I have "searched" both TRW and the comp @ TB and can not find. Some time ago (1-3 years ?) one of you very talented artists posted several shots of some UP Challengers that you painted with the gray scheme. I think you even did some for ST.
My question is where can I find those photos and what brand of paint did you use. I looked at TruColor UP Harbor Mist but it looks too dark.
Any info appreciated.
Carl
Carl
@carlso , In my experience over the years, and as a direct result of a color comparison I did in the early 1980's with various manufacturer's U.P. colors against a real, freshly painted SD40-2 on a warm Spring day in the Riverdale Yard, the most accurate U.P. Harbor Mist Gray and Armour Yellow are Scalecoat II's UP Harbor Mist Gray and UP Yellow.
For some reason, most manufacturers screw up UP colors, even though the colors are extremely well documented.
For U.P.'s "Two-tone-gray" or "Greyhound" color scheme, there were two main gray colors, which were prototypically labeled "Light Gray" and "Dark Gray" and titled "Exterior Passenger Car Enamel" because they were a match for Pullman's two-tone-gray scheme. The two colors were initially separated by a third, very light gray called "Silver Gray" to match the Pullman color called "Imitation Silver". It is important to note that neither color was metallic...just very very light gray.
The first U.P. TTG scheme was applied shortly before June 1946 to 800 series FEF's and lasted only a few months before being changed in August of 1946 to Armour Yellow separating stripes and lettering, to match U.P.'s Streamliner paint scheme.
On June 2, 1949, the TTG scheme was changed back to having the "Silver Gray" separating stripes and lettering, but the paint's name changed in 1950 to "Striping Gray". It is important to note that many U.P. shop personnel called this scheme "the white scheme" because the Striping Gray stripe was very close to white. It is also important to note that this paint was totally non-metallic.
U.P. "Light Gray" paint was virtually identical to "Harbor Mist Gray", with "Harbor Mist Gray" being "...only slightly lighter than Light Gray." It is speculated that the paints were supposed to be the same, but "Harbor Mist Gray" originated with EMD, and "Light Gray" came from Pullman.
Although I haven't painted any TTG U.P. engines yet, I have bought the colors I am going to use for painting several Challengers and brass FEF's to run on my 1947 through 1956 time period. The colors I have are Scalecoat II UP Harbor Mist Gray #2032, Scalecoat II UP Dark Gray #2033, Scalecoat II Engine Black #2118, Scalecoat II White #2011, and Scalecoat II UP Yellow #2022.
Another point is that the smokebox and firebox were darker on the TTG painted engines. An excellent example for your reference are color photos of the 8444 when she was painted in TTG. Look at the smokebox and notice that the sides were way darker than when painted in the black scheme, with the face of the smokebox being much lighter than the sides.
Also, note that all Challengers when painted to TTG had smoke deflectors and were oil fired.
Hope this helps!
Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore
