Model Railroading > Scale Trains UP Colour Opinion?

What is your opinion about the Scaletrains Union Pacific colour. I have a SD40-2. The red looks for me a little bit strange, it seems to be nearly pink. The grey and yellow are quite different in comparison to Athearn UP units.

CNW1989

Go to the Fresh paint Friday thread on the Western Board and compare the proto photos there with the model paint.

Prototype paint, especially yellow changes literally day by day in the real world.

I see the UP running through and switching in Salem, Oregon every day. While they probably were all painted with the same color in the paint shop, once they've been in use for a while, it's almost like there's no two alike. I've seen several that are so faded that the red looks pink. Good luck.
Bill Pyper
Salem, OR

There's a prototype for everything, although one should expect paint to match units freshly-painted...

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

I like it. Feels like the paint has been around for a few years to me.

You see the prototype in outdoor light which is much brighter and of a different color temperature than anything you will find in your house. Some modelers paint their models a lighter color so they look right under layout lighting.




MojaveBill Wrote:
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> There's a prototype for everything, although one
> should expect paint to match units
> freshly-painted...

> What is your opinion about the Scaletrains Union
> Pacific colour.


No opinion, but a couple comments. ScaleTrains uses Tru-Color paint. So, Tru-Color UP colors are ScaleTrains UP colors. There are a lot of videos and photos of the new GEVOs by both ScaleTrains and Intermountain side by side on line. The UP colors are a dead on match.

I have the same comment than "Lighter". Athearn UP colours are matching my impression of freshly painted UP locomotives very good. Scale trains red is a pink and notreally the red,they grey seems to be very light. No matter if they call it true colour or not, for me Athearns colours match much better to repainted or newly delivered locomotives. Have no UP unit from Intermountain.

CNW1989 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have the same comment than "Lighter". Athearn UP
> colours are matching my impression of freshly
> painted UP locomotives very good. Scale trains red
> is a pink and notreally the red,they grey seems to
> be very light. No matter if they call it true
> colour or not, for me Athearns colours match much
> better to repainted or newly delivered
> locomotives. Have no UP unit from Intermountain.

In regards to your comment about "true colour or not", the paint manufacturer that ScaleTrains uses is called TruColor, http://trucolorpaint.com/, which is a competitor to Scalecoat, Floquil and Polly Scale (yes both of whom are deceased companies), ModelFlex, Testors, Tamiya or any other paint company, so it's not some willy-nilly philosophy. It is a line of paints designed extremely similar in nature to the now defunct AccuPaint line.

What GE, EMD and NRLS all paint UP Harbor Mist Grey as, strictly depends on what their local paint source supplies them. I once listened to a presentation by a paint shop employee of the Milwaukee Road and he was responsible for painting their passenger fleet. He painted 5 or 6 cars one day, all from 55 gallon drums, from the same supplier, same batch number, NONE of the cars carried the same orange when they left the paint shop in Milwaukee, and he showed us images, and they didn't match. NS painted their TopGon fleet with the "same" color grey, yet there are 5 shades of grey across the entire fleet, due to different paint sources, thinning agents, colors of the primer coat and even how thin / thick the color is applied at the plant.

Russ

Yellow is the worst, whether you are talking real world paint or hobby paint, total pain in the a#$ to match etc, if you are particular about paint the only way you will be satisfied is doing it yourself the manufactures/china are never going to be consistent from batch to batch, run to run......Joe

Model paint being applied to a model could have a different appearance depending on the
color of the plastic it is being applied to and number of coats of paint. If you apply
a coat of white paint before your main body color, that will be the most accurate
appearance you're going to get out of that bottle of paint.

One would assume that the paint manufacturers are testing their colors on a white
background also to check accuracy before they mix up a huge batch.

Frank30