Howdy folks, As I get nearer to my Texas Special and Meteor projects, I realize that there are a lot of colors available that seem near to the Hallmark TS and Meteor cars. Does anyone have experience or recommendations for paint that looks like a good match for the brass factory painted cars? I'm looking to paint the locomotives... Best, mike
Mike--I've heard the term "Fire Engine Red" and "Cardinal Red" used describing the Texas Special and Meteor equipment and the Pullman company in their literature regarding painting their cars for Meteor and Texas Special service refer to the color as "Pullman Red Enamel #70-60." If you can find the Pullman painting book by Arthur Dubin (Published by Kalmbach), it has color samples. Those are the only references I know of as such. If I were doing it, I'd get some color samples and "eyeball" it. I have an old Con-Cor N scale Texas Special set and whatever the (Many) shortcomings of that set are, I matched the color for some touch-ups with Testor's Signal Red and it covered the chipped spots perfectly. My two cents... Tom
Another 2-cents worth is that I agree with Tom's assessment on the use of Signal Red vs. say a Caboose Red as side by side Signal Red tends to revert to the yellow side of the color spectrum and Caboose Red the blue side. Pictures of the prototype look more to lean to that side of the spectrum, especially up next to the yellow trim. My two-cents!
Howdy, Thanks for the replies. I haven't used "Testors" paints, so needed to find out exactly which paint. A search of Testors' website revealed the color signal red was available in Pollyscale and Floquil enamel. Are these the paints to which you were referring? Best, mike
Testor's used to have "Signal Red" as one of their (own) enamel colors, but Floquil is one of Testor's brands now. I'd get a Floquil (Or Pollyscale etc.) chip and hold it up to your Hallmark or Walthers (PRR) car and see what pleases your eye. EDIT: I've just been surfing Testor's website and I don't see any "Signal Red" offered any more?? More of a reason to compare some samples visually and see what pleases you own eye. Tom
If memory serves, and Gordon can correct or confirm, I think I used Floquil Signal Red on his car that I painted and it was an excellent match.
JMO (just my opinion), I'd rather get this color in Testor's "Acryl" acrylic rather than the Polly Scale acrylic. I've had much better success with Acryl than with Polly Scale. JMO! Ken
Howdy Ken, what do you like better about Acryl? I'm assuming your are referring to airbrushing. Best, mike
Mike - I've sprayed both Acryl and Polly Scale and prefer Acryl. It seems to cover better. But, for spraying, I would still prefer to use Testor's ModelMaster enamel over either acrylic. I don't spray Floquil any longer. Acryl is terrific with a microbrush. I don't recall ever using a regular brush with it. Ken
