Question on GN Empire Scheme

[ztrack]

I am working on a review of the GN passenger cars from MTL. The one area that is really bothering me is the paint colors on these cars. The cars have a very dull look and finish. The green does not appear correct and the orange is flat. I have been online researching the color of these cars and I am finding photos that support this look. I can't determine if these photos are just poor quality. But some show aged cars that are faded to the color scheme.  Of course, most show the much darker green and brighter orange that I expect with this theme. What is your thoughts? What is appropriate? Is this color scheme acceptable (understood that this is in opinion only)?

One item that should be noted is that this color scheme does match the GN F7s MTL released in the past, as well as the GN 40' box cars so I can understand why they went the wanted to keep the colors consistent.

On another question, what is your opinion on decals? I know this is really the wrong group to ask since many of you know how to work and apply decals. But, would which has more appeal? Blank cars with apply your own decals or finished cars with pad printed road numbers and car names?

Thanks for your opinions. I want to be fair to MTL on the passenger cars. There are some areas of these cars that just blow me away on their fit and finish, but I can't help feel conflicted on the colors and decals.

Rob

[Sokramiketes]

Varnish is a nickname for passenger equipment for a reason, it shined.  Color and finish is a really touchy subject, and straight gloss looks bad for other reasons, mainly because reflections and surface finish don't scale down well in the layout room.  My own preference is a nice semi-gloss to satin finish on passenger equipment.  Save the dead flat for the freight cars as it just doesn't have the right look for passenger equipment in revenue service.

I've never liked the MTL rendition of Pullman Green either.  I think it first jumped out on the Troop cars in N scale, which were flat and very light in color.  It sorta matches the Pollyscale Pullman Green, but I feel that shade is off and too light as well, so not a good reference.  MTL doesn't use Pollyscale, they get their paint custom mixed from a California company that also makes the Accuflex/Modelflex lines.  You can send the company paint chips and have them matched to a batch of paint special, but that doesn't mean they match the tints correctly either.  I'd like to know what chips MTL sends in... Joe mentioned that the UP colors were derived from official UP paint chips or something, but either the colors weren't matched by a good eye, or they weren't the right era paint chip, as the MTL UP passenger car colors are off also.  Again, my opinion.

I've heard people say that the GN Empire Builder green was Pullman green, but I always treat it as a dark green with less olive.  My favorite rendition has probably been the ConCor updated release of Empire Builder cars in N scale, back in the mid-90's (?) when they started painting the dome window sashes on the clear dome roof. Walther's recently released the train in HO, and while the green is generally in the ball park, the orange seems to be too saturated. Anyway, I'm not a fan of the MTL color choice, which was your question in the first place. 

On the decals, I like that idea. 

[Nato]

   As a long time GN Fanzee and modeler in N I would say that the MT Cars  are way off Auccu Paint/ Modelflex Paint got the green color right. Yes the revised Con Cor cars look right also the colors on Kato's cars , the cars did faid a bit as seen in some color photos in both books from Fourways West and Morning Sun, but the cars were for the most part kept in imaculate condition and washed all the time between trips, paint was also touched up. Nate Goodman (Nato). Salt Lake, Utah .

[ztrack]

Thanks for all the assistance! I received a few offline emails as well that really gave me some insight on the GN colors. Very interesting indeed. This one link I found particularly helpful:

http://www.gnrhs.org/rs28_page_8.htm

Mike, I think you nailed it with varnish. I am also finding that Pullman green was the color. I think the deep varnish used made this green appear darker in real life. This would make sense.

I am with you on the paint chips. The typical UP yellow MTL uses again looks dull and flat. The same is true with the gray they used on the GP35. It is lifeless in my opinion. Even the red text almost appears purple in some light. The MTL colors could use some depth to them. On the other hand, their new gondola and B&O boxcar this month do look great.

Rob