The actual color is called federal blue. Exact same color as on the flag and any other government sign. So if you wanted to do a fresh out of the shop paint job, that is the color name you need. True color has a conrail blue As well
Shane
for the prototype fans. Pantone data:
The hexadecimal color code #44638c is a shade of cyan-blue. In the RGB color model #44638c is comprised of 26.67% red, 38.82% green and 54.9% blue. In the HSL color space #44638c has a hue of 214° (degrees), 35% saturation and 41% lightness. This color has an approximate wavelength of 476.65 nm.
A pessimist sees a dark tunnel
An optimist sees the light at the end of the tunnel
A realist sees a frieght train
An engineer sees three idiots standing on the tracks stairing blankly in space
Airbrush: badger Conrail blue
Spray paint: rustolium French blue
(My Model Railroad, My Rules)
These are the opinions of an under 35 , from the east end of, and modeling, the same section of the Wheeling and Lake Erie railway. As well as a freelanced road (Austinville and Dynamite City railroad).
The scale coat CR blue is probably OK. The big model paint companies are pretty good at color matching. I found that Floquil (I still have a stash) B&M blue matched the Athearn factory B&M blue so well that I could patch out locomotive numbers and it matched perfectly. I would expect Scale coat to do as well.
Color matching can be tricky. You want to get a set of color chips, bits of cardboard painted with the paint under discussion. Assuming the maker of the color chip found real railroad paint, then the chip is a good indicator of what the paint ought to look like. Color slides, especially slides taken in the late afternoon, color printing processes, can all introduce noticable color changes. Lighting will do a serious color shift. Expecially bad are the old cool-white fluorescent tubes which were terribly weak on red, making all the red and brown colors look poorly.The big paint companies all have colorchips. You may have to ask around to find them, but they are out there.
This is probably not a problem with blue. All the fluorescents have a lot of blue in them. And Conrail operated later in time when there was color film that was better on color balance than Kodachrome which is all we had back in the old days. Kodachrome was red happy, it liked red and made anything colored red show up good and bright.
It might be worth your while to start a set of your own color chips. Cut a bunch of white cardboard chips, say 1 inch by 3/4 inch. Paint them with the various paints you use often. Glue them to a sheet of white typing paper, after you use your computer to print the name and number of each paint you care about on the white paper. Leave room for expansion.
David Starr www.newsnorthwoods.blogspot.com
I'd go for good enough, rather than best. A loco fresh out of the paint shop looks different in a year and different still in 5 years. Scalecoat is good paint. It won't match every pic you can find of Conrail locos.
https://www.railpictures.net/photo/753710/
https://www.railpictures.net/photo/753190/
https://www.railpictures.net/photo/752782/
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
Hey everyone,
I'm relatively new to painting models, and would like to paint a GE locomotive in CR colors. Does anyone recommend a specific brand's paint color (or color combination) to buy? I've been considering getting Scalecoat II CR blue but I don't exactly know if it's exact Conrail blue.
Thanks,
Joe