Testors reaction to grumbling MRR's

[mmagliaro]

I'm not sure if it even sells well to PRR modelers. 

Too green for most people's taste, I hear.

Which is why I used to use Scalecoat Brunswick Green when I did my PRR engines.  It has that
"Gee, is that black, no wait, it's green, no... black...."  quality about it.

[rogergperkins]

Mixing and making paints is a science and art!
Specifications for pigments and amounts to achieve each color are the science part, but adjusting those ratios is the art.

It is wonderful if some of you can mix existing options to achieve the color needed for your favorite railroad, but having
the desired colors available for those who are not adept at mixing is very desirable.

We will probably never learn from Testors why they made the initial decision and then modified it in an apparent attempt
to sooth the tempers of we model railroaders.   

[sirenwerks]

My brother used to work for Akzo-Nobel, kind of the Dutch version of Dupont.  It manufactures everything from industrial chemicals to pharmaceuticals to vehicle coatings, the latter being the division he worked for as an instructor.  When they closed his office in West Chester he brought home one of the shop grade, digitally controlled paint mixing machines.  It was complete with spectrophotometer, the same thing Home Depot's paint department has - slide in a chip or whatever and it reads the color and gives you the color match using it's pigments.  Push a button and you get your paint. 

That's what we need, at least those who paint a lot - a hobbyist home version of the paint mixer.  They're much like a color printer except, obviously, there's no print mechanism.  But if there were a print element to this dream machine, since both paint and print are subtractive color system-based, you could print decals on white paper that would be exactly color matched to your paint, so you could create decal panels using white decal paper for white lettering.  Better than a flying car, no?

[Scottl]

I understand that people want ready-made solutions, but it sounds like some of the RTR colours like Brunswick Green were not necessarily ideal either.  That was my experience with RTR colors for CN, so I rolled my own.  Mixing your own color gives you a lot of freedom and is easy to do and if you take a little time to make mixing pallets of color, nearly risk free. 

What opened my eyes to how to mix paint was a $7 book from Michael's on mixing acrylic paints.  I learned about complementary colors (red and green, blue and orange, etc) and how to use them to change both the colour and saturation.  It is easy to learn and requires few materials.  It was also especially useful knowledge for backdrop painting.  It can also save you money as you can make a wider range of colours from fewer initial shades.  It takes no training in art to figure this out, just some paint,

While spectrophotometers can be very accurate (although illumination is a major issue), most of us have a highly sensitive built in ability to discern color.

[sirenwerks]

While spectrophotometers can be very accurate (although illumination is a major issue), most of us have a highly sensitive built in ability to discern color.

Yes, but do you know you're not color blind?  It's not something generally tested for so "most" of us can't knowingly say our color perception is accurate.  Studies assert that up to 10% of males have some form of color vision deficiency.  And even in healthy optics, perception of additive and subtractive color varies considerably depending on your rod and cone sensitivities, and such sensitivities are affected by not only light, but the variety and intensity of colors in juxtaposition within the field of vision.  Stand in front of a painting by Joseph Albers and you'll see.  I would venture that most of us are not sensitive to color; most of us can perceive color, some even correctly under normal circumstances, but most of us don't have adequate awareness of the physics of light and color and of neurology to claim a highly sensitive built in ability to discern color with 100% certainty. 

[randgust]

Yes, but do you know you're not color blind?   

Well, now that you brought it up.... your mileage may vary, but.....

http://www.xrite.com/custom_page.aspx?PageID=77&Lang=en

Now there's all kinds of excuses here from bad monitors, etc., but I'm tellin' ya, on some of the other forums I've posted this to there's a pretty good correlation between the guys that are kickin' butt on painting and weathering and solid scores on this thing.

[DKS]

https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=27679.msg286772#msg286772

[randgust]

Thanks David.  That thing is sort of the breathalizer test for color discernment.... "Hey, I just blew a .020!  Top that!"

Judging by the amount of work I've put into certain projects, I'm a lot fussier about color than I am rivet-counting detail.  Even as a Santa Fe guy, I still only have two locomotives out of 35 that have original factory paint on it  (Life-Like GP20 in blue and yellow warbonnet, and a Life-Like SW8 in blue and yellow).   Most times the ATSF blue is just...wrong... let alone the red....

Way,way, way back when I tried to mix up my Santa Fe blue using PACTRA paint.  It was a Trix U28, before micro-scale decals came around, pretty much totally hand painted.  Probably about 1973 when I was about 16.  It looks pretty awful today, but I saved it.  The blue is still pretty close, looks a shade green, but I was doing the paint matching then under incandescent light.   That's another whole issue - how paint looks under different light.

[davefoxx]

https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=27679.msg286772#msg286772

Oh, I can't wait to find the time to tackle that test.  I know I'm red-green colorblind, but challenge accepted.

DFF

[sirenwerks]

LOL, Scott got a 12.  I can't wait to take it when I get home.

[Scottl]

It's all Brunswick Green to me!

[Mike C]

  Got an 8, May have done better, but a lot of them really look the same to me...lol....Mike

[sirenwerks]

Argh, got a 15. I need to get this tear in my retina fixed.

[C855B]

4. But I knew it would be near zero, after 30 years in or around the printing business.

[pjm20]

Yeah, I got a 37!  I knew my vision was awful, but this is just crazy. Stupid blue green.