Oh goody, the cyclical freight F Unit paint color discussion….
I noticed on one photo taken at Aurora (maybe it was even a frame from a movie) from the roundhouse area of a F3 going by westbound on the track elevation embankment on a freight. It was a fairly clean unit and appeared to have a new side panel installed that was very much a different color.
The same shade shows up in EMD builder photos.
It looks like the paint color changed from the original almost refrigerator white color to a darker gray that had tan overtones, then back to the original white color.
During the 5632 birthday trip to West Burlington 9960-C was in the shops and indoors the body color was very white.
I obtained a quart jar of “Imitation Aluminum” paint from a 55 gal drum and had a set of Athearn F-7s painted with it. The paint was a dark gray and came out looking like Cadet Gray on the models. I believe that the paint had aluminum oxide in it and when applied under high spray pressure it oxidized and was very much lighter.
The effect of road grime and sky lighting conditions could shift the color towards yellow, gray, brown or even blue.
I wonder if anyone has direct knowledge of the paint color being changed as I described. I don’t have enough different EMD paint styling drawings to see if the paint code changed at some point(s) or even if it was recorded.
Charlie Vlk
PS- The scale of the model makes a difference as well…the smaller the model, the lighter the color has to be to look right.
From: CBQ@groups.io <CBQ@groups.io> On Behalf Of Nelson Moyer
Sent: Friday, May 28, 2021 4:14 PM
To: CBQ@groups.io
Subject: Re: [CBQ] Stewart F units
They’re all correct. The differences are due to age of paint job, time since last washed, and lighting. Modelers can compensate for all of these. What is at issue is the initial new paint color. Based upon these photos, I think the Broadway Limited F3 ABBA set recently issued has the best prototype paint job, but as I said, I don’t have the other manufacturers products for comparison.
Nelson Moyer
So…what is the “correct” CB&Q F-unit color on the attached prototype photos?
😉
Dave Lotz
I have graybacks from Walthers, Broadway Limited, and Intermountain, and of the three, Broadway Limited has the most authentic color. The others have a yellowish tint, with Walthers worst and Intermountain barely perceptible. Intermountain is too white. I haven’t seen the other manufacturers F units, but if anyone has F units from all five, it would be interesting to see them lined up side by side from the best to the worst.
GPs, SDs, and Alcos in CB&Q the blackbird scheme are another story entirely, where paint colors ranges from very dark on early Walthers models to a bluish gray on Broadway limited and very light brownish gray on Bachmann Alcos. Bowser (Stewart) CB&Q gray is close the Model Flex CB&Q gray, which was supposed to be color matched to paint chips. I haven’t seen a model painted with Tru Color CB&Q blackbird gray (the also have a Chinese red scheme gray) or their grayback gray, but it would be interested to hear opinions on their authenticity.
Nelson Moyer
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