--- In STMFC@..., "Armand Premo" wrote: I have recently tried to upgrade an Accurail reefer. All went well until I tried to match the paint. I never knew there were so many different shades of yellow. What would you suggest that I use?
--- "Ken Olson" wrote: Doesn't their web site have a listing of which paint was used on which models? I seem to remember that all were Pollyscale, but that reefer yellow might not necessarily be what was used on a particular reefer.
--- "Armand Premo" wrote: Tried Five different brands of Reefer yellow without an acceptable match, Polly Scale included.

Gentlemen,

I suspect Ken was thinking of 5th Avenue Car Shops, who market excellent custom painted and lettered Accurail cars, and whose web site has a complete list of all current and previously issued cars by road number with Polly Scale references for matching the sides and ends of all their cars. I have not seen this on Accurail's web site for their own releases; note that on their Decal Renumber Set page, they advise that "There have been too many changes in paint formulation for us to be able to match the color of many of our older kits." I suspect that like many other manufacturers, Accurail uses commercial paint products rather than paint from any of the firms that market to modelers. Perhaps Dennis Storzek can comment on this.

When we modelers modify/upgrade cars to suit our needs, we can only try to match existing paint as best we can, then use weathering to blend the shades together. If you want to represent a newly delivered or repainted car, but you've replaced molded-on details, just bite the bullet and repaint and decal it. (Unless the car you want is available from 5th Avenue Car Shops, so you can get match the paint from Polly Scale per their paint reference ... until/unless Floquil changes the Polly Scale formulation.)

Good luck, Dave Sieber, Reno NV