A Bit Disappointed with my new P&W Caboose

Whoa.... the color is just a bit.......off? You can always repaint it yourself.

Not the first time MTH has got a paint scheme wrong. This is happening way to often. 

Really nice looking caboose, but the color as delivered as way off from the catalog. I guess it depends on the degree of disappointed you have. As LOS says, you can always have it repainted, but then you could have done this with any Bay Window caboose.

I don't know how they could've got the color so wrong. I was in the hospital recently and I found that chicken tasted like nothing I've ever tasted before. Perhaps they had the cafeteria group paint this caboose. Fred

Sorry Paul. I would be disappointed too. Makes you wonder.

That's very true. Their mismatched paint record is such that I haven't purchased any MTH for a very long time without first seeing at least a photo of the item. Recent example - a friend showed me a MTH KCS engine he'd just gotten. The "red" was almost a maroon, so far off that it was almost laughable. He dumped it - at a significant loss, of course.

That's really too bad.

"...repaint it yourself"! I hope Laidoffsick is joking. For MTH, or any manufacturer to mis-represent a model, and expect one to repaint it is ridiculous.  

 

I say return it to the place you purchased it, if that does not work, write AND call MTH and tell them you can not accept this mis-represented model and want them to refund you full purchase price along with return shipping costs.

 

RAY

What a shame that they missed the color by that much.  Would have been a good looking caboose.  Sorry to see that happen.

This is the reason why I dislike the whole "pre-order" system.  The various companies want us to order "sight unseen," but they make no guarantees that if the model is incorrect they will correct it.

 

Stuart

 

       
       

Yeah OK, return it, get your money back, and now you dont have one. Thats a win win now isn't?

In this scale, many times we have to fix, correct, or flat out make it ourselves if we want something bad enough. ..... so NO, I'm not joking.

GEE, this is almost as bad as Lionel messed up the PRR round top box cars.  As it was recently said in another thread "they all do it."

 

If it is too bad I would send it back.

 

Ron

I believe the Chinese are color blind!

 

 

Hi Paul,

 

Sorry to hear about this, it seems that it should be like a ruby reddish color and yours is a brown. That is way off. Say hello to MJ

 

Alex

 

A rock and a hard place. Well I would keep it until a "better one comes along"...

 

 

Its hard to tell just how far off it is. If the pictures disappear heres a link: P&W Caboose I could certainly see how the mistake was made it "appears" brown in more photos thanit does  burgundy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maybe it's just me or the resoluton of my near 10-year old monitor but I think the as-delivered product looks better than the one in the catalog. At least they got the caboose truck side frames correct. Besides, with some weathering a deep red color will probably fade to more of a brown over time.

 

Personally, I'd be very pleased with it! 

Thanks for the input gentlemen.

 

I will not be returning this caboose for two reasons:

 

1. I don't want to burn my LHS (not really sure he gets burned) but more important...

2. I want a P&W Caboose and this is as good as it gets in O Gauge.

 

I was intrigued with the pictures Rick posted, especially the last two. I wonder if it is possible the P&W had it a darker brown prior to 2006? Still, it doesn't answer the question as to why it was so far off the depiction in the catalog.

 

I sent MTH a note asking for help. I'm sure they will respond but frankly I don't think there is much to be done except be happy that I have one, and I am for the most part.

 

Hey Alex, MJ says hi to you and Dina.

 

Paul

Paul,

A coat of glosscote would make it look just like Rick's photos. You could also add the corner post so you place the red/white refective stripes on them. They look really cool on the prototype.

All in all, a very handsome caboose.

Malcolm

Ouch. I can only guess that MTH is basing their colors on available photographs. 

 

FWIW, I have passed on items based upon the color depicted in the MTH catalog, only to be disappointed when I saw the actual item in person. It regrettably swings both ways.

 

Gilly 

 

That's right. It seems the problem was not an incorrect interpretation of a prototype photo, because MTH cataloged the car with the correct color. Thus, it appears it was a production problem.

Why would anyone even suggest painting a car that did not conform to the photo in the catalogue?  As consumers why should we tolerate or make allowances for sloppiness?  Just send it back and demand a refund.

Thats why they have a disclaimer in every catalog:

 

"Product photos appearing on the M.T.H. website may not be photos of production models. In some cases, product photos appearing on the M.T.H. website may be digitally created or enhanced".

       
       


Are you serious? Like we all haven't seen this before when the model doesn't look like the catalog photo. DEMAND a refund? No need to, just take it back and ask for a refund because you're not happy with it. That is not even an issue. He just said he wasnt going to return it because he wants/needs a caboose. So you either accept it the way it is or you can repaint it. Thats why!

Unfortunately, MTH does this pretty often. When the German Pacific passenger locomotive was first cataloged, the catalog art showed a beautiful deep Prussian blue with brass boiler bands. I almost ordered the engine and its accompanying Rheingold passenger set on the basis of that picture. Good thing I didn't; when the engine arrived from China, it was silver with blue trim. Also a correct (and rather attractive in its own right) prototypical paint scheme, but NOT the stunning blue-and-brass shown in the catalog. 

