What colour do you use for a wagon roof?

[Brinkly]

Hello,

 

I'm part way through the process of painting a set of wagons and need to start painting the roofs. Which shade, or shades, of grey would be a suitable for the roof? The body work has been painted using enamels (BR Precision Bauxite and Humbrol 133) through an airbrush. I've used Precision Roof Grey (P131) on a couple of vans in the past, which has a nice finish. 

 

Many thanks in advance.

 

Kind regards,

 

Nick.

 

[jwealleans]

What are the roofs made of?  For canvas roofs I use different shades of black/grey with talc mixed in.  The talc lightens the shade (something you need to remember when mixing) but gives a very matt finish and a slight texture which doesn't look overscale.

 

[Mick Bonwick]

Anything dark grey, but warmed up a little for some vans with a drop of tan or brown.

 

Lifecolor Roof Dirt, Railmatch Weathered Black or Roof Dirt, a mixture of Revell Dark Earth and Anthracite, a mixture of Humbrol Matt Leather and Matt Black, anything that matches the photograph you're working from. 

Edited May 8, 2019 by Mick Bonwick
Correcting speling erors.

[HonestTom]

I always go for a dark grey - the exact shade doesn't matter, because really what you're representing is dirt rather than paint. Railmatch Roof Dirt is my favoured paint.

[Guy Rixon]

If the roof is canvas painted with white lead paint then it would start off very white, get patchily dirty, then weather chemically to a uniform dark grey. I try to correlate the roof colour with the degree of weathering on the body sides: clean sides, light roof, dirty sides, dark roof.

 

Some railways - e.g. I think the SR in the 1920s and 1930s - gave up on white roofs because they did not stay white and started with a medium-dark grey. That grey would then darken chemically and end up nearly black, IIUC.

[pete_mcfarlane]

I mix together random amounts of dark grey and leather red/brown. The mix will be slightly different every time, so each roof is a slightly different shade. 

[Phil Bullock]

I'm with the roof dirt/different colour mix for each van school. There was much variation...

 

Phil

[Porcy Mane]

Just as much variation in roof colours as there was in wagon grey & bauxite. So much so, it was apparent in monochrome images.  Everything from Silver to black...  and then there were repair patches and creases.

 

Railways - 42405, 52461 and WD 2-8-0s on Sowerby Bridge Shed by Roger Smith, on Flickr

 

A colour shot

 

https://flic.kr/p/2b1aqbV

 

P

 

[saxokid]

Ive been printing on some of my vea and vda van roofs in light silver/grey then light brown air brush finish

followed by painted in rust effects..

[Dunsignalling]

On ‎30‎/‎05‎/‎2019 at 17:26, Porcy Mane said:

Just as much variation in roof colours as there was in wagon grey & bauxite. So much so, it was apparent in monochrome images.  Everything from Silver to black...  and then there were repair patches and creases.

 

Railways - 42405, 52461 and WD 2-8-0s on Sowerby Bridge Shed by Roger Smith, on Flickr

 

A colour shot

 

https://flic.kr/p/2b1aqbV

 

P

 

Note also the streaked appearance clearly visible running across four of the van roofs in that photo, with a suggestion of it on a couple of others.

 

I very much agree that a good variety of shades, along with finishing a few like that, is key to creating a realistic overall impression.

 

John  

[Porcy Mane]

7 hours ago, Dunsignalling said:

Note also the streaked appearance clearly visible running across four of the van roofs in that photo

 

You may be confusing streaking with strip repairs, carried out when full size sheeting wasn't available. 

 

 

and then there was bird droppings.

 

 

P

[Dunsignalling]

18 minutes ago, Porcy Mane said:

 

You may be confusing streaking with strip repairs, carried out when full size sheeting wasn't available. 

 

 

and then there was bird droppings.

 

 

P

The first would account, I think, for two vans in the picture in your earlier post. Interesting also to see, at such a late date, one van with (apparently) a freshly recovered/repainted roof finished in white lead.  

 

John

Edited October 15, 2019 by Dunsignalling

[Porcy Mane]

I'm fortunate in having a 32 in monitor calibrated for still images. (Photoshop). Checking the large image via flickr I can count five vans with the strip type repairs.

The Van with the white roof may have been repaired using sailcloth if more traditional materials were in short supply. This was quite common during the 1950's/60. White paint was regularly used on van roofs set aside for finished confectionery traffic although Cadbury's traffic originating in Bournville seemed to be an exception.

[rodent279]

Reviving an old thread, I guess wagon roofs made of canvas would perhaps wear quicker, and require repair/replacement sooner than the bodies. So a clean, new looking roof on a weathered, careworn body is quite possible?

[45125]

On 23/11/2021 at 23:06, rodent279 said:

Reviving an old thread, I guess wagon roofs made of canvas would perhaps wear quicker, and require repair/replacement sooner than the bodies. So a clean, new looking roof on a weathered, careworn body is quite possible?

Seen several vans were the canvas had been renewed on wagons that had come in to Dairycoates WRD for that repair only.

 

Al Taylor