[Aldhelm]

Hi, as a newbie here, I have a question about paint colors.

Can anyone tell me the paint colors used by the East Broad Top on the exterior and interior of their passenger cars? I've just bought a combine from John Pletcher and am keen to get the color right. The supplementary question is, of course, which model paint manufacturer produces the nearest match, in acrylic paints. All advice gratefully received.

 

[Pete Thornton]

Aldhelm,

EBT colors varied depending on how long the car had been out in the sun. Some pictures show them a faded blue, others more yellowy. (In other words, you can't go wrong.)

Kevin (Mr EBT) and I use a Scalecoat GN green:
Scalecoat I Paint - #025 G N Green $3.99 X 3 = $24.75 (From my last order)

However, I found an old email where I said: "I used Scalecoat GN Green for #3 + #16 and it seems very dark - unless you are in bright sunlight. Then I did the railbus in Krylon Hunter Green and it's a good match indoors but a bit bright in sunlight." I was thinking of Hunter green with an overcoat of GN green. But I never bothered to try it.

This is my #16 (G.A.L. styrene kit on Accu coach frame) with the GN paint.

 

[East Broad Top]

I got the Scalecoat GN Green from reading an article in the Timber Transfer that said it was a near perfect match for EBT's coach green. That's the good news. The downside is that Scalecoat isn't acrylic. It is, however, available in spray, which is a good thing when painting something as large as a 1:20 passenger car.

Here's the same color, weathered and faded a little bit.

If you must use acrylics, try Badger ModelFlex BNSF Green. I've not compared them side-by-side, but from the BNSF locos that run through Denver, I'd bet its pretty close, though maybe a little more on the "green" than "olive" side of things. One thing you could do is buy a jar of Scalecoat paint, and take it to your local paint store and have them mix you a pint of latex to match.

BTW, Shawmut Car Shops has my East Broad Top passenger car lettering artwork, and can cut you vinyl lettering for your cars, or print you decals should you prefer. I've found the vinyl looks great. (The baggage car has vinyl lettering.)

For the interiors, it depends on the car. Some cars were painted, others had stained wood panels. Iron Horse Engraving offers the miners' coach, combine, and baggage car; I'm almost positive they were painted (especially the miner's coach).

For this, I just found a suitable light green bottle of acrylic craft paint (Folk Art, or similar) from the craft store. Krylon makes a good light green in a spray can, which is what I used on my Iron Horse Engraving cars. It's a shade darker than what's in these photos, but still a good light green.

Later,

K

 

[stevedenver]

How beautiful! Thanks.

 

[Aldhelm]

Kevin and Pete,

Many thanks for all the advice on the paint colors and lettering, much appreciated. I'll get a few samples of the colors you suggested and see which look right, I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder!

I am now living in the UK, where it is not so easy to get hold of US RR colors. I buy them when I regularly visit the USA, and hand carry them back to the UK. I had a spray can removed from my baggage on a previous trip, which is why my preference is acrylics, less potential hassle at airports.

I really liked the pics you both included, great looking passenger cars. I hadn't thought of using vinyl lettering, and will follow up on that suggestion Kevin.

Once again, many thanks.