Need Help With Prototype Paint Scheme on 50' Mech Reefers

[Kisatchie]

I have a bunch of Atlas 50' mechanical reefers that are painted yellow with brown roofs and ends. Are there any prototype paint schemes that use those colors? I found a Pacific Fruit Express 50' reefer B&W photo with yellow sides and dark ends (not dark enough to be black), but I can't see any of the roof:

http://canadianfreightcargallery.ca/cgi-bin/image.pl?i=pfe301209&o=pfe

Thanks for any help.


Hmm... Kiz hopes the
sides are yellow in the
photo...

[Spikre]

 
  Yellow with brown roofs ?
  try FGE or ART.
  but some lease cars could also have that color combo.
  PFE would be Orange with Silver roofs and black ends generally.
  one of the Reefer books would be a good start.
   Spikre
     

[Kisatchie]

  Yellow with brown roofs ?
  try FGE or ART.
  but some lease cars could also have that color combo.
  PFE would be Orange with Silver roofs and black ends generally.
  one of the Reefer books would be a good start....

I've been looking at ART reefers, but it seems their 40' reefers are yellow and the 50' reefers are orange so far.
FGE reefers I've found have silver roofs (when visible).

Poor me... looks like I'll be repainting 106 reefers next year when I get an airbrush. Train budget is accounted for this year.

Edit... On the other hand, I'll just decal the cars for my Kisatchie, Gulf & Northern refrigerator express.


Hmm... Kiz's train budget
is accounted for to 2025...

[Spades]

If you want to paint them as PFE reefers try: http://modelingthesp.com/Rolling_Stock/Reefers_I.html 

View the section labelled paint.

[nkalanaga]

Many of the WFEX reefers had red/brown ends.

[sirenwerks]

It gets harder, he needs a prototype that, besides brown roof/ends, he needs cars that have insulated doors, not hinged.

[Spikre]

 
   outside of Experimental 50' Mechanical reefers what ones had Hinged Doors ?
   whether Smooth or reversed,can only recall Plug Doors {Flush doors in RRese}
   on any Mechanical reefers except some rebuilds from Ice cars.
        Spikre
         

[sirenwerks]

My comment was a glib response to Nick's reference to brown end/roof WFE cars - which were all ice reefers, with hinged doors.  Get it?  Maybe not.

[nkalanaga]

sirenwerks:  Most of the WFEX mechanical reefers had brown ends when the GN owned it.  I have no idea what color the roof was, but the pictures look like a light color, so probably yellow or silver.

Once the BN started repainting the cars with their herald the ends were usually the same color as the sides, but a few of the yellow cars did get brown ends.

[Spikre]

 
  what Reefer doors weren't Insulated ?
  whether swing doors or flush plug doors,all had differing
  amounts of Insulation.
   and the title of the thread is 50' Mechanical reefers,so am
  staying on topic there.
    FGE did have Mechanicals with Brown ends,later Black ends.
  the roofs are trickier.
  and not as easy to find good roof views.
      Spikre
         

[nkalanaga]

Roof views of most freight cars are scarce.  On a reefer I would assume, just for practical reasons, that they would be either the body color, or silver/white.  Silver, or bare metal, seems to have been most common in the early years, with white becoming more common in the 70s.  On the other hand, dirty white can look like galvanized steel, so it's hard to tell.

A dark roof would collect heat, and defeat the purpose of a reefer, so it would seem that companies would avoid them.  But there were probably exceptions, as with most everything.