Model Railroading > BN6599 SDP45

Hello everyone, 

I just got this beautiful SDP45 with the experimental trucks, and I am looking forward for painting it. 

The question is, as I live in Europe, it can be hard to get a scale paint with the BN brand. 

So I would ask, what is the RAL number for the green color which BN used on that locomotive? 

Thank you so much

Cheers 

Fill

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Hi;   Go to the Tru Color website and look at thier color charts for BN Cascade Green.    That is the best bet for a correct shade of green at this time.

ATSFSuperCap Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hi;   Go to the Tru Color website and look at
> thier color charts for BN Cascade Green.    That
> is the best bet for a correct shade of green at
> this time.

Just bought some.  It is very accurate!

Greetings Fill!

Great looking engine!

I concur that TruColor is the way to go when trying to match railroad colors.
https://www.arizonahobbies.com/Burlington-Northern_c_1171.html

The RAL color guide has 37 different hues of Green.

I have taken a snapshot of TruColor BN Green and sampled the closest RAL Green color swatches.
My best guess is RAL 6002.
Of course, the best thing is to get a bottle of it, spray it onto a piece of plastic, and create your own color swatch.  

That said, if the engine is to be weathered, start with a color that is already close to the faded green color desired.

Take care and God bless!
Dave 

 



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/22/24 11:47 by tmotor.

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Absolutely gorgeous looking loco! Best of luck with painting & installing decals. Pressure mounts with each step. LOL!

BN 6599

I posted these in 2015 I hope they help in painting it.
Scott O'Dell

Thank you so much for posting that link! I didn't know those wonderful pictures and reports!
Cheers

Posted from Android

Congratulations, Fil!
Wow, What a beautiful and rare model!  I'll be an outlier and say that the TruColor BN green from past years have been too dark in my opinion.  Perhaps this TCP color is probably ok for just some of the first repainted locos on the BN.   Though I am a fan and regular user of TruColor Paints, Scalecoat's rendition of BN green is much closer to the mark for a more common BN green..  Alternatively, looking at my RAL color deck here in my hands, it seems RAL 6037 is the closest to what I prefer for a BN green.

Of course, color is subjective for many, and we all go with what we see.. 

Cheers,
Harry



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 03/24/24 07:38 by tracktime.

Hello Dave, 

thank you very much for the kind words and informations!
I will have a look on those! 
I think you are right! I will have to try them out and check the best results!

Take care!
Fill


Greetings Fill!

Great looking engine!

I concur that TruColor is the way to go when trying to match railroad colors.
https://www.arizonahobbies.com/Burlington-Northern_c_1171.html

The RAL color guide has 37 different hues of Green.

I have taken a snapshot of TruColor BN Green and sampled the closest RAL Green color swatches.
My best guess is RAL 6002.
Of course, the best thing is to get a bottle of it, spray it onto a piece of plastic, and create your own color swatch.  

That said, if the engine is to be weathered, start with a color that is already close to the faded green color desired.

Take care and God bless!
Dave 

Greetings Fill!

Harry makes a very valid point.  I remember BN Green being a bit brighter than the TruColor.  Perhaps I was seeing equipment that had been in the sun and the color was faded?

I compared the color chips from different companies. (I have these filed-away for reference.)

AccuPaint was slightly brighter.
AccuFlex was much brighter.  This is more like what I remember BN Green looking like.

Don't mean to throw more confusion into the mix.  Go with a color prototype picture and get it as close as you can.

Take care and God bless!
Dave

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tmotor Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Greetings Fill!
>
> Harry makes a very valid point.  I remember BN
> Green being a bit brighter than the TruColor. 
> Perhaps I was seeing equipment that had been in
> the sun and the color was faded?
>
> I compared the color chips from different
> companies. (I have these filed-away for
> reference.)
>
> AccuPaint was slightly brighter.
> AccuFlex was much brighter.  This is more like
> what I remember BN Green looking like.
>
> Don't mean to throw more confusion into the mix. 
> Go with a color prototype picture and get it as
> close as you can.
>
> Take care and God bless!
> Dave

Dave,
Thanks so much for the direct comparison.  Again,  TruColor Paints are my go-to, but not their BN Cascade Green.  In the old days, SMP AccuPaint (same paint chemistry as TCP is now, but different colors) had that nice BN Cascade Green as you show.  However, in the end,  I chose SMP's CP Rail Action Green for the final answer for my BN units. I was very happy with that, as it was just a tad brighter still than SMP's own BN Cascade Green, which was also quite acceptable.

Cheers,
Harry
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/24/24 21:06 by tracktime.

Fill!

I would concur with Harry's overall comments, and also concur that in the RAL catalogue, 6037 is the most acceptable. 

BN green had, by my casual observations, more of a spread than almost any Western railroad color in its practical applications through the years before BNSF! RAL 6037 also has the benefit of being their "Pure Green" selection, and a number of model R&D folks have found RAL to be a good match for U.S. railroad colors in many instances. Maybe that's the way standards work, or maybe it's coincidence, but the fact that 6037 is considered a baseline color by RAL is a good indicator for what BN may have actually chosen for their standards.

I like to point out, with a grin, that color itself isn't subjective: it's finite numbers and wavelengths. But our perception varies. Not everyone processes color fully or in the same way, and a poor analogy is that some people can't hear variations in musical tones, while others have perfect pitch. Also, as we age, our lenses fill with castoff cells, and in some cases, our ability to see infrared and ultraviolet neighbors on the spectrum degrades with time. Worst of all, cataracts can form in people no older than their 40s or 50s, with yellowing of the lens that our brains adapt and compensate for, but which nevertheless reduces our ability to literally see the whole spectrum as we did when we were kids. Arguments about color are never winnable, I think, and even digital scanners don't always help!

That side-track aside, because you live in "RAL Country" and I will agree with several commenters here that commercial paints can be hit or miss, even in trustworthy brands -- my recommendation (if I have one) is to stick with RAL and match that, and 6037 has the balance without being too yellow, too blue, or too intense. You won't be wrong by miles (as you might be with a commercial color, when you're done), and the good news is that the full-size BN 6599 is not around in fresh, authentic BN green to personally call you out on any mistake!  :-)

~ BZ, living in BN country since 1977

And I though you only like “the gray stuff”
Thank you so much for the information Bob, I will really have a look on the different colors (and models I already have) to blend it all together.
BN green had, by my casual observations, more of a spread than almost any Western railroad color in its practical applications through the years before BNSF!
That is very true, in most locomotive lash up is possible to see the differences between the green of the units… That is why I asked specifically about the 6599. And as I am modeling her after the rebuild, I will stick to the official BN green.
One more point to make the whole thing even worse is the “scale effect” (color fading in accordance with the distance of observation…) but we don´t want to make a rocket science out of it!
 
Take good care!
Fill