Your so right. Just like they put out Amtrak cars in PH.6. I know a lot of Slamtrak engineers. Guess what? There is no PH.6 The current scheme is PH.5! Idiots!
Funny to me it looks like the difference between equipment that has been on the road for a year or two and stuff right out of the shops. But an original paint chip from the files of the car builders would prove whether or not the complainers have any validity. Even in the real world the cars did not match the chips. Between sunlight, fading pigments, detergents, desert sand blasting, bad repainting, general lighting, fading film stock, bleached postcards and lack of color standards among color monitors. No one cannot prove to me that any paint color is correct. Prove it guys 5% more magenta constitutes standard color deviation between paint batches. Thanks for posting the pictures LashedUp
The color of the COLA I can live with. Some of the others such as the recent orange Kodachrome paint just goes too far. That one was not even close.
Me too... I have always wanted to purchase the COLA set and really detail an ABBA set of UP E8/9's...I've hesitated a bit, because I haven't been able to see the set in person, and have been relying on opinions read in forums like these...the negative responses had turned me 'off' a bit about the color... Now that I've seen the above comparison pic...I'm DEFINITELY buying this set...!!!!!!!!! I enjoy the slight differences in color of equipment...it mimics real life... IMO, The color in these COLA cars is very well within the boundaries of what passes for UP's shades of yellow. Sincerely, Bruce
The only new-ish cars I know of that Kato has put out in Amtrak colors are the newer Phase IVb colors...which is the newest and current scheme, although many cars are still in phase V, alot are being painted in phase IVb, which looks pretty similar to phase IV...I think the blue is a little lighter in color... A lot of folks call this phase VI since it's the newest scheme...not sure if Kato calls it this or not...but it's accurate for Amtrak cars...maybe i'm missing something here... Sincerely, Bruce
I can understand the frustrations with paint colors but Kato is not the only one to get something a shade or two off. I had a E-7 in GN colors that reasonably matched the Concor cars. Wanted another to have a AA set. Problem was the manufacturer's paint didn't match the colors in the jars. So I spent some time mixing the paint and waiting for test strips to dry before getting a bottle that matched. Then when I went to decal I found the decals didn't match the manufacturer's lettering. So it was redecal the factory unit which was the easy path. So in a nutshell it seems that nobody is on the same page. Where the problem becomes glaring is when the whole consist is a mismatch in color. Stands out like the proverbial sore thumb. Now I can live with a color that is a slight shade off if the whole consist is that shade. And then it can be said that the effects of weather, time, and grime have done their thing. Big problem is that nobody seems to ever release a whole consist of what ran. There are always cars missing and it is when you go to fill in the blanks that there seems to be problems in getting matches in color. There are historical societies out there a plenty with a lot of info including paint formulas and paint chips that can be analysed. Folks need to consult them.
The cars your talking about are the Superliners. I'm talking about the Amtubes & Viewliners. I don't know how they came up with PH.4B classification, because the Amtrak wave next to the door is the PH.5 logo. They don't come into NYC. They're to high for the cat wires. I don't know to much about them.
Color matching can drive you nuts. I'm a Graphic Designer by trade so matching various colors is my bread and butter. One of my projects was to add a sticker to a box. The box and sticker should match. I had the PMS color (the way we match colors across the globe). Between three color printers and two computers my boss told me to just use the last version I had produced after messing with it for three days. Matching colors is dam near impossible, every little thing alters the color. AND NONE OF US SEE COLOR THE SAME WAY!
Here's some pics of Amfleet and viewliner cars in the newer phase IVb (or phase VI) scheme.... you can see the Amtrak logo on the blue stripe.... Here's the Kato versions of both cars... I'm thinking Kato is doing a pretty good job of providing as many recent Amtrak cars as possible in recent and current schemes...even to the point of producing 40th anniversary schemes. Sincerely, Bruce
Dirty locomotives seem to be pretty much standard on their special trains. It highlights their passenger cars.
Phase V refers to locomotives only (and some MHC cars)....this is the scheme with the big blue 'wave' running across the top of the Acela, Genesis, and a couple of others...outside of a few MHC cars painted with the 'wave'...there are no phase V passenger cars...they were all Phase IV until the advent of Phase IVb (or VI, as some people refer to it...)...again, the Phase IVb looks very similar to Phase IV in styling, but the blue stripe is lighter in color and hue-I think the car numbers may be in a different font, I'm not sure... The locomotive Phase V's are also broken 'up' into two classes-Phase V and Phase Vb (the phase V being the original 'wave' design, and Phase Vb being the current more 'simplified' wave design)-Genesis locos were original delivered in Phase III with a striping that 'faded' toward the rear of the unit...then a regular Phase III, then Phase IV, Phase V (the wave), now Phase Vb (the simplified wave) Here's the link to a pretty good site, well researched and documented http://www.trainweb.org/amtrakpix/locoshots/locoshots.html This guy has done some amazing research as well.... http://www.hebners.net/amtrak/index.html Believe it or not, wikipedia (which I detest), has actually gotten a phase timeline 'correct'... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amtrak_paint_schemes I'm thinking some confusion results between nomenclature...(that's why many refer to phase IVb as Phase VI-it would follow that the next phase should be the next number in line...!)...also, the fact that the locomotives and cars have their own timeline and nomenclature for 'schemes'... Kato has done a good job of reproducing (AND keeping up with!) the various schemes...one can actually model a pretty accurate current Amtrak train, between the superliners, metroliners, and viewliners...the way I understand it, a lot of folks were not completely content with the first version of Genesis locos painted in the phase V scheme-obviously they addressed that as newer releases appear different- but that's also strange in that the prototype colors have altered a little as well...almost like the tail wagging the dog! Sincerely, Bruce
