Looking at repainting an E8/9 in the Pennsylvania maroon scheme. What paint is recommend that best meets this color?
RAY
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A prominent member of this forum has the plate off of a scrapped B60B baggage car with the keystone on it. As he likes to point out, almost every shade of Tuscan red imaginable is in that one 36" square steel plate. However, lately for prototype colors I like the Tru-Color system. They have not let me down on perceived accuracy. Scale Coat II's version is pretty good as well. I have found the old Floquil to be a bit brown. My 1955 HO Penn Line Tuscan GG1 was the master sample for 3rd Rail's GG1 in 2009 
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In reality, as many will say, there is a huge difference between when a locomotive was freshly painted vs. even a few months on the road. Older industrical paints just didn't hold their color as well as modern industrial coatings.
Tuscan is basically iron oxide red.
If you want a really rich looking red, like those E-8s that exist now in Tuscan, try Scalecoat Tuscan. It is elegant!
I can compare two different Tuscan paints:
This is Floquil Tuscan:
This is Scalecoat 1 Tuscan:
The Scalecoat is more maroon than the Floquil. The Floquil is a perfect match to the premier MTH Tuscan used on the Pennsylvania 19th century cars.
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From your photos, I can tell you from my eye the Floquil definitely looks more 'maroon' than the Scalecoat. The scalecoat looks brown, the Floquil looks purple. In the pics. Maybe not to the naked eye.
Remember that the light makes a big difference and red is, by far, the toughest color to photograph well and accurate.
I had used Polyscale 414242 E/L Maroon on a set of Weaver E8's for some remodel work. Note the Radio phone antenna, windshield wipers, and the front lift rings.
Available Scalecoat Paints. Scalecoat I and II were Weaver's paint lines that they marketed.
