Help w/ Wheel cover removal from Modern Lionel 4-4-0 General

Anyone?

I've never worked on a General, though I do have a modern-era version that I partially re-painted and decaled and Dullcote-ed to make it a more realistic and less toy-like loco. I just looked at the driver centers (mine were black all along, so I didn't paint them), and I would say that the best approach would be the careful application of masking tape (thin strips will work best) to the rims if you want them to remain a different color and paint the centers with a brush. Hi-quality, modern acrylics don't typically leave brush marks. 

The centers appear to be pressed on, maybe glued in, too, and are intended to stay put, so I doubt (I don't know) that removal can be done without damage.

You might e-mail Lionel's service department; maybe there's a safe trick.

D500, i'm starting to think you might be right.  Time to put a call in to Lionel to see if there's a trick to pulling them off, if, they come off.  Stay tuned.

I find pulling wheels a real pain and subject to breaking and making a small job into a major one.

How about painting them in place as mentioned above.  Free hand if you can or mask them off.  Use a knife to scrap off uneven lines.  The Testor's little bottles of paint do well for me and normally do not leave brush marks if thinned.  I just brush painted a missile for my Lionel 3665 Minuteman Missile Launcher Car last night and the job has no brush marks.

Charlie

I've always thought they were molded in. Go with paint, it's easier.

I couldn't find a parts listing for the Mickey Christmas General, but I found one for the only General I have, the Coca Cola 125th Anniversary.  There is a listing for "Drive Wheel Insert," as per the attached picture, so I've gotta believe they can be removed.  Whether that can be done without damaging them I don't know, but if worse comes to worst and they get damaged by the removal process you apparently can order replacements.

Pete

Thanks Texas Pete, that's exactly why i'm thinking they can be removed to be replaced.  It sure would make it a heck of a lot cleaner and better looking to pull those plastic pieces off and paint off the wheel, then on.

I got an idea and tried it.  I removed the siderod bolt from a rear wheel and moved the siderod out of the way.  Then I carefully threaded the bolt partway into the wheel cover, and grabbing it with only my thumb and forefinger I was able to easily pop the wheel cover off.

I'll post a photo when I get back from taking my wife to the store.

Pete

Well color me amazed. Never saw that type of wheel before. It's great what one can learn on this forum.

Thanks guys!

Here's the photos.  The siderods are non-functional, all wheels are gear driven, but you should take care to re-install the inserts so as to not create any binding in the mechanism.

Good luck!

Pete

O-o-o the possibilities....

Good to know; certainly anything can be removed, but the lack of damage is nice.

I'm not a "General" guy in, ah, general, but I do like the later can-motored ones like mine, even if way over-scale. They actually run decently smoothly and not 150 mph.

Below: I toned-down this one with acrylics, lettered if for the M&O, then Dullcote all over - it emulates some of the M&O's 1850's 4-4-0's fairly well.

Club layout shots.

I would like to get another modern General and really go at it with some tools - straight stack, coal (or oil) tender, simpler domes, new whistle location, footboard pilot, modern headlight, compressor, generator, paint the whole thing black or weathered black - to represent what some of those old 4-4-0's looked like at the end in the 1940's and even 50's when they had become branch- or short-line power. 

And it's plastic - easier than zinc or brass.

Painting the wood pile was the easiest but most striking change that I made.

Texas Pete you are a genius Sir!  Thank you!

D500, that's a beautiful 4-4-0!!!  Reminds me one of "The Constitution" from Disney's Lone Ranger!

Success!  Now the possibilities are endless for us 4-4-0 owners

  If the hole is fully threaded you could run a longer screw into the hub and the screw would force the cap to rise.

   You'd find this out the first time you try to replace the shoulder bolt with an incorrect length 

Adriatic posted:

  If the hole is fully threaded you could run a longer screw into the hub and the screw would force the cap to rise.

This is completely unnecessary since the wheel insert is a pretty loose fit and very easy to remove, also it's not a through hole.  The siderods and wheel covers are strictly for appearance and serve no mechanical purpose.

Pete

ps - D500, that's one sweet lookin' loco.

And the install of the wheels was that much easier after paint work.  This is the best thing to happen to The General