Playing with paint schemes

[JMaurer1]

My 2 cents: I wouldn't do the red handrails. Paint will not stick and the black will always be peaking thru. I also pick #1 but think you need white barricade stripes on both ends of the locomotive.

[Big Train]

I like C855B's rendition....looking good.

[squirrelhunter]

I like the lettering on option#2, but I agree the teal color is just too modern- it would fade too badly and would shown dirt when it did.

One question, will you have any units in an earlier first generation scheme kicking around? It may help to design that first, then simplify it for a 1960's scheme.

[garethashenden]

I like the lettering on option#2, but I agree the teal color is just too modern- it would fade too badly and would shown dirt when it did.

One question, will you have any units in an earlier first generation scheme kicking around? It may help to design that first, then simplify it for a 1960's scheme.

This is a very good idea.

For stripes, I've always been a fan of British Rail's black and yellow wasp stripes.

[sirenwerks]

The teal is not my intention.  The color I want is called Field Gray XF65 on this Tamiya paint chart - https://www.tamiyausa.com/articles/ln/72/XF-chart-10ml.pdf.  It's not a teal at all, but more of a cold grey with heavy blue overtone.  Like I said earlier, I was looking towards a standard color (blue) but an off-tone of it, like NYC's Jade green or PC green is an off-shade of green.


The color chart I have matches what I see on my monitor when I bring it up the PDF but, true to the mystery of RBG and CMYK colors, it turned teal when I imported the color chart into Gimp to match it.


That being said, I was also looking at Tamiya's JN Grey XF15 instead of the darker Field Gray.  It is a lighter grey with a noted green tint, along the lines of what I imagine the light green on the Erie passenger livery looks like in person, and definitely looks like on my monitor in most pics.  When I imported it into Gimp, it took on a blue tint.  Color matching in Gimp is beyond my ability at this point.


There are two other options I want to look at.  Something like the Susquehanna maroon and white scheme using Tamiya JA Gray XF14 instead of white, ala Burlington's gray ghosts, or silver and a not-so-deep maroon:





Problem is I can't figure out how to do silver in Gimp.


The other is a M&StL-like scheme, but switching the colors around: black where grey is, red where black is, and the grey on the bottom:





My biggest fear of doing either of these is getting the stripe curves consistent on all locos.  If the curves are done as decals, matching colors.  The M&StL scheme may lend itself to straight stripes across the ends, but the curves are very early diesel, which I like.

[wazzou]

Try and look at XF82, Ocean Gray.  It looks like what you describe.

I think the color you mean is XF12, JN Gray.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I love the color, but I think part of the problem is that railroads didn't do subdued tasteful colors like that in that era.

It was either black or bold colors.

Also, remember, lots of diesel paint schemes were designed by the stylists at EMD, and Alco, and to a lesser extent, Baldwin.
They tended to work from a common color palette, and then with a common set of masks.

See http://paintshop.railfan.net/paint_scheme_design.html

As time went on, the schemes would get less complicated you can trace the simplification of the B&O original blue gray and gold scheme, or the Reading freight scheme, for example (well, that was plain, then loud, then plain again).

It may be helpful to start with the earliest scheme, and then simplify it.

Design for an FA/PA, then simplify for an RS1, then some more for a C420, then finally a C630...

[randgust]

Well said Ed, +1 for you.   I was thinking the same thing.     So many schemes originated from the designs of original builders and then simplified down over time.    And that still goes on today,  And, the reverse, as schemes are pulled out of history books and are 'new' again.   KCS comes to mind on top.   

So imagining what the vintage scheme was determines what the simplified scheme became.   And, considering what it costs to paint a locomotive, not every locomotive is going to be in the same scheme, which is half the fun of it.   

Another thing we haven't touched on is the potential for a scheme to be adapted from the prior owner of the locomotive.   D&H PA's stole the Santa Fe warbonnet.   Any number of shortlines and leasers turned Conrail blue on something.   If the locomotive paint was in good shape, it can be adapted instead of just patched.   Wellsville, Addison & Galeton looked suspiciously like Southern Pacific.    It's a lot more common today than it was in the 60's, but it certainly started then. Paint, and painting, isn't cheap.

