Question about metal colors

[Anonymous]

You know, when you are outside, on a sunny day, and you see a man-hole cover, or a sewer grate.....

What color IS that? I can't tell. Looks like some kind of mutant dark-dark purple with some rust color thrown in. Almost a bluish.

When I do some city scenery, I know I want those things to look right.

Anybody have any ideas?

Rob

[orsonroy]

Look to the military modelers to get metallic colors right. There are several different versions of "gunmetal" that could work for manhole covers. I haven't gotten that far yet, but I'd probably just use dark grey as a base, with a wash of oily black and a drybrushing of burnt sienna.

[ndbprr]

Manhole covers are cast iron or steel. They are painted black at the factory. If I were going to have one on a rialroad I think I would paint it rail brown and then add very thin layers of black until it gave a blackish hue to it