Prototype PFE Reefer paint color

[Anonymous]

I am modeling some PFE reefers, both wood side and steel, in the 1950's era. I am now ready to paint the car sides. I have researched the color in various books and the closest I have come up with is a color #8,"yellow orange" as listed in the book Pacific Fruit Express, authored by Thompson, Church and Jones. Does anyone know of a match to this color using a commercially available modeling paint, or possibly a mix of several of these paints.

I would appreciate any info you can give me...

[wp8thsub]

I've modeled a number of PFE mechanical cars from the 1970s - 80s era. I used Scalecoat Reefer Orange, sometimes with a little white added, sometimes with a little SP Daylight Orange. Under typical layout lighting, the straight Reefer Orange was a good match for the mechanical cars, which often had a good deal of dark weathering from the refrigeration unit exhausts to add atop the basic color. For a lighter color you might want to look at Polly Scale Milwaukee Orange. I have the PFE book with the paint chips but didn't see the "yellow orange" with a quick flip through, only the four chips in the very back. If I know what page to look at maybe I check it out and offer a better idea.

[Anonymous]

I once wound up at a seminar/slide show where this topic was discussed. The presenter put up slide after slide of blocks of PFE cars in trains from the late 40's through mid 50's, and hardly a pair of them in any of the blocks/trains were the same shade of orange! The presenter concluded (fairly, I'd say, based on his slides, which were NOT faded) that you have incredible latitude in choosing a shade of orange for these cars. His advice was try to find a color photo of the specific car if you are a purist. Then, of course, he showed several slides of the same car at different times that had--you guessed it--different shades of orange!

If it's any consolation to you, I for one have no immediate plans to get out the paint bloodhounds, track you down and critique the colors on your model reefers.[(-D]

Live a little. Paint the cars the way you think is correct and dare them to prove you wrong!

Remember, it's a hobby--have a great time![:D]

And......a big welcome to the forums[#welcome]. Lots of nice, helpful people here. Just ignore the few that aren't.

[Anonymous]

Many thanks for your helpful suggestions. I have the PFE book by Thompson, Church, and Jones, I refered to earlier, but until you mentioned it, I didn't realize that it contained colored paint chips in back (pp. 414). As you may know, the rest of the book shows some great detailed photos of the cars from various eras, but all the photos are in black and white. Per your suggestions, my best course of action may be to try and match the paint chip color either with a straight commercial color, or a mix. Then weather the cars and not worry further.....
Many thanks again... Gary