Lady in Red
My current workbench incumbent: A much modified Hornby Duchess as one of the Ivatt pair, in this instance, 46256 Sir William A Stanier FRS.
Now, I've long disliked the shade of BR Loco Red used by Hornby on any of their pacifics. It's darker than the BR coach maroon used by Bachmann on their darkest issues and has a horrible purple tint to it. In short, it's wrong!
I've been yet to come across anyone who does the right shade (ie: badged as such) and I have a nasty feeling that most people just use BR maroon. Wrong again - it's BR loco red! Look in any colour books where the shot is taken in full sun with the colour as visible as possible and you'll see that the loco will always be lighter (and brighter) than the stock behind it. Cue endless debate on colour and films - that's for another day
So, what to use? Most of my repainted coaching stock is given Humbrol 20 - a colour that works and looks spot-on for BR coach maroon. As said before, loco red is both lighter and brighter, but not by much. Coach crimson, as marketed by both Phoenix and Railmatch, is darker than it should really be. Proof, if it were needed, that colour doesn't scale. Just so happens that the above shade of red is near enough to BR loco red. I've chosen the Railmatch version, though there's very little difference between the two, aside from the former having a bit more richness to it.
Here's the comparison between RTR and repainted.
Now, in bright sunlight, it does look very red, which slightly alarms me, but it'll probably look totally different once lined out and toned down with some thin grimy washes. Going by the front cover of Power of the Duchesses, it's about right.
More to come when I've finished it - the tender is being built this week (hopefully).
Thoughts/comments?
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