romiller49 posted:Wow, I just noticed that the wheel flanges are way oversized compared to the real thing. That’s it for me. I’m done.
One thing I hadn't noticed until looking through a book recently that had photos of scale models from Lionel, Atlas, and MTH Premier - the handrails and piping detail on Lionel scale products are never scale. It became so obvious when looking at photos of diesel engines in the book I was reading. The Atlas and MTH locomotives looked "right." The Lionels generally did too - until you looked at them in comparison to the others, at which point these details made them look sort of toyish. Even the photos in the post above that show the front of the real locomotive and the model illustrate this. The handrails (wires) are like 2x thicker than the real thing. The mind's eye may not pick up on the specific details, but still knows when something looks "off."
No comment on the paint color. For me, I don't trust old photos or film for accurate color. Old film color - even in documentaries - is more like a painting than real. Put a new color photo next to any color photo from the 1950s and it's so obvious from the colors which is new and old. I'm no expert on any of this, so feel free to laugh at my non-educated opinion on color.