Should Manufacturers fix paint schemes on future releases?

[wcfn100]

Hmmm... I thought the first run of these cars were exclusively Harriman roofs. Or is that not the "arched" you mean?

They've done 60' cars with the arched roof.  I'm hoping for 70' cars in a future release.

Jason

[wcfn100]

Some taping, a little paint, a few decals....problem solved

There's not even any windows in the affected area.

If only one color was off, perhaps something like that would be more of an option.

Jason

[peteski]

But if a manufacturer produced one or more runs with wrong colors and they fix them in the next run, then those models will not match the previous releases. That could make lots of owners unhappy. What about matching colors of the same road name models from other manufacturers.

Also, what is the correct color?  Where is the true and accurate reference?  Then there is a dilemma of using accurate 100% saturated original colors, or fade them for a scale color effect?

If all the model and paint manufacturers got together and created a color reference library, that would solve the problem, but that ain't happening. 

[Point353]

The current paint and decoration doesn't match the prototype or any of the offerings from other companies.  Nor would it watch anything I would paint.  I'm inclined to reach out to WoT to see if they would address these issues for future releases but was curious were people might stand on this.  Even if some still want to say the color is subjective, the striping is not.  Every photo will show that it's wrong.

Some RR historical societies have produced color chip guides for reference when painting models.
Does anyone do this for the IC?

Whether or not the model manufacturers choose to avail themselves of that information is a separate matter.

[thomasjmdavis]

But if a manufacturer produced one or more runs with wrong colors and they fix them in the next run, then those models will not match the previous releases. That could make lots of owners unhappy.

You do have a point, Peteski, and some modelers would be unhappy if the colors were corrected.  On the other hand, the current situation is that if you buy a WoT baggage, it is not a close match to the coaches and sleepers you have to buy from someone else and/or paint yourself- which also makes a lot of modelers unhappy.

http://www.wheelsotime.com/70-ft-bag-exp/ 

Scroll down to find the IC cars in the recent production.  A bit farther down the page are cars from previous runs.  Check out the ACL (this being the one I am most familiar with).  I give WoT credit that they show the original artwork that they put out for the pre-order, and actual photos of what they delivered. What was delivered was clearly wrong. What I will say as a customer who has purchased 9 of the 70' baggage cars new (ACL, NYC, Wabash in blue, Wabash in UP, NC&StL, 2 CN and 2 Southern being repainted) is that after the ACL car, I won't pre-order any more WoT baggage cars, and if they rerun the ACL car in the purple scheme, I won't buy it unless they fix the paint. 

WoT has made an excellent model, chose a great prototype. and by varying the roof, door and vent style, can customize the basic body to get accurate or very close models for a large number of railroads.  In some cases, they have not done adequate quality control on color and lettering to satisfy everyone.  The preference expressed in the poll, so far, is that modelers who answered the poll would prefer to see them correct colors in the future.

Maybe I am more color sensitive than most people, but for me, that ACL purple error is kinda like making a stock car with solid sides or board gaps on a reefer that scale in inches.  It just should not happen.  And the graphic demonstrates they knew what color it was supposed to be.

Surprised myself on how many of these I have.  In addition, there is a 10th, picked up second hand without trucks, being repainted in the Monon gray-red scheme (they did the black-gold).

[peteski]

You do have a point, Peteski, and some modelers would be unhappy if the colors were corrected.  On the other hand, the current situation is that if you buy a WoT baggage, it is not a close match to the coaches and sleepers you have to buy from someone else and/or paint yourself- which also makes a lot of modelers unhappy.

Oh I don't disagree Tom that the color matching is a real problem for model railroad modelers.  I simply presented some arguments as to why I don't see the situation changing anytime soon.  In addition to the reasons paint matching is an issue, another one is that the factory can sometimes deviate from what the model's designer specified.

I would be very happy for the modelers affected by the latest example of the color mismatch if the manufacturer re-runs the models with corrected paint color.  But I doubt that it will happen.