Barry:

From READING COMPANY in color, Volume 1 page 77 with a color photo of the Brandywine. The upper deck has a red band around it. Windows are trimmed in red, the rail is red and then has a white band that I estimate is about 18-inches high. Below that the hull appears to be black. Also, the upper dack railing is yellow. Funnel is black with a red band just below the wider black top.

The stern is lettered:"BRANDYWINE above PHILADELPHIA inblack gothic letters.

Keep working.

Barry - The Schuylkill is similar to the Brandywine, but the bottom of the hull is a green color (not Reading Green, more of a blueish green. Also, the cab awning is red.

Thanks JoannaBill...I have that book and color photo. it is one of the two that I have been using. I did get all of the items you mentioned completed. What was "slick" was that I used a micro-brush to do all of the window frames!

It's the deck color I'm wondering about... looks white in that photo for the upper deck and the pilot house roof. Main deck is not quite visible. I have another color picture of the Brandywine of the left side-rear, but in that photo, the upper deck looks green!

I'm more tempted to leave it green, as white would be awful "colorful" and bright.

But still wondering about the main deck... gray, green, ???
thanks for your help-comments!

Barry - I'd go with a dark gray color. White would be way too reflective, and gray is like a universal marine color.

Bill... sounds like a good choice. Still thinking of leaving the decks green as it would make sense that if the cabins were all painted green, they would simply keep "slopping" green paint on the deck...

another opinion please... dull coat or gloss coat?

I'm thinking gloss coat, as these ships were probably keep in pretty good condition and cleaned much more regularly than locomotives, so they would look "newer" longer and more often.

Hey Barry, great job on the tug! My thoughts on the deck paint would be gray like Bill said. It was a standard marine gray non-skid. It was used on all marine applications at the time unless someone wanted to pay a premium for a color change. I use to work for a company that made that non-skid for all Naval applications including the US Navy. If you painted the deck with EL gray it would be too light. Add some a drop or 2 of black to deepen the gray and it would be good enough.