The ‘proper’ color of Pullman green paint has been the subject of uncountable threads on several groups, and there is no consensus. Part of the reason is that Pullman green changed over the years, even at Pullman. It started out with brown
tinge, then moved to olive, then to darker green. After the passenger car business was broken up, railroads used their own version of Pullman green, hence the note that CB&Q Pullman green tended toward yellow.
Pullman green model paints range from dark green to brownish green, with several shades in between. None are alike. I made color ships using Floquil, Poly Scale, Model Flex, Scalecoat I and Scalecoat II. Tru Color wasn’t available then.
I took the attached photo of the color chips under 5000K lights, and you can see the difference. Scalecoat I is darkest and Poly Scale is the lightest. Floquil and Poly Scale aren’t made any longer, but can be found if that is your choice.
The models in the photo are two scratchbuilt BA-19A Havelock economy baggage cars. The one on the left was built with styrene and painted with Floquil. The one on the right was built with wood and painted with poly Scale. I also attached
an XM-33 express boxcar painted with Scalecoat II.
Paint fade and weathering are other issues that change paint colors over time, so base color becomes less important if you wish to fade and weather your model. I think Floquil was a good representation of Burlington Pullman green. Poly
Scale was too yellow, and Tru Color is too brown. Among available paints, use Scalecoat II if you paint with organic solvent based paints and Model Flex if you prefer acrylics.
Nelson Moyer
From: CBQ@groups.io <CBQ@groups.io> On Behalf Of
bdurham260 via groups.io
Sent: Saturday, July 23, 2022 12:10 PM
To: CBQ@groups.io
Subject: [CBQ] Havelock Economy Streamline Baggage Car Color?
What is the official green used and is there a current model paint available to match. Per a quick scan of bulletin #36 it is more yellow than Pullman green. What would we suggest to a model train company to use to get the proper color match?
thank you,
Brian Durham
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