JohnMarcson
Administrator
rwo978 said:I've always liked the 'lighter' shades better.
dmathieu said:Same issues with their blues.
stansdds said:I think Federal Signal was pretty consistent with their colors. In blue I have a model 14 from 1988, a 22I from 1987 and a 121 Series A1 (probably from the 1970's) and a 174 with a plastic dome, all are pretty close to the same shade of blue. They definitely don't have the variation seen in Whelen's blue. Federal did change their red from a ruby red to a little brighter red somewhere around 1960. I have a small dome 1957 model 17 that has a dark red dome, but my 176 from 1971 and most of my Fireballs have a lighter red that matches my TwinSonic and mini-Jetstream. I do have one or two Fireball domes that are dark red. I don't think Dietz, Signal-Stat, or PSE/Code 3 had much color variation. Whelen's colors seemed to vary the most.
stansdds said:Maybe Whelen outsourced their dome production to several different companies? As for changing the color based on incandescent/halogen bulb vs. strobe tube, that is a possibility. Strobes emit different wavelengths of light than incandescent or halogen bulbs, even incandescent and halogen put out different wavelengths.