Have some OTTX flatcars I'm finally getting around to working on.Painted the deck light grey with a brown wash (seems to match some images I found on RR pictures archive), but the channels (both in the middle of the deck, and on the car side) are a bit less clear.Looks like the channels are some combination of rust red/brown and grease black, but I'm not certain (top down images are a bit hard to find in the first place, and usually there's a load in the way, which is good for TTX but not so much for modeling).Where the channels originally painted yellow like the car body (which is what the model come from right out of the box) and just weathered over the decades (in which case I'd use a rusty wash with some black wash for the bottom), or were the (middle channels at least) simply primer red (in which case I'd paint it primer red, and add a brown/black wash)?Also, the chains (which universally seem rust-red in the archive images), when the flatcar is unloaded do they just lie in the channels (hopefully, because the model chains are stiff one piece moldings and they really don't bend)?Thanks
I figure the cars are spray painted yellow; so, at the time of painting, everything that's on the car becomes yellow. The channels are probably on the car at that time. My only wonderment is whether the decking and the chains are on then, or applied later. If it was done later, it would make getting at the guts of the car easier for the painters.
It's tough finding color shots of brand new TTX cars.
Ed
What channels are you referring to? Those on the side of the car to which the chains attach appear to have been painted the car color in the following picture link: http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1349668
I suspect that you can paint the center of car channels the car color, and then go over them heavily with whatever you use for weathering to get that dark look. Who's to say if your final paint job is totally prototypical or not? I presume you don't have any TTX employees that you are going to invite over.