USAF LOCOMOTIVE BLUE

An 80 ton larger version of a 44 tonner in that shade of blue sat outside my office

for years...It is blue, darker than medium blue, but not dark blue...there have been

O scale tinplate engines made in that color...also HO ones...but I don't have one.

Everyone I have seen is different. I would go with the darker blue. Don

Joe:

 

Atlas released its HO S-1 in a USAF scheme. The model captures the blue quite accurately:

 

 

When using photographs of prototypes, beware of faded paint. The degree to which colors are/were affected is largely dependent upon the severity of the climate in which the equipment has served. 

 

One of my local train stores has the Atlas HO S-1 in stock and I've been tempted to purchase it each time I've been in there.

 

Good luck with your project.

 

Bob 

Joe:

 

I just took a look at RMT's website and it appears USAF locomotives have been offered in multiple road numbers:

 

http://www.readymadetoys.com/usafusairforce.html

 

Perhaps Mr. Walter Matuch will see this thread and chime in.

 

Bob

Thank you all for your responses.  I too had found those pictures and could not come to any conclusion on the true color.  Between lighting of the pictures,road grime and faded paint they looked anywhere from black to gray to light blue.  the various pictures did lead me to believe it was some darker shade of blue.  The picture of the Atlas HO S1 looks pretty good so if I can find out what color they used I'll probably go with that.

 

If anyone else has any further suggestions or first hand knowledge they will be greatly appreciated.

 

Joe

 

I'm a little out of my element here, but maybe this might help in terms of color. Each logo, military and civilian, has a PMS numbers assigned for every color used in the logo. For example, Michigan's blue and gold are not the same as Kent State's blue and gold. The reason for the PMS number is so that the image results in an accurate and consistent representation of the logo and, in the case of Michigan and KSU, the correct shades of blue and gold are used. A quick search on The Google revealed that USAF blue is Pantone 287. I'm certain an art supply store or maybe even a paint store can match the color for you. Of course, Pantome 287 will be the unweathered color.

I spent a good many years in the Air Force and I must admit, I never saw an Air Force Train Engine. Then again, I worked on Fighter type Aircraft, so I wasn't on the areas of bases that had track, If the base had tracks at all.

 

The Deep Blue would fit the General Air Force Theme. White ? Maybe for a special purpose engine. Such as an engine that the AF ran or owned at a NASA site.

And I will note the Blue often faded over years in the sun on all the Vehicles we ran. The Further South the base was the more faded they were.

I saw a switcher once at a Base in Japan[Itisumi--spelling?] and it was sort of faded "Uniform" blue.

However, being a 1949-53 Navy veteran my ideas are suspect and my long ago sarcastic recommendation would have been"Bus Driver Blue"[sorry Russell].

Russell,

 

Even the SW-8s used in the Titan Missle program at Cape Canaveral were a shade of blue.

 

Joe

 

 

That center cab faded blue diesel "Scale Rail" posted looks just like the ones, there

once were two, reduced down to one, and then, to none, when they quit moving hoppers around (I only saw it in use once in the years I spent in the area), that I was familiar with and used to walk by.  It was a faded blue for it set outside...no engine house or whatever, always parked on the siding next to the building.  When the base stopped getting coal, the base paper wrote up a story on the end of a railroad era for it.  Many of those above have nicer, newer paint jobs than the two I was familiar with.

I would jump on an Air Force locomotive in a heart beat!

Alot of the missile bases have railroads, hill AFB has some equipment I believe. I was up in Fairchild for SERE school a couple years ago ad remember seeing a couple baggage/passenger cars set up as offices I think. They at set up in X pattern.

We need models of these, Strategic Air Command cars.
http://www.denverrails.com/db/...pix.cfm?attr_id=1859

Here's an Air Force Baldwin S-12 which was painted and decorated for the Bicentennial: 

 

 

Note the richness of the freshly applied blue; however, the tone of this particular image may make the locomotive's colors appear a bit more vivid than they actually were.

 

Bob

"Rust-Oleum" blue is almost an exact match for the dark AF blue loco in the pictures, and a lot of AF vehicles.

 

When I was stationed at Warner-Robins AFB I used it on my rebuilt 67/66/59/57 Chevy pick-up truck and was able to go a lot of places civilian vehicles normally couldn't.

 

Most likely they were originally  painted Federal Stock "Dark Blue" Federal Stock Number FS35045.

 

Poly S PC1878 is a match.

 

Not sure what blue they use now, but the few that used to be on our base were pretty close to the color pictured here

 

Never knew if that was intended to be that color or just really bad oxidation, it just looked bad

Font 

In all applications, no matter what the color, the correct font for "U.S. AIR FORCE" when used with the Symbol is "Berthold Akzidenz Grotesk bold extended." If "Berthold Akzidenz Grotesk bold extended" is not available use "Arial Black bold uppercase."

Colors 

The Symbol is available for use in blue, black, grey, chrome-silver, chrome-blue and white versions. Each of the colors is specified below in standard Pantone CMYK and RGB options. Pantone is a widely used color matching system designed to ensure that color output is the intended color. If the exact Pantone color is unavailable, it is easy to reproduce the exact color combinations in most software applications by adjusting the percentages of different colors. CMYK represents the colors Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. Mixing these four colors can produce nearly all colors. RGB represents Red, Green and Blue and mixing of these colors can also create most other colors. Below are the Pantone numbers and optional CMYK or RGB mixes. 

Symbol Color	Pantone	Cyan	Magenta	Yellow	Black	Red	Green	Blue
Blue	287	100	69	01	11	0	48	143
Grey	Cool Grey 7	0	0	0	50	166	166	168
Chrome	Silver 877c	38	27	26	9	143	143	140
Chrome Blue	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
White	N/A	0	0	0	0	255	255	255
Black	N/A	0	0	0	100	0	0	0

that is one ugly font

 

http://www.fontpark.net/en/fon...tesk-bold-extended/#

 

Not Air Force blue, but a good read, while searching for AF equipment found this, an Real life missile car!

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki...rrison_Car#section_3

I've also heard it referred to as Strata Blue. 

I found a model paint color comparison chart on Google and the closest match to PAntone 287 looks like Testors 1111 Dark Blue enamel.  I have a some Testors ModelMaster paint left over from when I painted a Grummen F4F.  I don't remeber the name of the color but I might just use that if it is still in good shape.

 

Joe

Not sure if the Air Force ever used this color, but here's a 1941 GE 45 ton Navy switcher from S.C.  I believe Greenfield Village got it from a scrap yard in the 1980's, but I don't know for sure if it's a true USN locomotive or if the paint scheme is accurate.  I'll ask around next time I'm working in the shop.

 

Federal Spec for USAF Strata Blue

 

Click on the link for a color sample.  Color looks dead on to USAF equipment I've seen.

1. Strata Blue
   FED-STD-595 Federal Standard 595 Color FS 15045