I have some Genesis and Broadway F-7A and B units that I'd like to repaint to later B&O schemes. I'm not very fond of the "Sunburst" scheme.
This particular, short-lived scheme shown in the photo is attractive to me but I have not found any photos of it applied to anything other than E-8s. I seldom see it offered in models also.
Was it ever used on anything besides E units?
[edit] As long as I have your attention, can anyone suggest the blue and gray colors of Scalecoat II paint for the above scheme?
Thanks, Ed
When C&O took control of B&O, the old B&O "Bando" Royal blue was retired in favor of C&O Enchantment Blue. I believe the gray and yellow used on these later repaints was also from C&O's pallette. Bando was a bit brighter; Enchantment was darker and had a bit of a purple cast to it. As far as I know, B&O cab units (both freight and passenger) that had their B&O striped schemes replaced, were repainted into Enchantment at the same time. I have imperfect color vision, so I have to rely on the judgment of others on these matters. The sunburst was introduced with the freight GP30's in 1962 and was used in several variations on a number of earlier cab and hood unit repaints, but never was very popular and was soon replaced by the large late version of the Kuehler herald, as seen on 1456 in your picture. Some of the earlier E unit repaints featured yellow pilots like the yellow pilots seen on C&O E units, but I don't recall seeing a yellow pilot on a freight unit. I believe the gray stripe on the flanks came later, and I wouldn't guarantee that all E units got that stripe. I never saw the gray stripe on a freight unit.
There were lots of variations. The placement of the Kuehler herald might be high or low. Some units were ex-C&O, and had Mars lights. As always, your best bet is to find dated photos and use those as your guide.
I'm told most commercial versions of Enchantment Blue are acceptably close, but I'm not so sure about the gray or yellow. Those colors got weathered pretty quickly, so close may be good enough. I've heard of folks using D&H gray or E-L gray with good results. As for the yellow (if you choose to use it), I suspect Reefer yellow or something like it would be acceptable. You'd want to weather the yellow anyway, so once again, close may be good enough.
Since the units in question are F units, your task is much easier. The gray and yellow can be ignored. Use Enchantment Blue. The old, old Atlas FP7A unit had the freight version of this scheme, although I believe the shade was closer to Royal Blue than to the correct Enchantment Blue. There may have been other commercial models painted like this, as well.
The book Blue Diesels and Black Diamonds, by John Henderson (H&M Productions, Flushing, NY, 11358, Copyright 1991) has color photos of all of these variations.
Tom
(edit) Note that the second unit in your photo appears to be a C&O unit, in C&O paint.
Thanks for your very informative reply, Tom.
You're spot-on about the variations being all over the map, just like B&O cabooses, the paint and lettering guide was just that, a guide. I hear that individual shops, even paint crews, would have their own idea, within corporate bounds, of herald placement and lettering style.
So it looks like the painting arrangement shown in the photo is strictly a passenger style. My Capitol is in the 1955 era so too early for that. As far as the Fs I'll have to re-think that scenario and maybe choose to model a later F when the Enchantment blue was fading away and the old Royal blue/gray was bleeding through.
There's many instances of car-body panels being replaced and slapped with whatever "blue" was handy, or even simply primer!
Not very pretty:
http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/bo/bo4487ggC.jpg
http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/bo/bo4517goc.jpg
http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/bo/bo4531gea.jpg
I always tended to be one of those "idealist" modelers where, in my little basement world, all of my equipment was maintained to the highest standards. As the photos show, reality was an entirely different animal!
Thank you, again, Ed