11-25-2010, 10:44 AM
Randy, how long will your 44 tonner have been in service? I'm not talking about how long on the layout, but how long in service are you modeling? The longer it has been in service since the last paint job, the more the paint will have faded, and the more cement dust it will have picked up. Before the BNSF merger, the blue & yellow freight units would be bright, shiny, dark blue and bright yellow. A couple of years or less out of the paint shop and the paint turned "chalky" with the blue fading to something closer to a flat "Big Sky" blue, and the yellow fading to a yellowish cream color. I suspect the paint used in the 1950's and before is not as resistant to fading as the new stuff.