I am going to take a different direcition on the colors. I have found some that are pretty close, but they are not quite right. I will publish (summarize) the ones that are the closest available in cans ready to spray. To get the Hunter green a little darker and to get the "Maroon" better dialed in and to get a little green the the CK and Gurley boilers, I am going to blend some custom colors at Home depot in water base. I will thin them down and air brush the models. I should be able to publish the formula that we come up with if anyone out there is so incline to dulpicate the process.

I don't know why Disney would want to keep DRR paint color information secret. As far as I know, they don't. Others here may know better about these things, but I can't see how it would hurt to simply ask the responsible party. Given your efforts and intentions, their answer may surprise us.

If it turns out the response is negative, there may be another approach. If, somehow, one could get actual DRR paint chips, applied to a base identical to the actual DRR locomotive or car, there are places which can computer match colors. If one of those places sells the same type of Dupont paint Disney uses, well, .

Roy, as I'v mentioned, Disney uses custom-blended DuPont Imron colors which are proprietary. They do keep the color numbers "secret," although I'm sure you could find someone who knows what some of the color numbers are--you know, folks who've maybe worked on the engines, and found this information interesting enough to jot down (FWIW, I didn't). Then, you could go to DuPont, and request a pint of that particular paint. And DuPont would then kindly ask you for your Disney authorization before they canned the paint. At which point, you would sheepishly have to admit that you didn't have any such authorization, and simply walk away.

So, I'm not really sure how useful the DuPont number would be.

The simple fact is, Dave is approaching this in the best way possible--checking actual samples of available paints against the real thing. And due to his efforts, we're going to have colors that--while perhaps not the exact DuPont Imron color--will be so close as to be indistinguishable from the "real thing."

II am done with spray cans. It has yielded some good results, but the more I get involved in this, the more determined I am to get these right. I hade been taking swatches of spray paints to the Park. This last time, I took a fan deck and got closer. I have blended some latex house paint from Home Depot and made a few tweaks. I am now preparing some "draw downs" to carry to the park to see how close the tweak is. A good friend who is an experienced painter and artist told me that the latex could be applied with an air brush and get satisfactory results. I could not get it to work well. Yes I did strain the paint and yes I did thin it with water and alcohol and yes I did mind the temperature and humidity, but alas. it still looked crummy. Once the "draw downs" have received executive approval, (from me) I will send them to a place called Cardinal Industrial Finishes and they will produce the same color in a paint that will be more appropriate for air brush on styrene. Here are the cans of paint. Tomorrow in the sunlight, I will show how different these colors are from the spray can finalists.
[img]http://i390.photobucket.com/albums/oo345/CPTRR/Gurley-Kimball/Christmaspicture005.jpg[/img]

GO DAVE!! GO DAVE!! GO DAVE!! GO DAVE!! GO DAVE!! GO DAVE!! GO DAVE!! GO DAVE!! GO DAVE!! GO DAVE!! GO DAVE!! GO DAVE!! GO DAVE!! GO DAVE!! GO DAVE!! GO DAVE!! GO DAVE!! GO DAVE!! GO DAVE!! GO DAVE!! GO DAVE!! GO DAVE!! GO DAVE!! GO DAVE!! GO DAVE!! GO DAVE!! GO DAVE!! GO DAVE!! GO DAVE!! GO DAVE!! GO DAVE!! GO DAVE!! GO DAVE!! GO DAVE!! GO DAVE!! GO DAVE!! GO DAVE!! GO DAVE!! GO DAVE!! GO DAVE!! GO DAVE!! GO DAVE!!

I'm very grateful for Dave's efforts, and I'm not criticizing anyone's approach.


Who, at Disney, has authority to grant permission to use the official DRR colors? And, has he/she actually been asked?


Has anyone actually tried this?

Alternately, what if you went to a DuPont dealer with actual DRR paint chips to be matched, saying nothing about the chip's source, or your intended use? No one would be the wiser, since you're not asking for a proprietary color number.

Thanks so much, for all your great work!

Question: will this Cardinal paint be enamel, acrylic, lacquer, or what? And, can you specify UV resistance and other relevant factors, for outdoor use?

Just personally, I'd prefer the final formula to set up very hard, without having to be baked-on.

[quote="Roy]Question: will this Cardinal paint be enamel, acrylic, lacquer, or what? And, can you specify UV resistance and other relevant factors, for outdoor use?

Just personally, I'd prefer the final formula to set up very hard, without having to be baked-on.[/quote]


I heard about Cardinal from the staff at Frazee paints. They told me that Cardinal would put whatever color you wanted in a spray can. After a little Internet searching, I found them and spoke to an operator this afternoon. They will put any kind of paint in spray can for you. Only problem is there is a 24 can minimum order. Alternately they will custom mix any color of any paint and sell it by the quart or gallon (not in a spray can). To pick the right kind of paint, I will have to call back on Monday and speak to a technician. I will describe the properties that I would like; high gloss, quick dry, air brush friendly, hard surface, metallic fleck for boilers, styrene compatible etc. I imagine that it will be a lacquer. We'll see on Monday. The price per quart ($48.00) is almost the same as the price per gallon ($50.00) Maybe I should get a gallon of each so if anyone wants to send a little jar, I could send out small quantities.

Here are the spray can finalists next to the tweaked colors from the Behr fan deck mixed in gloss latex and painted on drawn down cards. The draw downs have not been carried to the Park yet, but I know that they are closer.

All of the "maroon" sprays were ultimately rejected for one reason or another. This spray is Dupli-Color Claret Red. It has a very nice metallic fleck for the Marsh boiler. Only problem will be that the cab and all "maroon" trims will have the same metallic fleck.

[img]http://i390.photobucket.com/albums/oo345/CPTRR/Gurley-Kimball/Gurley087.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i390.photobucket.com/albums/oo345/CPTRR/Gurley-Kimball/Gurley088.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i390.photobucket.com/albums/oo345/CPTRR/Gurley-Kimball/Gurley089.jpg[/img]
This Holliday/Gurley boiler color has the draw down card wrapped around the tube close to my hand. Sorry for the lack of focus.
[img]http://i390.photobucket.com/albums/oo345/CPTRR/Gurley-Kimball/Gurley086.jpg[/img]

Somewhere on this board, Steve and I talked briefly about Russia Iron. Going back at least to the days of the Delton C-16, model boilers have been painted with metal flake(or fleck, as you say) to represent Russia Iron. This is TOTALLY BOGUS. People seem to be confusing metallic with metal flake.

As for the DRR engines, I gather their boilers are actually painted. Is the finish metallic, metal flake, or simply high-gloss?