 

Another example: Not once, but twice MTH has built Milwaukee Road F units in the early "lightning bolt" paint scheme. Both the F3 and FT were shown in catalog art in the correct dark gray (freight) base color. The F3 was delivered in the light gray passenger color (correct for E6 and E7, never for an F unit), and the FT was an intermediate shade matching no Milwaukee Road color. 

 

Brand L has its problems too. I've never seen anything quite as egregious as the above two examples, but their Milwaukee Road orange and maroon are way, way off - too dark and saturated by a large margin. 

 

The bottom line is: Train paint colors are a crapshoot. Sometimes they match the prototype, sometimes they don't. Sometimes they match the catalog, sometimes they don't. Sometimes the stars align themselves and the catalog, the prototype, and the model are all the same color - and sometimes the model doesn't match the prototype or the catalog. Message to the manufacturers: Pull up your socks! (That's an Anglicism for get your act together, in case you don't recognize it.)

No its me too  I think the color is better than the one in the catalog

For the love of god.If its that HORRIBLE,I will buy it off you for what you paid for it.

The lettering is correct. That is a positive point.

 

The actual color being red or brown is what has to be determined.

 

Railroad Red often looks brown. Perhaps they chose the paint by name.

 

Andrew

Yes, Paul, it really looks like it's quite a bit off. I have no idea if the real one was done in different colors, but the one that they produced really should be pretty close to the catalog version.

 

Best to the better half and hope to see you at York.

 

Gerry

 

I agree 100%   Shall we call it a "tune-up"?

I pre-ordered one of the MTH KCS diesels a few years back, based upon the color shown in the offering.  After receiving it, it took about 2 minutes before I had it up on the 'Bay for sale.  Just because the color was so far off from what they showed, and I wanted.  Took a big hit, and lost some money, but I was rid of the poorly colored engine.

Brother Love or Happy Pappy, any chance you have a picture that shows the effect of adding a coat of glosscote? Not sure I understand what that will do.

 

Nick, What???. I never said it was horrible nor that I did not want to keep this item.

 

Hey Gerry - I'm sorry to say York is once again not in my plans this fall. MJ says hi to you and yours.

 

Once again, I like the caboose but was hoping it more accurately mirrored the catalog image. It will fill out the roster I have of Atlas P&W Dash 8 Motive Power, MTH P&W GP38 Motive Power, MTH P&W Boxcars & MTH P&W AutoRacks. I have to look into a couple of the Atlas P&W boxcars I saw at Capt Johns house. Last, I hope to customize a couple of P&W coal hoppers...

 

I have to say I am lucky this regional railroad has been recognized by both Atlas and MTH. Yes, Lionel did a traditional boxcar but I'm now more into scale items.

 

Its funny no one commented on the first picture...anyone want to guess what is coupled to that caboose at Cedar Hill yard?

 

Paul

I agree with a few others.  I like it the way it is, i.e. not that far off by my monitor compared to the prototype photos.

.....

Dennis

The trouble with most catalog images nowadays is they are Photoshopped decorations on an undecorated model.

 

The catalog image is like that.  Notice how crisp the painted body is verses the trucks and couplers.

 

The other problem is that even if MTH had a paint chip from the P&W and matched the color exactly, it would look different on a model due to application and lighting.

 

Rusty

 

I would keep it too, Paul. We in Maine also say hello to MJ and look forward to seeing you both soon.

Maybe somebody with more experience can pipe up here but ....

 

Its pretty easy to mess up color.

 

1. Your camera is messing it up. It tries to correct color based on the lighting, but its never really sure. You can solve that one with something called a white balance card, its a gray colored card that is equal parts red, green, and blue (or is the green yellow, I can never remember), then you use white balance in your camera or shoot RAW and fix in your computer.

2. Your computer monitor is screwing it up, and I don't know how to fix that one.

3. And then whatever MTH uses to design it might have been screwed up.

4. Then however they got the color might have screwed it up.

 

Maybe manufacturers could list what color (is the company Pantone? )  they intend to match?

 

If you were in the caboose obviously you know its wrong.

 

Glosscote would make it look like this. It is very freshly painted here and still glossy.

You would have to diaassemble and remove the windows to do it. The corner posts could be done with .080" x .080" styrene and the red/white decals are available from Microscale. Like all factory cabooses, they look great but with a little tweaking they become exceptional (and one of a kind).

Paul, I took the same approach with the Lionel PRR round top box cars.  I wanted them but will run them together separated from other correct color PRR box cars.  The only thing in this case long before Lionel produced these cars Lionel published a bulletin showing these cars with a big picture of the real Pennsy car in color.  Plus Lionel has made Pennsy box cars that are much closer to the correct color so they should have known/done better.  As it has already been said they all miss the mark sometime or other but.

 

Also Malcolm's suggestion seems like the way to go.

 

Ron

The subject of color comes up fairly often.  I like to use the following example.  Same locomotive, different lighting.

 

Standard 4' cool white florescent fixtures, cool white CFL's in refectors, daylight CFL's in reflectors.  So, which one is correct?  If I took the model outside, I'd get a different result.

 

Now, a prototype photo for reference:

 

The color is officially "aluminum," which is why in the early model railroading days CB&Q F unit models were painted silver. 

 

Rusty