Accucraft Caledonia in Blue

[My45G]

Does anyone know what shade of blue Accucraft painted their IoM Caledonia loco? I asked Accucraft but they didn't know and couldn't provide a RAL number or other colour table. Anyone got a colour spectrometer? Is there a smart phone App? there seems to be one for anything these days.

Has anyone tried to touch up the paintwork on this loco or is it a total respray. The cost of doing so might not be worth it given the secondhand value of this loco.

 

[Fezwig]

Hi, I have one, the real Caledonia that was painted in blue in the early 2000's was painted Great Eastern Blue, not sure who does this try precision paints

Ultramarine​

Precision Paints Great Eastern Railway Colours

Precision Paints Great Eastern Railway Colours

www.phoenix-paints.co.uk

 

[My45G]

Hi, I have one, the real Caledonia that was painted in blue in the early 2000's was painted Great Eastern Blue, not sure who does this try precision paints

Ultramarine​

Precision Paints Great Eastern Railway Colours

Precision Paints Great Eastern Railway Colours

www.phoenix-paints.co.uk

I looked at this, but it doesn't match

 

[dunnyrail]

I looked at this, but it doesn't match

Not sure how you could tell from a picture, colors are very subjective. People pay loads of money for Computer Screens to get these things right. The only real way is to test the paint, yes this can be expensive and waste paint but you can truly only tell with a dried test sample, but not on your treasured loco. I truly get your dilemma.

 

[tac foley]

One other aspect to painting a model is that colours do NOT scale well in daylight/sunlight. The skill in repainting a cherished model is clearly shown by the experts who carry out such work for quite a lot of money.

Back when I was building 00 scale GWR and LMS steam models for my friends, I was very aware that the usual GWR so-called Brunswick Green is nothing of the sort when applied to a small model usually looked at under domestic lighting. As for LMS Crimson Lake, that could vary from a simple catastrophe to an unearthly shade that did not bear comparison.

Buy the book ' How [not] to paint your model locomotive' and learn a lot - getting it done professionally WILL be expensive, but in the long run, better.

Most larger DIY stores have a colour spectrometer for colour matching - remember the TV advertisement from a few years back? Where the guy or gal snipped a bit of somebody's clothing on the bus to take to get matched?

 

[maxi-model]

Never mind matching the clour, you also have to match the finish. That in itself can alter the final appearance of the colour applied, as will the primer colour.. Tac's point about the effects of rescaling on colour is valid and a well known phenomenon. As is Jon's point about referencing a colour by means of viewing on various media - Never mind screen calibration, any method of recording, transmitting and reproducing a colour wll be affected by the colour "gamut" of that device(s) and how many processes an image has gone through by the time you view it. That is why most model makers generally agree on a colour standard for any prototypical livery. Max

 

[Paul M]

But if you look at the photos, before the 50's most locos were shades of black white and grey

 

[DafyddElvy]

If you take it to B&Q they have a gadget which they place on the panel you are trying to colour match.

 

[David1226]

If you take it to B&Q they have a gadget which they place on the panel you are trying to colour match.

The problem with that is that they would not be able to produce a paint suitable for application to models, and, I suspect the machine would not produce an exact match, only the closest match to that which the machine can formulate.

David

 

[DafyddElvy]

The problem with that is that they would not be able to produce a paint suitable for application to models, and, I suspect the machine would not produce an exact match, only the closest match to that which the machine can formulate.

David

I haven't tried their colour machine with enamel paint, but it worked fine with emulsion, the young lass did say an LBSCR Terrier was the most unusual thing she had been asked to do a colour match on.

 

[maxi-model]

Not so long ago I revisited an automotive paint supplier I used in Milton Keynes 20 years ago, with a view to getting a match to the WHR modern coach red. Back then, they had been able to provide a colour matched paint, from a sample, for an export job I was doing for a customer in the US of my model making business. At that time they could do it, supplied in a premixed cellulose 500 ml rattle can, at a reasonable price. Nowadays they want to charge the earth, so you need to buy a fair quantity to make it financially viable. I had to resort to an approximation from the Halfords touch up range of sprays. Max

 

[Rhos Helyg Loco Works]

... GWR so-called Brunswick Green ...

Give Bronze Green a try. Brunswick was the shade used by BR.

 

[tac foley]

If you take it to B&Q they have a gadget which they place on the panel you are trying to colour match.

See post #5...

'Most larger DIY stores have a colour spectrometer for colour matching - remember the TV advertisement from a few years back? Where the guy or gal snipped a bit of somebody's clothing on the bus to take to get matched?'

 

[tac foley]

Give Bronze Green a try. Brunswick was the shade used by BR.

That's exactly what I did do, around 40 years ago........................................

 

[tac foley]

I haven't tried their colour machine with enamel paint, but it worked fine with emulsion, the young lass did say an LBSCR Terrier was the most unusual thing she had been asked to do a colour match on.

I bet it was a b*gger getting it through the doors, too.

 

[Rhinochugger]

If you take it to B&Q they have a gadget which they place on the panel you are trying to colour match.

Yeah, that can be exciting - not railway related but we wanted to paint our back door the same colour as the cladding boards (pre-coloured eternit)

So we went off to the local paint supplier with a sample of the board, and he matched the colour - didn't look the same at all.

In the end, he forced the bluey element of the blue/grey cladding by adding more of something in the mix, and it's a hell of a lot better.

 

[PhilP]

It would have blown the young-ladies mind, if you had been trying to match 'improved green'!

But when did we slip from Caledonian Blue, to the 40-shades?

PhilP

 

[Jazavalley]

Does anyone know what shade of blue Accucraft painted their IoM Caledonia loco? I asked Accucraft but they didn't know and couldn't provide a RAL number or other colour table. Anyone got a colour spectrometer? Is there a smart phone App? there seems to be one for anything these days.

Has anyone tried to touch up the paintwork on this loco or is it a total respray. The cost of doing so might not be worth it given the secondhand value of this loco.

Check out Phoenix also

 

[tac foley]

Here is THE Man! As with most things related to our hobby, a look at the 16mm Association magazine will usually produce results.....if you are not already a member, then I 100% recommend that you remedy that state of affairs 'toot sweet.'

Autocolours - quote 'looking for the PERFECT match for your locomotive or wagon? We can do this, at a cost-effective rate'

Call us now on 01745-344457

Unit 8 -9 Parc Fforddlas, Ffordlas, Rhyl LL18 2GD

info@auto-colours.co.uk www.auto-colours.co.uk

 

[Paradise]

I've worked with colour analysis algorithms and it is not a simple thing to do. In fact, no one has worked out a formula to do this perfectly due to the human eye and it's sensitivity to different colours of the light spectrum among other things.
Large companies that work in this field who develop colour spectrometers, I suspect have large look up tables of real world results along with closely guarded proprietary algorithms to find a close match. Therefore don't expect these machines to be perfect. A well trained eye will often do a lot better with subsequent tests along side the item to be matched. The other problem is that most stores are mixing up larger quantities for automotive use etc. The smaller the batch, the less accurate the mix will be.