Red Bird Red

[NW Modeling List]

Years ago a friend of mine painted a pair of  GP9's for me.  IMHO he is one 
of the best modelers I have ever seen, not to mention his gift for painting. 
He also felt that CP maroon was a pretty close match in the daytime. I have 
seen a picture taken at night of what appears to be new out of the shop Red 
Birds. When the flash went off, the flake in the paint looked like a light 
show. If I am not mistaken and I'm sure someone will correct me 
(constructive criticism gladly accepted), just about the time that the Red 
Birds arrived wasn't the lead taken out of the paint thereby changing the 
shade of N&W Tuscan? Also, I believe a couple years ago someone on the forum 
gave the paint code which could be taken to an automotive paint shop and 
have the paint duplicated?
John T. Lisica, N&W in the Land of Enchantment
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "NW Modeling List" <nw-modeling-list at nwhs.org>
To: <nw-modeling-list at nwhs.org>
Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 5:50 PM
Subject: Red Bird Red



> If Social Security is said to be the third rail of politics (touch it and 

> you're dead!), then surely Tuscan Red is the third rail of the N&W 

> community!

>

> Speaking on behalf of the Modeling Committee as a whole, with individual 

> members having the freedom to jump in as they wish, this subject gets 

> flogged every year or so with no satisfactory conclusion because no 

> definitive data exists to resolve the debate. I believe there is one thing 

> on which N&W modelers agree: there is currently no commercial paint that 

> accurately matches "N&W Tuscan Red" when new at the factory. Of course, 

> which Tuscan Red are we talking about? That on passenger cars, that on the 

> J's and K's, that on the Red Birds, on the excursion cars, etc., etc.

>

> Many modelers have developed mixes of commercial paints which they believe 

> are close enough to their eyes to represent they saw or see in photos. 

> Those mixes have appeared here and in other publications. The best that 

> anyone has been able to say is that the mix looks close to them. (The 

> Scalecoat N&W Red more closely matches the excursion red than the 

> traditional N&W Tuscan Red.)

>

> My own observations were that the Red Birds were much redder than the cars 

> they pulled...which were older, somewhat faded, and weathered. So were 

> there different reds? Who knows for sure?

>

> Bill McClure

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