Hi guys !!
Our "Collector Color" paint line was taken from Brand new 'OLD STOCK' Lionel pieces that the Shaw brothers let me borrow from the Madison Hardware collection. I went to Toy Fair one year after I had bought the old Estes Hobbies line of spray paint called 'Collector Color'. The lacquer paint was not a really good match, so I contacted Lou Shaw on one of my trips to Madison Hardware and made arrangements to look over some "NEW, BOXED' items that the brothers had in some rooms above the store. Lou allowed me to borrow a lot of roofs, a gun metal #385 tender floor,( which I still have)., and quite a few 'odds & ends to get the other colors. I took the time to have the colors matched, sprayed on a glossy color sheet and tucked away for future match ups if questions arose about the colors we produced. Years later, we converted to Enamel paint, as our supplier would not offer the lacquer any longer. This is when we went to 1/2 pint cans, and used the glossy color sheets for matches. We have not been able to find an aerosol packer for less than 500 cans of a color. I am very confident of our colors matching Lionel's. If exposed to the air, the colors will darken. If exposed to incandescent lighting, they can very well lighten also. We originally had 35 colors, and we are now pushing 80 some as of this week. Thank you for your use of our paint and MEW wheels & parts. The Old Man 
