Red boxcar colors
#1
I'm looking to paint and decal 4 or 5 boxcars but I don't want them all to be the same color red. I've used pollyscale mineral red which I'll use again but was wondering what colors are close to mineral red without looking exactly the same. I've thought about oxide red or roof red but not sure if those are more brown than red. Also what color do others use for the roof of a boxcar when it's not painted the same body color, silver or a tin color?

And since I had mentioned decaling them what set is just plain white letter and numbers, not stenciled or a roman or gothic style.
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#2
If the cars are all the same RR use your boxcar red & weather them different degrees of light & heavy. That can be done easily using powders like Bragdon. If the cars are from different RRs add a few drops of white, black or any other color to change your red slightly.
Check the the Microscale online catalog to see many different RR decals. Champ & Herald King decals are no longer made but can be found on eBay & Yahoo Group buying/selling forums. There are also small decal companies that can be found thru search this forum & other MR forums. You can also look for model RR decal forums in Yahoo Groups.
Andy Jackson
Santa Fe Springs CA
ATSF/LAJ Ry Fan & Modeler
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#3
If the cars are all the same RR use your boxcar red & weather them different degrees of light & heavy. That can be done easily using powders like Bragdon. If the cars are from different RRs add a few drops of white, black or any other color to change your red slightly.
Check the the Microscale online catalog to see many different RR decals. Champ & Herald King decals are no longer made but can be found on eBay & Yahoo Group buying/selling forums. There are also small decal companies that can be found thru search this forum & other MR forums. You can also look for model RR decal forums in Yahoo Groups.
Andy Jackson
Santa Fe Springs CA
ATSF/LAJ Ry Fan & Modeler
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#4
Thank you for the tips of adding black or white to the red, I didn't think of that. I went through the micro scale catalog and the lettering is hard to read I was hoping someone might have known a specific set, I'll keep searching.
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#5
You can also use Micromark plain white decals. in Word select design>psge color and then home>font color in order to make your own patched reporting marks.
Mike Kieran
Port Able Lines

" If the world were perfect, it wouldn't be " - Yogi Berra.
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#6
Mike they won't be patched marking. This is basically what I'd like to accomplish [Image: image.jpg1_zpsk8wwsiof.jpg]

Run of the mill modern boxcar with plain white lettering, no stencil and no fancy font
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#7
Rscott417 Wrote:Thank you for the tips of adding black or white to the red, I didn't think of that. I went through the micro scale catalog and the lettering is hard to read I was hoping someone might have known a specific set, I'll keep searching.

Dis you click on the small decal image? It used to be a larger viewable image would popup.
Andy Jackson
Santa Fe Springs CA
ATSF/LAJ Ry Fan & Modeler
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#8
lajry Wrote:Dis you click on the small decal image? It used to be a larger viewable image would popup.

Yep I clicked on them and got a bigger image and did them in black so also make it easier to see. The only ones I see on microscale are either stencil, roman, roman stencil and gothic block.
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#9
I found what I needed, apparently its gothic railroad. <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.microscale.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=90101&Store_Code=MD&search=Gothic+white&offset=&filter_cat=&PowerSearch_Begin_Only=&sort=&range_low=&range_high=">http://www.microscale.com/Merchant2/mer ... ange_high=</a><!-- m -->
The numbers are slightly different but I can live with it.
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#10
You can use almost any colour to alter a basic "boxcar red". I usually batch-paint cars, and even if they're similar cars for the same railroad, often alter the colour as I paint: paint 3 cars, add a little orange, paint 2 more, add some yellow, paint a few more, add some black, and so on. Cars from the same order may look the same when they leave the builder, but they don't necessarily all go into the same type of service or all run in the same geographical area, so they're unlikely to weather in a similar manner.
To make a car look new-ish, but not brand new, thin some of your basic colour (or one of the tinted versions) very severely (90-95% thinner), then make some light passes over the entire lettered car - this lessens the contrast between the white lettering and dark background just enough to remove that "too new" look.
For a slightly more weathered look, use a similarly-thinned darker colour (brown, grey, black, or even a darkened version of the car's base colour), then hold a piece of cardstock against the car at its vertical rivet lines and make a light vertical pass, aimed at the point where the card touches the car. Move to the next rivet strip and repeat. Since riveted panels usually overlap in opposite directions on either side of the door, be sure to reverse the position of the card to account for that - in other words, spray the "dirt" on either the lapped panels, or on the ones doing the lapping.
This B&O boxcar car shows this type of panel-shading, although it's also had more weathering applied over it:

[Image: RECENTFREIGHTCARS021.jpg]

...and another:

[Image: Modifiedrollingstock037.jpg]

Outside post-style cars, as in your example, can be weathered in the same manner, but the "dirt" can be applied to both sides of the posts, with only the posts covered - they seem to stay cleaner than the inset panels. A little kicked-up road dust and grime sprayed along the lower extremities of the car and its trucks and frame will help to blend the different colours together.

Wayne
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#11
Very helpful tips Wayne, thank you. I got some paint in the mail that I ordered off eBay and it turns out they're acrylic paints, can these be used in an airbrush?
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#12
Pollyscale paints were water-based acrylics and worked very well in my Paasche VL when thinned with distilled water. You need to determine if your acrylic paint is water-based or requires a specific thinner - the manufacturer's website should have that info.
Pollyscale (Testors) did offer a thinner for their paint, but the website noted that distilled water was also suitable - no point in spending extra for thinner which can be had at a more reasonable price, if it will work with that paint.

Wayne
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#13
Thanks again Wayne. One is polly scale the other is tru-color, I'll send them an email and find out.
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#14
I got around to doing one of these modern plain Jane boxcars today. The color looks more brown in the photo but I used mineral red and oddballs decals. I'm not worrying about the trucks just yet, I bought a 3 pack of soundcar decoders and this boxcar might get fitted with one and I'll use ring engineering power pick up trucks. It also has Sergent couplers and magnetic brake hoses. So that's 1 down maybe another 6 to go.
[Image: image.jpg1_zpswswho5fm.jpg]
[Image: image.jpg3_zps3l2duq7r.jpg]
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#15
That turned out nicely Thumbsup Thumbsup , but what are soundcar decoders? A boxcar usually doesn't make much in the way of sound...perhaps a little flange squeal.

Wayne
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