Model Railroad Blog

Color Palettes & Percentages

(Note: What follows is a copy of my December newsletter)

The above image (taken in 2024) showing a quiet back street in Mankato, MN is about as unremarkable as they come.  And….therein lies the point.  It’s ordinary, it’s typical, it’s everyday.  It’s what the eye is used to seeing when we’re out and about.  The closer we can replicate “everyday” color palettes on our layouts, the more realistic things will appear.

The color strategies we apply to our layouts as a whole make up a major percentage of the overall visual impact, more so than staying totally true to any specific detail.  That being the case, it makes sense to pay close attention to the subject. In studying photos like the one above a few things consistently stand out.

-Note the lack of shine, even on the vehicles.  Objects viewed through atmosphere lose their shine.
-Note the general absence of vivid primary colors.
-Note the lack of color saturation in general.
-Note that most vehicles on the road are: white, black, silver, or gray.  Check this out the next time you’re in a parking lot.  These tones will account for almost two-thirds of the vehicles.
-The most common tones on manmade structures are: white, gray, oxide red (brick), beige, and burnt umber (rust).

This scene is a proto-freelanced rendition of Mankato on the Alco Line project currently in my shop.  You’re looking south down Main Street.  The Minnesota River is in the foreground.  Hubbard Feeds is on the left.  As I worked, I paid close attention to color palettes and color percentages with the emphasis on oxide reds, grays, and beige.  The only primary colors are on the signs, fire hydrants, and the switch stand targets.

Here’s the scene on the west end of Mankato’s yard.  On the left, the structures got a base coat of flat gray primer followed by a dusting of flat white.  Same for the yard office.  The steel structures in the back were painted with light gray primer followed by an India ink/alcohol wash. Notice how the red switch targets “pop” against the earth tones.

I keep my most frequently used colors together on a dedicated shelf in my workshop.  Left to right we have: flat white primer, aged gray (302592), light gray auto primer (2081830), flat gray primer (334017), flat dark gray primer (2089830), flat earth brown camo paint (279178), any reddish primer, French beige 276271)

The color I use most is Rustoleum’s Flat Light Gray Auto Primer (pn 2081830). I apply it as a base in most situations.  After it dries, I then lightly apply whatever the main color is I want for the surface.  This two step approach gives depth and dampens over-saturation.

The first step in achieving visual success is knowing what elements contribute the most.  Color strategies are at the top of the list along with composition and basic neatness.  Brilliant, vibrant, primary colors should be used with caution and in low percentages.

Paying it Forward-Creating a Photographic Legacy

When this image was taken over a half century ago, it’s unlikely the photographer had any inkling that others would benefit. But…through a chain of lucky circumstances the photo ended up being scanned, posted online, and labeled effectively, creating a form of immortality for the photographer if you will. Give some thought to doing the same for others.

Our hobby is research based, photos, maps, and text. As modelers, we rely on photos the most. We all owe a debt of gratitude to that sole who A) at some point in the past took an image we needed to create a model, and just as important , B) created a chain of “historic preservation” in a way that people could find that image. An amazing photo that is never digitized, never copied, and sits in a box in someone’s attic isn’t very helpful to future generations.

We’ve all benefited from the efforts of our predecessors. It’s worth considering that, looking into the future, perhaps to a day when we’re in the big show in the sky, that someone else, another historian or modeler, could benefit from OUR work. Perhaps that person hasn’t even been born yet. It’s worth thinking about paying it forward, giving somebody else information that benefits them just as we benefitted.

It’s really a tragic circumstance where you have a prolific photographer that passes away and, due to benign ignorance, made no plans for the images to live on. Their family likely has no clue what to do, or even an inkling of their value. It’s quite possible they’ll grow moldy in an attic and eventually get pitched. Also problematic is the situation where an image was taken, and uploaded, but is labeled in such a way that search engines can’t find it.

Here are some thoughts if creating a photographic legacy, paying it forward, matters to you:

First, digitize your images, and upload them. That alone provides an enormous amount of protection for the photos. Consider uploading them to several sites so if one platform is discontinued the shots don’t disappear. Flickr is one good site.

Second, HOW YOU LABEL THE PHOTOS IS ABSOLUTELY CRUCIAL!. Despite what you may have read, my experience is that Google keys in on only one thing, the image title. Tags? Long and detailed descriptions? I’ve find them to be totally useless as far as searches go. For example the image above should titled: “Los Angels Junction Railway Alco S2 #4” Don’t label it along the lines of IMG_1234, LAJabc97, CoolLA shot etc. I’ve done that with a lot of my old posted shots and now need to go back and re-label them.

Give some thought to the photo format. Art shots and roster shots have their place, but are a dime a dozen and don’t impart that much information. Make a point of getting shots of everyday action, crews working, cars being spotted, etc. Also, when shooting structures, get some dead on ninety degree angles.

A more controversial topic is one of copyright and use. I can see both sides, but things are slanted very much towards an attitude of “This image is mine dammit, do not, I repeat, do not think of using it”. Mine. Mine. Mine! Again, I can see that side of things, especially if you’re selling the photos. Personally I’ve had only one photo (of a model) that someone else took credit for. It’s rare. Maybe it’s just me but if an image I took helps someone, let them use it. I don’t need credit. The more a shot is downloaded, the higher the likelihood it will live on. Just knowing I was able to pay things forward, help somebody the way people have helped me is enough. Knowing one of my images lives on, even without my name attached to it, is a very satisfying legacy to me.

