Polish Railways locomotives paint set vol. 3

The locomotives of the Polish freight railways

Rail equipment has one peculiarity compared with aircraft: it is almost never clean. That is exactly why this box does not stop at opaque paints but adds a glaze for rust to them. The contents are built for freight locomotives and cars of the later modeling eras, specifically of the periods designated Vc and VIa.

The base color of the carbody is Gentian Blue to the RAL 5010 scale, that is a saturated gentian blue, which covered most of the area of a vehicle. Dark Blue, a shade darker, belongs on the rounded transitions and on the small elements of the carbody, so that the shaping stands out. The horizontal band in the middle of the side and the grab handles get Bright Green, which is the only striking contrast in the whole scheme.

The remaining two opaque paints close off the outline of the vehicle. Traffic Grey (RAL 7042) is intended for the roofs, equally on diesel and electric machines, whereas Jet Black (RAL 9005) belongs on the running gear, that is on the bogies, the axles and the lower parts of the frame. The last bottle, with the brownish red glaze, is applied right at the end: it spreads into the details and creates exactly those rusty traces that appear first on the roofs and sides of older vehicles.

How to work with it

Apply the opaque tones from the top down and leave the glaze right to the end, so that it can be pulled back if there is too much of it on the model. Rail equipment will take markedly heavier aging than an aircraft of the same scale. The guide is a photograph of the real vehicle, because rust appears on the edges of the roof and around the riveted joints, not evenly over the whole surface.