# Polly Scale has disappeared



## JackM (Jul 29, 2008)

I guess I didn't get the email on this. Talk about a rude awakening.........

My big project this winter is to apply paint, letter, power and sound card to the undec USAT SD70MAC that I bought at ECLSTS 2012. Major shock: the train store in the village (he understandably doesn't stock any G stuff, but I like to throw some business his way whenever I can) has NO MORE POLLY SCALE. He says Testor bought Floquil a few years ago (knew that) but about six months ago just dumped the line entirely (wha...?!?). My problem is that I absolutely MUST have my SD70 match the official company livery - Erie Lackawanna Yellow and Delaware & Hudson Avon Blue. Panic sets in.

The store guy was good enough to get online and try a number of his suppliers, with no luck, then resorts to eBay and finds someone with a few bottles of each. PHEW! I'll have enough to do the 70MAC. 

I check MLS at least once a day, how did I not know this?

JackM

Lest we get into the debate between acrylics and the bad-smelling paints, I'll just mention that my rolling stock lives outdoors 24/7 seven months of the year. The oldest of the custom paintjobs is four years old and still looks brand new. Trading headaches and dizziness for a microscopic loss in details works for me. And easier clean-up, too.


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Testor's decision was lamented by several when the news broke. The Demise of Floquil got the most anguish. 
You? A bad day I'spose 

John


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

Testors announced a few months back that they were discontinuing the entire Floquil line. You might consider *ScaleCoat II* railroad colors. Micro-Mark has also introduced *a new line of paints* to compensate for the loss of Floquil.


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## JackM (Jul 29, 2008)

Yes, but...... 

Who wants to take a chance that the next brand you buy is an exact match to the three locos you already painted? I know E/L Yellow is E/L Yellow, but IS it? 

The Scalecoat list has E/L Yellow but doesn't show D&H Avon Blue. The MicroMark website doesn't show any railroad-specific paints at all. 

JackM


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Some guys swaer by taking a painted sample to a paint store and have their computerised matching system make you a batch. Some stop with the sample size.... 

John


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## BigRedOne (Dec 13, 2012)

How does a prototype railway color-match? 

Equipment is acquired over time, from a variety of sources. Equipment is repaired and reconditioned, often not by the original manufacturer. Suppliers change the supply of paint, and paint itself evolves to be more durable, less expensive, safer, and more environmentally benign. 

If anything, an exact match looks more toy-like than some difference would.


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

Besides Jack... what choice do you have?


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## JackM (Jul 29, 2008)

If anything, an exact match looks more toy-like than some difference would.Huh? I'm sure there are a few CSX or BNSF engines that look a bit off, but how many? One or two out of a hundred? For me it would be one out of FOUR. Do the math. 


Choices? I don't give up that easily. I went to eBay and got the paint I need that will give my fourth engine a consistent look with the first three. (Management had already decided that CCRR would probably lease an SD70 from Norfolk Southern in 2015 if seasonal business requires some additional motive power.) I have many choices. After all, it's my railroad. 

JackM


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## David Leech (Dec 9, 2008)

Some years back while I was painting a set of Daylight cars, I found that there was a great difference between two bottles of either the Floquil red or orange, I don't remember which, but enough of a difference that I wasn't happy. 
So I phoned them up and was finally transferred to someone who was supposed to offer a reasonable answer as to why the difference. 
I had thought that like a paint store, they would have a formula so that there would be little difference if any between batches. 
The answer was something like "Well, we have samples for each colour, and we just keep adding pigment until we get it something like the right match"! 
Now, I have no idea how true this was, or maybe I was speaking to someone who really didn't know, but it made me think a little! 
From that point on, I made sure that I would gather all the paint that I needed for each colour used, and would mix them all together, and then re-bottle, so that all the cars for that set would look the same. 
One paint that I keep meaning to try is this one: 
http://www.trucolorpaint.com/ 
Anyone had experience with it here? 
They seem to offer a good range of railroad colours, including EL. 
Happy New Year, 
David Leech, Delta, Canada


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## Dick413 (Jan 7, 2008)

David it is like a lacquer base, thin with acetone or there thinner or lacquer thinner after painting ready for decals color match is good. 
Dick


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## armorsmith (Jun 1, 2008)

Let me take that a bit further. A number of years ago i worked for a company that had a special "company color" that we had mixed for each project (usually a 30 or 55 gallon drum depending on project size). Everything for that project would be painted with that batch of paint. Eventually the paint supplier informed us that he had issued a "color number" for our color so we could just order that number and always get the right color. 
The very next project we ordered a drum and painted the project. Part way through the installation process the installation contractor requested 5 gallons of touch up paint. We called the local distributor for our paint and had him mix a 5 gallon batch right off the manufacturers color number. When applied it was a TOTALLY DIFFERENT shade of color. We called the manufacturer and explained what had transpired. What we were told astounded us. First of all, ALL colors of paint start with a white base, and are 'tinted' from there. Each batch of white base CAN BE DIFFERENT depending on the quality of the titanium dioxide used in the mix. Even though the rest of the formula was followed to the letter, the finished color was slightly different (in our case very noticeably). 
If you are going to do a large enough job requiring more than one container of paint, David's recommendation above is spot on. Or, check the batch and lot number of the containers and make sure they are from the same parent. 
Bob C.


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## Reg Stocking (Sep 29, 2010)

All sorts of things can cause variations in color. Some years ago two privately owned ex-UP passenger cars came into Amtrak's West Oakland yard. Both had recent repaints in UP Armour yellow. One was blushing and the other was seasick. The owners conferred. The yellow wasn't the problem. One car had been painted with iron oxide primer and the other with green. 

And a collector of O-scale passenger equipment spent years sweating blood to exactly match touch-up paint with the original. Then one day he had an epiphany. He imagined the paint foreman in the West Oakland Yard refusing to release the original City of San Francisco for service because the local DuPont supplier had supplied touch-up paint for the trucks and undercarriage which didn't match the original. Can you imagine what the division superintendent would have had to say about that?


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## Paul Burch (Jan 2, 2008)

How about Model Flex? Might not solve Jack's problem but as far as I know the paint line is still available. Click at bottom of link for larger view. http://www.badgerairbrush.com/Modelflex_3.asp


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

I like these color options better, found in Paul's link... 

http://www.badgerairbrush.com/library/Paint Chart Images/FREAKflex.gif 

John


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