V&O Blue

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Time for number boards.

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[amato1969]

Looks fire.  Are those spark arrestors from CMR?

  Frank

[Ed Kapuscinski]

No, they're the Miniatures by Eric ones. The CMR ones wouldn't work for a reason I forget. They either interfered with the dynamic brake or winterization hatch, which I ALSO had to modify.

[Sokramiketes]

Time for number boards.

(Attachment Link)

Moving these two side by side:




Any way to desaturate the color a bit, and shift a touch toward green? 

I like it, but that's what I remember of the V&O scheme in print. 

[peteski]

That almost looks like B&M blue.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

That almost looks like B&M blue.

Close. But it's BAR, which is slightly darker and deeper.

Any way to desaturate the color a bit, and shift a touch toward green? 

Green?? I don't DO green! lol.

No, I know what you mean. I'll play around with that.

In the meantime, I present "number boards can suck it".



I was trying to do the "print on paper, cover in tape, glue in" approach, but it's not looking good. These have come out and I'm going to try something else. Stay tuned.

[peteski]

Close. But it's BAR, which is slightly darker and deeper.

I know that is what you used on the model. I was saying that the lighter blue in the photo Mike posted looks close to B&M blue.

The number boards can be printed on a laser printer over white film decal paper.  Or buy one of the decal swts where you can assemble any number combination yourself.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I know that is what you used on the model. I was saying that the lighter blue in the photo Mike posted looks close to B&M blue.

The number boards can be printed on a laser printer over white film decal paper.  Or buy one of the decal swts where you can assemble any number combination yourself.

Yeah. Mike's photo is a pretty roughly color shifted though.

Running it right through Photoshop's "auto color" gives me this, which is far more in line with the other photos.



That said, I totally get what he means about how it "appears in his mind". I'm betting it's because he read more about the V&O directly from old RMCs while my experience has been through reprints and books.

[Sokramiketes]

The color correction helped pull out some of the green shift in the overall image. 

My comment was more color wheel related, I suppose.  Like the color chosen is a very deep, saturated blue that has some red, as it shifts to blue-purple.  I think that's the wrong direction from pure blue, and that you want to wash it out with some yellow, toward the green side of the wheel (but not actual green!!)

And yes, I'm picturing it in my mind as RMC era publication.  Wonder if anyone has photographed the old equipment with modern lenses... and if part of this problem is the vibrancy of newer cell phone cameras/software. 

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Interesting though Mike.

There's a ton of non RMC photography up on the V&O HS FB group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/365905267140312

[peteski]

This railroad existed only in a model form on John's layout. Totally made up.  I wonder if someone out there has John's original paint formula, or better yet, a color chip for this fictional RR.     That would eliminate any doubts about the color accuracy, or color shift in photos due to chemical changes in the film or the color temperature of the ligths used during the photo shoot.

But even matched to the original color chip Ed, since you now likely use LED lighting, while John likely used incandescent lights, the 2600K color temperature would have resulted in the original V&O blue color shifting to green.  Maybe you should have painted your model with a shade which would compensate for the higher color temperature LED lighting, to make the blue look a bit greener.   

We could take this discussion even further. 

[Missaberoad]

I think its a really good match to the later era pictures from MR and Tony K's books. So hawt and makes me want one!

[Ed Kapuscinski]

This railroad existed only in a model form on John's layout. Totally made up.  I wonder if someone out there has John's original paint formula, or better yet, a color chip for this fictional RR.     That would eliminate any doubts about the color accuracy, or color shift in photos due to chemical changes in the film or the color temperature of the ligths used during the photo shoot.

There is an original paint formula. It was a mix of two Floquil (I think) colors: "Dark blue and light blue" or something like that, so it's not incredibly helpful.

One thing I've learned from talking color with my professional product photographer friend: when it comes to this stuff, just go with what "looks" right. You can go down a VERY deep rabbit hole if you don't.

This looks "right" to me, so I'm going with it.

[Sokramiketes]

The lead image of the facebook group is perfect.  Agree you nailed the second gen geep color as displated there.  The E unit looks like the older washed out shade.

Which means, even his color choice shifted over time!  Just like the real thing.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

The lead image of the facebook group is perfect.  Agree you nailed the second gen geep color as displated there.  The E unit looks like the older washed out shade.

Which means, even his color choice shifted over time!  Just like the real thing.

Yep! We need some V&O drift cards... by the way, conclusive evidence of the mix from an ancient RMC.

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