Garden Railway Forum

I am buying a second hand Argyll and would like to restore him to the proper colors and lettering for the C&M. Being in the USA, does anybody know of source for the Gamboge paint that RH used? Or atleast something close. My Argyll is in black right now, so its not where I could paint match. Thanks Mike

If you have a look on the Roundhouse website all their colours are listed. If its not, send them a quick email and they will be able to tell you the RAL number. Pheonix paints stock the roundhouse touchup pots which will match, I'd add the link but they have updated their site and I'm having trouble finding the page !


EDIT : found it http://www.phoenix-paints.co.uk/product ... p-colours/

Great choice of loco and colour scheme!

I've just had both mine back from Mat Acton from being lined. Here is a photo of my locos taken by Mat Acton before delivery.

Nice pair Ace, does the Argyll have piston valve cylinders fitted ?

DLRdan:121628 wrote:Nice pair Ace, does the Argyll have piston valve cylinders fitted ?

Thanks Dan, no the Argyll is the standard slide valve, walsharts valve gear. Near identical to the Atlantic. Wasn't aware of a piston valve roundhouse loco?

The Forney was fitted with them and don't look dissimilar from the shape of yours, having a larger cylinder diameter than the valve chest.

Ahh, I see. Not seen a Forney in the flesh before.

The cylinders on the Argyll are the same size as the Atlantic, the valve chests on the Argyll were a trial exercise by roundhouse and proved to be unsuccessful - as I found out first hand! It is very difficult to accurately set the timing inside the small valve chest as the valve stroke is nearly exactly the same size as the valve chest, resulting in a high likelihood of blow by. Something my Argyll was suffering from when I first got her.

I never noticed the difference in the valve chests till you guys brought that up. Just makes setting the travel very critical. I do want to respray mine into that color from the all black she will be in when I get her this week. She will get a full going over and RC installed before spring arrives, hopefully before late January, the next time our local steam group sets up our portable layout for a show. its just 2 loops of 45mm gauge track, no scenery to speak of. Mike

artfull dodger:121621 wrote:Being in the USA, does anybody know of source for the Gamboge paint that RH used?  Or atleast something close.

Gamboge is actually a golden yellow pigment. It is believed to be the pigment used in Stroudley's 'Improved Engine Green' on the old LBSCR.......!!

Anyway......

The 'Gamboge' used by Roundhouse for the C&M locos was BS381c 223 Middle Bronze Green. Barclays described the paint on the prototype locos as 'olive green'. There is no close match in the German RAL colour standard to BS381c 223.

I would imagine that a BS381c, or RAL, colour code would be meaningless to the average US paint supplier in any case.

As far as I know the only US colour standard is FS595, which is often quoted by model paint manufacturers supplying the plastic kit market.

This website can be used to find a match for a BS381c colour in other paint standards.

http://www.e-paint.co.uk/Colour_alternatives.asp

Plugging BS381c 223 middle bronze green into the drop down menus returns a few reasonable matches, one of which is FS595 34094.

This colour is an olive green shade called green 383 camouflage, which may be available in the model enamel ranges, such as Testors. Don't even think about using an acrylic model paint on a live steam loco.


Here in Oz, middle bronze green is a heritage colour, so most hardware shops can mix up a small sample tin of gloss enamel. Presumably there are similar services in the US, but I couldn't say what the correct paint colour name might be.

If the colour is available from Testors, etc., you could paint some on a piece of metal and get it colour matched by somewhere that offers computer colour matching. Alternatively an auto paint supplier that custom mixes paint may have the formula for FS595 colours in their paint mixing computer.

Regards,
Graeme

Thanks for the research Graeme, I really appreciate it. I will look at the local hobby store to see what they have in spray cans as I need to respray the whole body. The engine is in black, which in my mind does not do Argyll justice. On another note, I looked at pics he sent that show the cylinder and the valve chests look like standard RH ones, and not the smaller ones. Must have been one run or maybe two that had those smaller chests as an experiment. I should have Argyll in my hands on Wed of this week. Mike