Dog Star
Western Thunderer
Whilst this topic has been inspired by the current building of Slater's pre-lettered PO wagons the question could be as applicable to other models where there is a need to match an existing colour (of unknown origin).
Many years ago I bought the remaining stock of "Norchard" kits from the Dean Forest Railway shop at the railway and being of that time the kits had sides, ends and solebars that had been spray painted by Slaters, mostly using enamel paint from Phoenix Precision. Today the current range of Slater's PO wagons have the body colour printed using inks.
Use of a common moulding across several different Gloster kits means that the solebars for wagons often have features that are "wrong" for specific prototypes, for example the "load" and RCH registration plates are moulded in locations that are not correct for Norchard wagons (source, photos from the Gloster archive). Removal of such details leaves areas of the solebar that need to be re-painted... and then there are added details from white plastikard to be considered.
I have spoken to David White about the paint used (say) ten years ago - there is not a definitive answer, so mixing paints to match the wagon sides is a necessary evil. My preference for painting plastic wagons is acrylic paints, there is a selection of Vallejo greys, blacks, whites, yellows and blues to hand. I can get close to the light grey colour of the original kit... the difference is there and can be seen.
The answer to the question is likely to be experience and I do not have that in regards to painting models. Given that I can mix a colour that is in the ball park, how do I decide what is "missing" in the mix?
Thank you and regards, Graham
Many years ago I bought the remaining stock of "Norchard" kits from the Dean Forest Railway shop at the railway and being of that time the kits had sides, ends and solebars that had been spray painted by Slaters, mostly using enamel paint from Phoenix Precision. Today the current range of Slater's PO wagons have the body colour printed using inks.
Use of a common moulding across several different Gloster kits means that the solebars for wagons often have features that are "wrong" for specific prototypes, for example the "load" and RCH registration plates are moulded in locations that are not correct for Norchard wagons (source, photos from the Gloster archive). Removal of such details leaves areas of the solebar that need to be re-painted... and then there are added details from white plastikard to be considered.
I have spoken to David White about the paint used (say) ten years ago - there is not a definitive answer, so mixing paints to match the wagon sides is a necessary evil. My preference for painting plastic wagons is acrylic paints, there is a selection of Vallejo greys, blacks, whites, yellows and blues to hand. I can get close to the light grey colour of the original kit... the difference is there and can be seen.
The answer to the question is likely to be experience and I do not have that in regards to painting models. Given that I can mix a colour that is in the ball park, how do I decide what is "missing" in the mix?
Thank you and regards, Graham