the problem was the brush on each surface, and my misunderstanding, thinking the brush was the color -- its not. its the texture/material that the entity color will be applied to.
If I had not used entity colors, just surface brushes, might have worked that way too. but using both caused the colors to change.
If I had not used entity colors, just surface brushes, might have worked that way too. but using both caused the colors to change.