
a refrigerator.....
With the dim lighting of most layout rooms I would tend to vote for almost
white paint, maybe with a touch of beige to account for fading and
yellowing, with a hint of blue for the reflected sky.... but most grays are
way too dark to evoke the memories of the units.
By the way, where did the term "graybacks" come from....it is not something
I ever heard until recent years of the society...after 1985 or so. Is this
a widely-used railroad term or a concoction of modelers from the dark gray
camp? <ggggg>
Charlie Vlk
PS- Hol Wagner (I think it was Hol) had a funny story about the color and a
off-line wreck-damaged NE12......maybe he can relate it to the group.
----- Original Message -----
From: "John A. Swearingen" <jas@s...>
To: "BRHS list" <BRHSlist@egroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, November 22, 2000 9:47 AM
Subject: [BRHSlist] Re: Q "gray" backs
> 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.
>
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