Help please.
I hope to be assembling a large scale Class 20 kit next year & will
need some paint, but in larger quantities than ususal.
Any suggestions re. who could supply same?
(Just to be difficult I'm thinking of finishing it as 20 227, in it's
current "Metropolitain Railway" maroon, which seems to be a partial
repaint from Railfreight Grey, Red & Yellow.)
TIA for any help, David C.
IMO, you should look for an automotive maroon that is as close as
possible in your eyes. With luck you can find it in a spray can, sold
for touch-up of minor scratches. Not cheap, but probably cheaper than a
few dozen 30ml bottles of model railway paint.
Justification:
Just how "correct" do you want to be? NB that there's no such thing as a
"correct" model railway paint. The best we can get is something that
looks right, but documentary proof of the right look is always suspect,
and must be interpreted. Photography does _not_ render colours as the
eye sees them, nor does it render colour consistently. Not to mention
the problem of colour shift in old photos.
Paint begins to weather as soon as it's applied, and over time the shade
may change substantially. (Recall what happened to the blood'n'custard
livery within less than a decade of exposure to the weather.) The rate
and type of colour shift depends also on whether and what kind of clear
overcoat (varnish) was applied, since the overcoat itself will weather.
Unless you want a freshly-painted look, an exact match to the
prototype's "official" colour may actually look wrong - too bright, even
toylike.
Some model railway paints are allegedly matched to ancient paint chips,
but that's no guarantee of correctness, since a varnish overcoat will
cause the colour to look different than it does on the paint chip. And
even paint chips change over time.
The lighting in our train rooms is considerably dimmer than outdoors,
and also has a different spectrum, so that "correct" paints will look
both too dark and colour-shifted in various ways. And the colour shift
will vary between brands, since the "same colour" is often formulated
differently by different companies. Generally speaking, paint applied to
models for indoor use should be lighter than the real thing, in order to
look right.
But if you are going to run your engine outdoors, you'll want a close
match to the real colour. Do you want the just-painted look? Or the
well-maintained but weathered look? They won't be exactly the same, so
you have a little leeway in colour selection. That's important, for it
allows you to look for a close match that looks right to you.
Hence my suggestion that you look at automotive touch-up paints.
Good hunting!
From their site:
"Due to circumstances beyond our control (a fire in the next door unit in
the early hours of the 12th July) all of our stock has been smoke damaged.
In order to maintain our high standards as the leading brand of model paints
we are neither in a position, or willing to sell sub-standard products.
We have therefore decided to close for a period of time in order that new
stock can be produced.
We realise that this will inconvenience some of our customers but we hope
that you will understand our situation.
It is our aim to be back in production before the start of the Model Railway
season in September."
I didn't realise the hobby was seasonal!
"Rich Mackin" wrote
Well it's not in my shop, but there is a distinct break in the exhibition
season during the Summer, maybe that's what they mean?
John.
Thanks for the advice especially re. automotive paints.
Ijust need the BS or RAL numbers for the originals.
Weathering wont be a problem, the great outdoors will do that for me
I took a few pix of 20 227 at Swanwick Jct. recently & the Maroon had
faded somewhat since the last Steam on the Met. weekends.
It's just possible that I might be aquiring a Metropolitain Electric
next year, but that my kave to be in London Transport colours.
Thanks again, David C.
Oh Dear...
Think of the last LUL "Steam on the Met" & also think garden
railway...
As for mains power, they would both be running on 24 volt batteries..
DC
Now you've got me reminiscing... I was at Neasden in 1965 for the big
Metropolitan celebration... LT was still running a few of the old Met locos
on engineers' trains. And steam engines.
Cheers,
Steve
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