Detail will show A-O-K on a black STMFC if it's weathered a little. I
like to use "grimy black" or "weathered black" as my base color (as
opposed to "engine black", which will obscure detail) and go from
there. I imagine detail on a black coaling tower would behave
similarly.

Al Brown, Melbourne, Fla.


--- In STMFC@yahoogroups.com, "John Mateyko" <rattler21@...> wrote:

I am scratch building a free lance wood coaling tower. Was any

wood

coaling tower a color other than flat black? With all the detail

in a

coaling tower that is hidden when a coat of black is applied, I am
thinking of painting the skeleton Santa Fe red and the walls of the
coal bin either yellow or staining the boards with diluted Min-

Wax.

Either one would bring out the details of the walls of the bin and
hopefully draw visitors' eyes to the structure.
One disadvantage is that it might look too 'Lionelish'.