With all this talk of 20th century limited colors recently, I thought I'd give my own thoughts on the matter. I do not want this to devolve into harsh criticisms of the newest Lionel offering as that has already been done and we've seen what happened to that forum thread. I would like this to be a place where people put there own opinions out and people consider those of others.
I myself have always cared more for detail accuracy than exact color matching as long as the colors look close enough to me. I don't know exact color names and shades but am always interested in what those more knowledgeable than me have to say in the matter.
With recent talk of the Lionel Smithsonian Dreyfuss being almost exactly the correct color, I felt conflicted. I always thought the Lionel Smithsonian, Lionel tmcc, and Later MTH Dreyfuss's to be too dark in color. However, I have never cared much for the 1938 paint scheme as it was short lived and prefer the 1940 scheme.
After scrolling around on the internet for a while, I found some color videos of the century and in one of them I noticed something. Starting at 1 minute into the video, you will see a Dreyfuss Hudson in 1938 colors pulling the century. The cars though, are a mix of the 1938 scheme, 1940 scheme, and a very short lived transition scheme.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...op&v=i0AGYIVjNIg
If you look closely, the cars in the 1940 scheme look significantly lighter in color than the 1938 cars. This makes me wonder if the shade of gray changed between the two schemes. I know that different shops likely had ever so slight inconsistencies between their paint colors, but the difference is quite noticeable with the video being shot in color.
Some of the cars also have a strange transition scheme that is identical to the 1938 colors, except the blue stripes are white, leaving the car with thick stripes that are all white.
So, after all this, I feel the Lionel Smithsonian is likely correct, but only in 1938 colors, as it should be as it represents the as-built look. But for the 1940 scheme, something like the 3rd Rail Dreyfuss is probably more accurate in my opinion.
These are just my opinions on the matter based on personal preference and observations such as the video above, but I'm curious to hear what those who know more would have to say.
-Cole
ps - please don't bring any hate for the latest Lionel Dreyfuss here as I would like this thread to stay up since this thread will do no good for anyone if it's deleted.