American Flyer Prewar Paint

Try Hennings hobby shop, they carry the collector color brand of paints. I know AF dark green is available.

Try Hennings, but they don't have that color green listed.  It's a pretty distinct color, sort of like the prewar Royal Blue paint is different than the post war color.

Speaking of Hennings paints, what's the secret to spraying it?  I have been painting for the last 40 years, using all of the model paints on the market.  Four months ago I ordered some paint from Hennings and have not been able to paint with it.  I've been using Badger air brushes #150 and #200 forever.  If I thin the paint 75% thinner, the paint sprays great but, I need to put at least 6 coats of paint to cover the piece.  If there's a secret, please let me know what it is.         

Thank you.  rjm

RJM I had a similar experience, but it was my first time so I suspected it was me.  I think there are others on here that have sprayed Hennings paint with no issues, ie normal coats.  I'm not sure if it had to do with conditions, or maybe the thinner I used.  Once sprayed and all, it looked great, it covered well.  I plan to use more even if it takes many coats.

Dennis.  So what did you thin it with and what type of airbrush did you use?

rjm

Try Classic Train Enamel

http://www.trainenamel.com/SPE...%20FILL%20COLORS.htm

The loose car is one of mine for color reference and the set is a picture I got off the net.

prr6200s2 posted:

Dennis.  So what did you thin it with and what type of airbrush did you use?

rjm

 

The thinner was just "Sunnyside" thinner I got at a Menards home store.  The airbrush is a Pasche VL set.  Being new to it, I was not sure if I had the right combo of parts set up in it either.  Previously, I had tried to use it to spray some OLD Aerogloss dope on a Brodak F8F Bearcat and it did not work at all.  It gummed up instantly.  In that case I read that certain thinners  worked with Aerogloss and others didn't.  Btw, this was really old real Aerogloss dope from the late 60's/early 70's not the environmentally friendly versions of today.  Either way I had problems there as well. I'll try it again though.  I have a set of 2613 Blue comet cars primed and ready to finish.  I need to do that before it gets cold!  I'm open to any pointers anyone has though, I'm willing to consider or try about anything to improve the outcome. Here ar a couple of pics of the 3171 cars I repainted recently with many coats.

Also, here is a picture of both the 521 combo car and the 492/495/496/497 cars in Green for comparison.  Sorry the picture is crappy, but they all should give an idea about the shade of green these originally were.  I have always thought they were a slightly different shade than the postwar cars, but I could be mistaken as I do not have any early painted PW green cars.

I feel the best way to match any paint color is to take your rolling stock sample to a paint store.  They will have a reflection densitometer that can match the color.

I feel Home Depot does this process the best.  If you are painting structures a latex paint is great but if you are doing rolling stock and have an air brush, an oil base paint would be the way to go.

An automotive paint shop has the best reflection densitometer and skilled operators but the prices are extremely expensive. I have used Napa Auto Store Paints but still expensive.

Below is a Fun Color Matching APP from Home Depot: Going to the store is better.

Color corrected lighting.

What the APP sees. Needs some fine tuning at the store. Take the picture with the Project Color APP from Home Depot.

Gary