Lionel Dreyfuss models

Interesting photo study.  I like the Dreyfuss, but mine has a PT-4 tender made from a wood block.

@NYC Fan posted:

I was told by Ryan Kunkle at The Big E that the factory was using a different paint pallet than the one Lionel was using to designate the color. He says in the future they will be getting samples first before production. We'll see?

I think that pretty much explains that they do not have any control over what comes out of China.

Skip, agreed, the Smithsonian Dreyfuss set the bar pretty high. That locomotive was built by Kohs & Co. From my understanding, and research, they went through the same steps as I did to find the paint formulas by back channeling DuPont’s archive, which is no easy task. My DuPont rep took on the challenge, and came up with the formula. I did not show him a sample, and I have a Smithsonian shell here. I did not want him to “know” the color we sought, rather, I wanted a blind litmus test to see what shade he came up with, but obviously with modern chemistry. Much to my delight, when I test sprayed the color, it was a dead on match to the Smithsonian. So to summarize, I went down the exact same path that Kohs & Co. went down to find the accurate formula………AMOF, I touched some spots on the damaged Smithsonian shell I have here, and the formula I have could 100% be used as perfect matching touch up paint for a Smithsonian…….just some cool history….

Pat

Gee, and I thought according to all the other self deflected experts on the forum that no one really knows what color the Dreyfuss was.....But that Lionel gray was acceptable.    Of course black trucks, black stanchions, odd side streamlining, black stripe etc. etc. etc. also correct.

- Crank

Those are very nice models. I did notice that the rear wheels of the trailing truck on the die-cast engine are smaller than on the other two examples, which look rather large by comparison. But I checked some drawings and it appears that the Hudsons had rear trailing truck wheels 51" in diameter (which is pretty big).

@romiller49 posted:

I think that pretty much explains that they do not have any control over what comes out of China.

100%

@B Smith posted:

Those are very nice models. I did notice that the rear wheels of the trailing truck on the die-cast engine are smaller than on the other two examples, which look rather large by comparison. But I checked some drawings and it appears that the Hudsons had rear trailing truck wheels 51" in diameter (which is pretty big).

Those other 2 models are brass, with actual tail beams, & ash pan detail. Thus, there’s room for more accurate wheels.

Pat

Yes, of course ... that's the explanation!  Thanks.

I had been looking at one of the Smithsonian models that had come up on eBay for a while, not sure if it is still out there or not. Regardless, I had to keep money on me instead of chasing that one down. Whole that is something that could be a possibility, there is of course the other possibility of one of the companies versions, but I'll leave it at that since we're talking about Lionel here.

Also, to reference what Skip said about samples, we've been there before already after the P.E. paint debacle. I believe we had seriously thought that after that it was something that was going forward. I guess on and off or guess not?

@NYC Fan posted:

I was told by Ryan Kunkle at The Big E that the factory was using a different paint pallet than the one Lionel was using to designate the color. He says in the future they will be getting samples first before production. We'll see?

Lots to unpack here. Most notably, why has this clearly obvious solution only now presented itself after a decade of color fumble on top of color fumble?

FWIW, I hit a wall and canceled my preorder despite waiting for a Legacy Dreyfuss for over a decade.

@romiller49 posted:

I think that pretty much explains that they do not have any control over what comes out of China.

I also told Ryan that we know they can get things right if they want to. If they paid as much attention to the Dreyfuss as they paid to Strasburg 90, they'd have exceeded expectations. To which he smiled and nodded in the affirmative.