[Virginia Atlantic]

A few thoughts:

-The Green/Blue is a very modern shade, not period appropriate to the 60's or early 70's time period.  Your very first image (in the OP) is a very nice example of a realistic 1990's short-line. 

-The layout of #1 has the sheen of realism, but it's also bland and uninspiring.  I would fear you'll get started with it, do a few units, and realize....it does nothing for you.  It's bland.

-#3 in my view screams early 1970's "image transition".  The kind of logo scheme that a 50's/60's road would have changed to to be "bold" and start a "new era", etc. in that early 70's time frame. 

Personally, first I would change the green/blue to either a shade of green or of blue.  Not teal, or a teal-like grey, teal simply isn't a classic railroad color.  Whatever your preference. 

I would then take the side-view scheme of #3 i.e. " The Bold New Midland Scheme", and I would take the red "CMP" logo, which has the look of a 60's remnant retained in a logo redesign for "heritage" reasons, off from the cabside of #5, and move that to the unit nose. 

This would, in my view, provide you with a very plausible (graphic design-wise) early 70's scheme.   

Then you can retain the older-style, blander stylistic elements (like old-school font) of #1, combine it with the earlier overall stripe-style of say, the Susquehana you linked above, keeping that "CMP" logo of course on the nose, for some dirty, worn down old yard goats.  The contrast vs the "Bold New Midland Scheme" will be striking.

Hope this helps, and be sure to enjoy the process.  Creating the fiction behind the imagery of a made-up railroad is a big part of the fun.  Charting that fictional history, how it came to be X in 1970, thinking through the era, and the processes that led your fictional railroad CEO to choose your design choice, is the way to a plausible, interesting, historically realistic scheme you'll fall in love with.

[jmarley76]

I'm gonna also cast a vote for #3...

And as the last three post all said, developing a little more history for the paint scheme will go a long way. You can't know where you're heading without knowing where you've been.

[Rich_S]

I think the Suzie Q is a good example of the roads of the time. How many railroads can you think of that used 3 words on the side of the hood without an ampersand? The only one that comes to mind is "New York Central".  There were a few like the Susquehanna, where the nickname was spelled out on the hood and the railroad reporting marks NYSW were on the cab, either above or below the cab number. Now we did have the "Nickel Plate Road" with it's reporting marks (NYC&St.L) on or near the cab. Thinking along those lines, I'd choose option #3, but reduce the font size on the hood to just slightly larger than option #2 and place the reporting marks CPM in a small font on the cab below the road number. Something else to think about, safety. It seemed railroads began paint the step edges and hand rails near the step yellow or white during the 60's.

Coming up with a convincing paint scheme is not an easy task. Some of the best in my opinion, Allen McClelland's V&O, Tony Koester's Allegheny Midland and Eric Brooman's Utah Belt, borrowed prototype paint schemes, then changed them just enough as not to be an exact copy of the prototype, but still left enough of the prototype paint scheme to make the scheme believable.     

[Kisatchie]

...How many railroads can you think of that used 3 words on the side of the hood without an ampersand? The only one that comes to mind is "New York Central"...

Don't forget Kansas City Southern:

http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/kcs/kcs0159jpb.jpg

and Grand Trunk Western:

http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/gtw/gtw1202alr.jpg


Hmm... rats, I can't
think of any others...


http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/gtw/gtw1202alr.jpg

[wcfn100]

How many railroads can you think of that used 3 words on the side of the hood without an ampersand? The only one that comes to mind is "New York Central".

Chicago Great Western.  Of course many have tried to put an ampersand in there.


Jasom

[Kisatchie]

Chicago Great Western.  Of course many have tried to put an ampersand in there.

I can't find any Chicago Great Western diesels with the name printed on the hood. On the cab, yes.


Hmm... Kiz woke me up
for this...?

[wcfn100]

I can't find any Chicago Great Western diesels with the name printed on the hood. On the cab, yes.

They also experimented with a couple different F unit schemes before the maroon/black became the standard.


Jason