Need help with Orange ATSF Reefer Color UPDATE!

I did small touch up on my orange 57' SF mechnical reefer and found a very close match with Tamiya orange. I can get exact product number when I get home from work.

John,  Please don't beat your head against the wall looking for an exact match unless you are a collector only.  Prototype cars weathered which changed the colors of the car in various spots or if repaired and the repaired area painted, chances are there was not an exact color match.  Doesn't answer your question but gives two scenarios  for not having an exact match.  If you need a match, some big box lumber and hardware stores have a scanner in their paint department which provides a formula, they blend to that formula and you'll have a pint of paint which is as close as they can come to the item scanned for about four dollars.   John in Lansing, ILL

Superchiefer,

thanks for the Tamiya tip. If you can post the product # when you get a chance that would be great.

Rattler21,

Rest assured, no head beating here! Not my style. I have admired your various Santa Fe pieces that you have shown on the Forum. The paint matching at the Big Box stores was something I had forgotten about. Thank you for that suggestion. I just need such a small amount,  I'll see if the Tamiya lead pans out, then go from there.

Thanks again,

John

Reefer orange and reefer yellow are alway hard to find in the civilian world, it seems.

My solution to matching/nearly matching some colors has come in the form of inexpensive crafts acrylics, available at Hobby Lobby and similar stores. Wide choice of brands, colors, cheap, flat, water-based, stable. I have numerous bottles on hand, some years old. I'll often grab another $1.00 bottle of a color that I don't have as I walk by the display. You can mix them. Handy. I apply with a brush or toothpick; acrylics are pretty good about brush marks.

Note: these are inexpensive paints; pigment can be a bit thin. Multiple applications may be needed. They prefer a porous surface, but I use them everywhere that they do the job. A friend uses them to air brush his HO locos, though it usually takes more coats, he says. The color seems to stick; he decals the locos, then Dullcotes them.

D500, thank you for the tip on craft acrylics, I'll try that too.

Also, If anyone has an update on the Tamiya Orange product number,mentioned earlier, please share that info.

Thanks to all,

John

John Meyncke posted:

Also, If anyone has an update on the Tamiya Orange product number,mentioned earlier, please share that info.

Tamiya acrylic gloss orange, 3/4oz., is stock number 81006.  At Walthers, that would be 865-81006.

FWIW...  Another choice might be Reefer Orange, #70, from Tru-Color.  Again, Walthers stock would be 709-70.  If you go to Walthers website and search Tru-Color orange, you'll find more than 2 dozen 'oranges'.  Can't say the color 'chip' on your screen will be wholly accurate, but at least you've got choices....galore!

Walthers Tru-Color Orange Link

KD

Thank you KD, this "reefer orange" is really a tough one to get "close enough" to. Who woulda thought?

John

Tru-Color is my go to for accurate paints these days even if I still have over 200 bottles of Floquil railroad colors still.

If you have not gotten the color yet did you check out Minuteman Scale Models. They now carry the Scalecoat line of paints Weaver offered. I did see a reefer orange in their chart...............Paul

Jonathan and Paul, I will follow up with both your ideas. I was not familiar with Minuteman Scale. Tru- Color looks promising as well. Thank you very much.

I will be sure to update on the Forum and let everyone know how it turned out. I'm guessing others have had this situation too. Thanks everyone!

John

Who woulda thought?  Around 1995, something changed for yellows.  I spend a lot of effort trying to match really standard yellow and orange colors.  AN yellow and AN Orange are colors that originated in WWII for training aircraft.  Today you cannot buy a match.  It may have something to do with chromium.

Bob2, good observation.

Does anyone remember when house painters had a wire milk bottle rack with different universal tints in the back of their trucks? Navajo White?... no problem! Sunny Yellow?... no problem! Progress is not always progress....

John

And we have a winner!  Tru-Color flat reefer orange by a mile! Thanks to KD and Jonathan and to all others who made suggestions and ideas. I dont know if Tru- Color is a Forum Sponsor, but it should be....

John

John, patience paid off. That color looks spot on.......Paul

It's "super" close to the Lionel orange and "very" close to the K-line orange. I suspect the age difference between the cars plays some part in the variance, as well as different manufacturers.

John

Glad you're in the road to success, John.

Somewhat related...  About 45 years ago I was focused on HO trains, but didn't have a layout as yet.  Athearn offered a series of their 'blue box' kits for Santa Fe reefers in different slogans.  I bought several of them, built them, and put them in a row into a display cabinet on a wall in a spare bedroom.  The display cased was on the opposite wall of a south-facing window.  Items in the display never saw direct sunlight, but particularly in winter months the room was very bright.

Well, about 25 years later we moved.  As I removed the reefers from the display for packing I was amazed at the difference in the orange color on the two sides of each car!  The sides facing the window were mostly yellow with a hint of orange, those facing the back of the cabinet were orange with a hint of yellow!!  To see how faded the one side had become, I lined up the cars alternating their original orientation.  Holy moly!....what a difference!

So, if the paint doesn't have UV stabilizers...and most hobby paint doesn't...or a UV stabilized clearcoat, who knows what the original color would be?....and what difference does it make for contemporary matching anyway?

KD (Lucas Gudinov)

KD, having grown up under the Southern California sun, I'm not even the same color I used to be...😁 As always, thanks for your help on this,

John