Playing with paint schemes

[Philip H]

Given your interest in western roads i'd try for something derived from the WP

[randgust]

Definitely agree with some higher-visibility ends.   Do something; stripes, contrasting color, whatever.   

Also, that dark green in the east is like camouflage.  Blends right into tree colors.   The prototype might live with it, actually, but your models will start to become invisible against a green tree background.   

It also sounds like you're almost but not quite modeling the Chesapeake Western.   Until the day I saw it literally etched in stone in Harrisonburg on the side of a building, I had no respect or knowledge for it.   It really was a pretty interesting railroad.
http://www.trainweb.org/varail/aux/cwhist.html
http://abnf.co/VA-Chesapeake%20Western%20Railway/9.JPG

I've often looked at the Staunton-north tracks on a map and wondered what would have happened with a little change of history - and shared ownership instead of splitting the route  at Harrisonburg and Strasburg, made .  That could have been one of the great main lines competing with I-81.    And if you've ever really looked at it, north of Harrisonburg is the most amazing collection of high bridges nobody knows about.

And it's got a really cool herald.  http://www.railpictures.net/images/d1/1/0/3/1103.1341925230.jpg 

Flip that "W" into an "M", Chesapeake Midland.   Figure out a route from Roanoke, to Harrisburg, Baltimore & Delmarva, out of all the lines that nobody else loved.

Wow, look at this....  http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=358286&nseq=9
Tell me you can't see that on a model!

Wings on the herald and lighting bolts on the caboose.   

Remember it's perfectly OK to have multiple paint schemes, first & second generation, and colors don't have to always match either.  Never bothered LV.   Even on our little local Allegheny Railroad, the original choice of 'Hammermill Blue' didn't weather all that well, and a darker blue was applied to every locomotive bought after the first two.  Yet the one ugly sister still soldiers on today in the original paint (what's left of it) put on in 1985. http://hawkinsrails.net/mainlines/bprr/bprr301a.jpg   Everything else got this:  http://farm9.static.flickr.com/8728/16968910566_b3d82b158f.jpg 

[basementcalling]

Try making the red brighter or more orange. It almost vanishes when next to that greenish gray. I like the individual colors but not the combination.

As others have said, hi vis the nose and tail. I would drop the roof color down the side more and print the letters in a larger size of whatever font you choose and center the spacing.

You might also plan for ease of application on a model. 60s simplied schemes made it easier for the shops to apply paint on their models. Nothing says you can't do the same on a model locomotive to make masking easier by having color separations run along the various pieces the shell breaks down into.

Here's one I did for a possible free lance scheme for my layout.

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[sirenwerks]

So I found a typeface that is similar to the US Army font, a little more compact though, and it was free.  While it will take me a while to mock up a new loco image, I went with the idea of conservative for a logo ala GBW:








There's a version with just initials too, more a billboard logo for boxcars:





Yes, the reds are different, trying to figure out which I like best.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I like that.

[sirenwerks]

Needs some white Chevrons on the nose and tail.  The railroads were aware of the visibility issues at grade crossings even back then.

I did some digging and only the later locos of the LV (my favorite of the region's roads) got chevrons, the GP38s and U boats.  The Alcos, except for the whitebirds, stayed solid dark colored and had only nose logos and maybe a single stripe, but not of a safety type.  And none of the other region's roads - namely the PRR, EL or Reading - got chevrons.  The B&O and N&W stayed away from them too.  I thought straight stripes like the NH U boats initially, but it looks kinda stupid on the Century noses without the matching striping across the long hood.  And a red nose is completely out, too Karl Malden.  That being said, I am tempted by a Charlie Brown shirt stripe.









But, then again, I'm more of Pig Pen fan... 

[sirenwerks]

Daughter went to bed early and wife is watching Turkish soap operas so I got some free time tonight and made some progress with a bunch of options to think about.


Which are your favorites?  Mix and match?


No 1.





No. 2





No. 3





No. 4





No. 5

[davefoxx]

Number 1 seems the most representative of a scheme out of the 1960s.

DFF

[ChristianJDavis1]

Number 1 seems the most representative of a scheme out of the 1960s.

DFF

I agree. Aside from that, Number 1 just looks "correct" to me. The others seem plausible, just less so than the first option.

[delamaize]

1 or 5 seem right to me.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I like #1, possibly #5.

Maybe add the herald to the front of the hood?

[sizemore]

Number 1 looks really good, I also agree with Ed, add the logo to the low nose.

The S.

PS. Am I doing it again? 

[C855B]

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[C855B]

A couple of quick comments... although I like the color, too, given the period represented, the green-blue would not be a first choice. The limitations of the pigments and paints of the day in this color range were notorious for fading - quickly and badly.

FWIW, the red backgrounds... I had to go back to Eby's original art and start over. There is a phenomenon in graphic design known as "red/blue vibration", and this is skewing perceptions of the original samples. Also, although I didn't fully illustrate it, handrails and stanchions in my sample should be the light yellow, and not red due to the same issue, red/blue vibration in real life.

[wazzou]

I agree that the color is not one that says 1960's to me.