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Your best bet is to compare photos of the locomotive you wi***o model against the different reditions of black. A D9-44CW fresh from the paint booth will probably require a glossy un-weathered black whereas a weatherbeaten GP38 may demand something lighter and washed out. Or start with the same untainted black and use weathering to accentuate the differences in weathering. <br /> <br />The problem with an unmodified pure black is that under typical room lighting, the locomotive's subtle details vanish. It may be better to start with something more like a charcoal grey or slightly weathered black (maybe a proportional mix of pure black and grimy black) to give some subtle lightening to the base color (or absence thereof). This will prevent the locomotive from looking like a black hole. <br /> <br />I recall some articles by Jim Six on modelling PC GP38-2's and Southern GP50's that illustrated masterful renditions of black locomotives. If you can find them or just the photos, they would speak louder than my rambling.
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