Slow Your Role Dude!

Slow your role Dude….visually (sheen and saturation) I mean. In the November 15th blog I discussed the importance of understanding how atmosphere and distance de-saturate subjects and also remove any gloss.

Vehicles are an important element of our scenes. However, out of the box they over the top in terms of gloss and saturation. We need to dial things back visually.

The Brekina line of vehicles is very high quality. Not cheap though. (side note. You’re far better off with a few thirty dollar vehicles than a boat load of ten dollar pieces of crap that look like they came from a cereal box). I picked up one of the Brekina pick up trucks for use on the Alco Line project. Nice detail but, the gloss and chrome was over the top. I needed to dial things back, slow the roll, but do so subtly. Here’s what I did.

-Mask off the windshields.

-Over a span of fifteen minutes lightly fog on three successive coats of Dullcote.

-Paint the mirrors and bumpers with Tamiya “Sky Grey” XF-19. (I strongly suggest adding the Tamiya Color line to your palette, especially their grays).

-Paint the rear license plate flat white

-Using a ratty brush, gently grind Bragdon Weathered Brown chalk into the hubcaps and wheels to knock the color down to reality.

-Again, using the Bragdon Weathered Brown, light grind some of it into the truck bed.

That’s it. Nothing major. We’re just taking a high-quality product and dialing the color and gloss back few notches.

Filito Cafeteria – Finale

Looks can be deceiving. Small, ratty, boring there was nothing eye-catching about Filito Cafeteria on 12th Avenue. But….location, location, location. 12th Avenue is one of the busiest in Miami. In 2006, Trujillo, located just across the street, was one of the most active industries on the spur. Filito shows up in tons of rail fan images and videos. It’s where photographers and professional railroaders alike got a bite and some hydration on a brutally hot and humid Miami afternoon.

I knew going in this wasn’t going to be an easy build. Maybe that’s why I put it off for ten years! At any rate it’s now done and in place on the layout.

The Elements of Skill

Decisions related to color strategy and composition make a far greater contribution to visual impact than manual dexterity, rivet counting, or “detail dumping”. The culture of our hobby would lead you to believe the opposite.

There are two components of skill, manual execution and decision making. Decision making entails knowing “what to do” and, as the name implies, manual execution means having the physical ability to pull something off. What’s interesting is that the mix of the two components is not the same for each endeavor.

Olympic level archery leans heavily on the actual physical execution, not so much on decision making. An NFL quarterback needs a 50/50 mix. Let’s say it’s third and long and two receivers break a little bit free. A hall of famer makes the decision as to which is the best choice. That’s not enough though, he needs the athletic skill to get the ball to the receiver on the money.

Model railroading is on the other end of the spectrum, and that works to our advantage. Getting an effective result is largely dependent upon knowing “what to do” and far less so on any degree of eye-hand coordination.

As much as we all strive for prototypical accuracy, the lion’s share of visual impact is delivered by composition, color strategy, and basic neatness. The eye isn’t going to pick up on whether that window has six panes and not twelve. However, it will quickly hone in on something where the color is off. That’s where decision making comes in. It’s just as easy to pick the correct color of spray paint as the wrong one. It’s just as easy to paint those oversize safety ladders a darker, muted hue, as it is to paint them electric yellow. (electric yellow may be prototypical, but it immediately draws attention to the fact that said rails are a scale six inches in diameter, not one inch).

Let’s look at the interlocking tower shown in the lead photo. The culture of model railroading being what it is, many would paint it a brilliant, opaque ochre with solid green trim as shown on the kit’s cover art. If you study the many excellent full color rail books out on the market, however, you’ll notice that the majority of structures are white, and a dull slightly slate colored white at that. Next in frequency of use would be grays, oxide reds, and beige. If you lean towards those percentages, the realism of your scenes will get a bump. Building the tower as shown above is within the skill level of even an entry-level hobbyist. Paint the model with gray primer and let it dry. Next, fog on a layer of Tamiya Flat White. After letting the white dry a few minutes lightly scrape away some of the paint with a dull blade or screw driver. The roof was painted with red primer and given an India Ink/alcohol wash. That was it.

Making an even more significant contribution to visual impact than color treatment is composition. (this refers to the elements we incorporate, their size, relative position, and the space between them). Given it’s importance, it’s surprising how rarely the topic comes up…i.e. never! As a result, since its inception, the hobby has been mired in the swamp of highly compressed scenes with very little space between elements or towns. In order to be deemed worthy of making it to the layout’s surface, elements typically need to be rail oriented or architectural eye-catchers. It’s an approach that creates scenes more reminiscent of an amusement park than a working railroad, typical town, or your average industrial zone. As with color, creating an effective composition is driven by effective decisions, not manual execution. It’s just as easy to place three appropriate elements on a layout surface, ones that look like they belong, as it is to place a circus tent, hot dog stand, and Victorian mansion. It’s just as easy, perhaps easier, to dedicate ample negative space for that field or gravel parking lot, than trying to squeeze two more kits into the same area.

All of this leads towards worrying less about being the next Michelangelo and thinking a lot more about what decisions need to be made and what the choices you make will be.