Paint match for 1:20 Box Car Models

[StanAmes]

Has anyone found a good paint match for the Box Car Red used on the Pacific Coast 1:20.3 box cars.

Thanks

Stan Ames

[the Bach-man]

Hi, Stan,
When I paint the prototypes I usually use someone's brown primer, usually Krylon, but sometimes the one from Lowes.
Try those.
Best,
the Bach-man

[Kevin Strong]

Historically, "boxcar red" wasn't any particular shade, but a generic reddish paint pigmented primarily with iron oxide (rust) or similar pigments. The exact shade could vary, sometimes significantly, from batch to batch. The upshot was that you'd have a railroad that painted all their equipment "boxcar red," and you'd see cars ranging from brown to red. Add to that the effects of sun fading the colors and other environmental effects, and you've opened up a broad spectrum of "boxcar red" from which you can choose.

If you're trying to specifically match a shade to touch up a car, that's one thing. But if you're trying to generically match another "boxcar red" car, then you can be a few shades off and be perfectly prototypically correct. I've got probably four distinct shades of "boxcar red" that I've used on my rolling stock just for that reason. The subtle variation makes everything look similar, but not identical.

Later,

K

[NarrowMinded]

Kevin is right and I had painted all the cars in one consist with the same paint and was unhappy with the mono tone results of the cars even after weathering so I now switch between differant brands for a more realistic effect note the color variation is subtle but effective.

NM