Kato SD40-2 ATSF color off

peteyPab Oct 23, 2021

  1. peteyPab

    peteyPab TrainBoard Member

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    Anyone own a newer run of the kato ATSF SD40-2 ? Not sure if it was only my batch, but the yellow color is off. Has more of an orange tint to it. A little disappointed in Kato's QC on this. The older Kato ATSF yellow is more accurate.

    I have a couple pics of the new new SD40-2 next to an older Kato Snoot SD40-2 and one with an Atlas GP30.
     

    Attached Files:

  2. Doug Gosha

    Doug Gosha TrainBoard Member

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    I'm sure the yellows varied in real life, too.

    Doug
     
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  3. Carl Sowell

    Carl Sowell TrainBoard Supporter

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    Well here are 3 SP/SF merger paint schemes on N scale locos. One Intermountain, one DIY paint job, and one KATO. Can you pick out the KATO?

    [​IMG]

    Look at them, in consist, not much difference in color ;
    [​IMG]

    As Doug suggested, there are most likely many variants between paint shops as well as paint batch mixtures.

    Be well,
    Carl
     
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  4. acptulsa

    acptulsa TrainBoard Member

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    Even if it didn't when applied (and it did), it did after several years of sun and sand. But I'm with petey. Never saw any Santa Fe engines in real life wearing that shade of butterscotch.
     
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  5. Massey

    Massey TrainBoard Member

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    As a former auto body painter I can tell you that there are tons of variants out there. Some car colors vary so much the paint formula is completely different than another. Usually they are a little more of this and or that but some are way different. I imagine that will follow true in model trains as well as the real deal. So the way I look at it is this… you have a canvas for heavy weathering which will hide the variant, you can complain to Kato and maybe they have a shell that is lighter, or your paint shop mis-mixed the color and are not going to repaint as it still looks good. Your railroad, your choice or story. Either way it looks good.

    I have a pair of Kato P42s that have a really light blue top, when most of the others are a dark blue. I thought this to be odd, but some research into the prototype of this loco, and I found they did have a different color blue for a short period of their life. They are still on the rails today, and have since been repainted with the dark blue, but they were delivered to Amtrak with the wrong blue on their tops.
     
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  6. RBrodzinsky

    RBrodzinsky November 18, 2022 Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter In Memoriam

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    This thread reminds of the kerfuffle over the UP Armor Yellow when Kato released the CoLA sets
     
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  7. tehachapifan

    tehachapifan TrainBoard Member

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    I have one of the most recent SD40-2 releases and, yes, the ATSF yellow is noticeably different from the yellow on an early "snoot" SD40-2 and several other earlier Kato units. That said, it matches my Kato ATSF SDP40F perfectly and my Kato ATSF SD40 (newer release?) pretty darn close, so I plan on running those together regularly.

    I have a strong hunch that color variations arise from manufacturers referencing photos for color samples. I'm pretty convinced this happens with BNSF orange a lot. You can see how this can happen if you go to a site with several pics of the same unit. One pic shows the orange as a bright Kato-like orange and another photo it is totally dark like on at least some of Atlas' 8-40BW's. But it's not just the brightness of the orange but the actual orange color itself. It so different in some cases it's hard to believe it's the same unit/paint job. I'm not talking about fading here, although that can also be a factor. I'm convinced that different film types can make BNSF orange (and also the yellow striping/lettering) look entirely different.
     
    Last edited: Oct 24, 2021
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  8. acptulsa

    acptulsa TrainBoard Member

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    Yes, with so much manufactured in the Orient I'm sure that's true. Yes, different films and different digital cameras record colors differently. So do our eyes, as the nature of sunlight changes. Many roster type shots taken when the sun is low lean orange. But they're overexposed enough that the sky looks brighter than it is off to the east, and the viewer doesn't necessarily take the setting sun into account.
     
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  9. peteyPab

    peteyPab TrainBoard Member

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    IMG_3381.JPG

    Thanks for all the feed back. I do appreciate real world variability. I'll more than likely try to weather out the butterscotch scheme. It's more prominent in person than in photos. The other Kato and Atlas units I have are all different engines, but do have a relatively close proximity yellow tint to each other. Some a little duller and some brighter. (They look great). Again difficult to see in photos.

    My dash-8's body has a lighter blue, but it didn't seem to distract and it's a BNSF patch job....which would be a more believable scenario for a re-paint effort after the BNSF merger.

    I'm not the OCD type.. I've NEVER sat down once and compared the # of railing posts, decals, accuracy of trucks, placement of air horn, snow plow, missing details, etc... against the real engine. Just a little too orange and distracting for my taste. It instantly popped out for me. If the customer wants to paint the engine orange then let the customer do it and not Kato. ... Besides the orange tint it's a very nicely detailed engine.
     
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  10. in2tech

    in2tech TrainBoard Member

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    Maybe it's the Halloween paint scheme :) Just saying! It looks Orange to me in the photo. Anyway to return it. Or you will fix it yourself! I don't have that talent so if it bothered me, it would go back! The Halloween thing was just a joke :)
     
  11. acptulsa

    acptulsa TrainBoard Member

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    I think that'll work well.
     
  12. Doug Gosha

    Doug Gosha TrainBoard Member

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    I don't like the yellow bonnet paint scheme, anyway.

    :D

    Doug
     
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  13. DCESharkman

    DCESharkman TrainBoard Member

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    Too bad we do not have the Atlas site available, so I will have to repeat this again.
    I had a great uncle who ran one of the paint shops for the Baltimore and Ohio RR. He kept records of every purchase of paint. Took note on how the color may have been a bit off, and what they tried to to do to fix it. Even in some cases when they ran short. in his ledger they annotated getting paint from the local automotive supply in colors that were reasonably close. Even over time and exposure not all colors retained their specific color. It was get it painted and on the tracks. When I told him about the argument between modelers, he just laughed and said "how silly!"
     
  14. acptulsa

    acptulsa TrainBoard Member

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    No doubt. But I still never saw a Santa Fe engine in real life that leaned that far toward butterscotch. I'm sure there was a Yellow Cab Co. in enough of the cities on its line that they could get Chrome Yellow when they needed it.
     
  15. Doug Gosha

    Doug Gosha TrainBoard Member

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    I guess the question that is legitimate is why a model company, which had used a certain color in the past, would not use the same formula with subsequent models? Why change it? Pretty sloppy.

    Doug
     
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  16. tehachapifan

    tehachapifan TrainBoard Member

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    I have an Atlas N 8-40B in ATSF paint and, like peteyPab, one in ATSF/BNSF paint/patch. Both the yellow and the blue are vastly different between models (with the blue on the patch unit almost having a purple tone to it as in the above photo). Interestingly, the colors on the ATSF unit could maybe pass for being somewhat faded with the BNSF patch unit looking perhaps newly-painted. But, for that to make the most sense, I would think it should probably be the other way around.
     
  17. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    The color discussion has gone on for years now, in fact as long as there have been modelers and railfans. One ought to bring the discussion up about NP's NCL, either scheme, that has been going on since the 50's and 60's. and then run for cover. And try matching GN EB colors between manufacturers. The safest bet is the buy everything from one manufacturer and what you cannot get buy undec and match the colors yourself.
     
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