Thom, tct855, and I were discussing the quality of paint. Specifically we were discussing the new vs. the old Scalecoat paints.
Scalecoat could have a thread of it's own but for the purpose of this thread we'll be discussing 1:1 locos and paint fading.
The ACL used a Dupont paint for the purple diesels. The paint was referred to as Royal Purple. It was a deep purple and in the sun looked almost metallic. This paint proved to not hold up under the Florida sunshine in the Southern states. We used to say that no ACL diesel looked the same as within months of the new paint it started to fade badly.
Here is an ACL GP diesel with the royal purple. It's a fairly new paint job.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/24-190317121014.jpeg)
Here are a couple of samples of where the purple had badly faded.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/24-190317120933.jpeg)
In the next photo you can see area the ACL herald where the paint is milky and almost looks chalky.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/24-190317120955.jpeg)
Thus are the effects of the Florida Sunshine on some colors.
More in a few.
Here we have a fairly new ACL FP7 loco. You can see the faded purple on the GP loco behind the FP7.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/24-190317121040.jpeg) (http://modelersforum.com/gallery/24-190317121040.jpeg)
Here is an FP7 that has seen many a sunny day in the South.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/24-190317121100.jpeg) (http://modelersforum.com/gallery/24-190317121100.jpeg)
Back in the late 60's and early 70's Mantua Tyco released an ACL F unit diesel. The paint was so bad that it looked like a faded paint job even though it was new in the box.
More in a few.
Tom,
That's remarkable that the engines are just a few months old and the paint fades so quickly. I appreciate the pictorial tutelage. I never saw purple ACL's growing up in florida. I guess that's a bit before my age. Humm that means you must be really old.....................er? Than me. Wait not fair, the word should be seasoned. ha. poking the bear again.
Thanks for teaching me about the ACL history and paint. I did learn something useful. Thanx Thom...
The Seaboard Air Line also had fading paint issues. Their problem was the white E Units with the red stripes.
Actually the white E units were not white at all. They were a light mint green with a darker green roof.
I went through my photos and found some samples.
The next photo is of an E4 and appears white although you can see a little of the mint green on the nose. Look at the E unit behind it and you can see the mint green color still slightly visible on the sides.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/24-190317121350.jpeg) (http://modelersforum.com/gallery/24-190317121350.jpeg)
I've enlarged the photo to show a little better view of the second unit. Definitely not white.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/24-190317121324.jpeg) (http://modelersforum.com/gallery/24-190317121324.jpeg)
You can clearly see the mint green color on the sides of the E unit shown below.
I'm not sure what SAL used for paint but the Mint Green didn't last long in the Florida Sunshine either.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/24-190317121415.jpeg) (http://modelersforum.com/gallery/24-190317121415.jpeg)
Quote from: tct855 on March 19, 2017, 01:15:37 PM
Tom,
That's remarkable that the engines are just a few months old and the paint fades so quickly. I appreciate the pictorial tutelage. I never saw purple ACL's growing up in florida. I guess that's a bit before my age. Humm that means you must be really old.....................er? Than me. Wait not fair, the word should be seasoned. ha. poking the bear again.
Thanks for teaching me about the ACL history and paint. I did learn something useful. Thanx Thom...
Thom,
You are very welcome. Yes, I'm older and not necessarily wiser. I do however, have a s--- load of pictures.
Tom
Tom,
Man! you never cease to enlighten me on ACL history. I've seen pictures of engines like those in the past mags and such and always thought they were painted white. Whoa! I remember thinking the light greenish hints were the printers miss colorizing.
I was always wanting to model a pair of white n red engines, but not I guess that's not going to work then. Any suggestion on what I should do in the future to do a pair and yes mine would be weathered. Thanx Thom...
Quote from: tct855 on March 19, 2017, 01:25:02 PM
Tom,
Man! you never cease to enlighten me on ACL history. I've seen pictures of engines like those in the past mags and such and always thought they were painted white. Whoa! I remember thinking the light greenish hints were the printers miss colorizing.
I was always wanting to model a pair of white n red engines, but not I guess that's not going to work then. Any suggestion on what I should do in the future to do a pair and yes mine would be weathered. Thanx Thom...
Thom,
I only painted one SAL unit in the mint green paint scheme. It was an undecorated Athearn F7 unit. SAL had no mint green F7s but I wanted to try the paint.
I used a combination of Floquil Dark Green and Reefer White. I couldn't get the color I wanted using Floquil.
I was able to use Scalecoat Southern Green and Scalecoat White. I think my mix was 85% White and 15% Southern Green. Turned out dang close.
That's all this seasoned guy can remember. ;D ;D ;D ;D
Tom ;D
I always thought those units were white as well. This reminds me of the CB&Q argument (which popped up on the yahoo group again for the millionth time, as to what the color was on the F units. It was called "imitation aluminum". Some pictures it looks white, some grey. The units were called "Greybacks", so you think it would be grey, but it looks more like white. One company used exact paint chips to match, but some CBQ aficionados complained it was too grey. Between the color not "scaling", fading, different painting procedures, film differences, etc, who knows what they actually looked like?
Jeff
Yep... That old Dupont Duco enamel wasn't much good for more than a few years being in the sun, then add the chemicals that would be used to clean the locomotives and that took a toll too. Here's an Abeerdeen & Rockfish F-3 in 1961 just before it was traded in on a new GP-18. It's had to believe that it's supposed to be turquoise blue.
Quote from: ACL1504 on March 19, 2017, 01:35:44 PM
Quote from: tct855 on March 19, 2017, 01:25:02 PM
Tom,
Man! you never cease to enlighten me on ACL history. I've seen pictures of engines like those in the past mags and such and always thought they were painted white. Whoa! I remember thinking the light greenish hints were the printers miss colorizing.
I was always wanting to model a pair of white n red engines, but not I guess that's not going to work then. Any suggestion on what I should do in the future to do a pair and yes mine would be weathered. Thanx Thom...
Thom,
I only painted one SAL unit in the mint green paint scheme. It was an undecorated Athearn F7 unit. SAL had no mint green F7s but I wanted to try the paint.
I used a combination of Floquil Dark Green and Reefer White. I couldn't get the color I wanted using Floquil.
I was able to use Scalecoat Southern Green and Scalecoat White. I think my mix was 85% White and 15% Southern Green. Turned out dang close.
That's all this seasoned guy can remember. ;D ;D ;D ;D
Tom ;D
"T",
Thanks for the class on painting future models. Lots of good info. You know me because I pay attention to the details. Don't think I didn't notice your reply was typed out in mint green! ha. I tried to reply to yours with the faded mint green color but it didn't come out because of the white background. ha. KPI...