Question about painting steam engine.

I have a NYC Mikado of the same vintage. I was able to remove the lettering cleanly with lacquer thinner with no harm to the underlying paint. Try some on the inside of your tender to make sure the same paint was used. The letters came off in a few minutes with zero loss of the black paint.

Pete

Along those lines I would like some information on this. The one thing that I don't care for is the shiny steel side rods on Lionel locomotives. What is the best way to change that look to a more realistic less shiny prototypical look?

That's great advice, Pete. Thank you!

Gandydancer1950. Goto the micromart website and get neolube to blacken the steel rims and siderods if you wish. No harm done to the metal

Ethan,

If you're fairly good with an airbrush I would consider removing all the paint using 91% Isopropyl Alcohol and repainting.  More paint on the model will only make the fine details harder to see.

Or at least, take put some MEK/lacquer thinner on a sponge and remove the paint on the cab and repaint, masking off the rest of the boiler.  I would still remove/repaint the tender shell.

I made a "bath/tank" out of a piece of 4" diameter PVC tubing I got at Lowes.  I glued a flat cap (also at Lowes) to one end of the tube so it would hold the alcohol.  I made it 12" long, that's enough to cover at least 1/2 of a 21" passenger car shell.

Pour in the alcohol, place the piece inside and let it sit for a few hours or overnight.  Comes off with an old toothbrush.

Oh, if the coal load is glued in place, the MEK will soften the glue and the coal will fall out, just re-glue after painting.

I lightly sand the lettering, then paint the tender and lower cab black.   Easy, and get great results!

At first I was skeptical about using lacquer thinner but after reading about others using it I decided to try it on my Lionel Mikado, about the same vintage as the OP's. The results were outstanding. No paint was damaged meaning it did not have to be repainted. The engine is Korean made around 1999. I have since used it on another Lionel engine made in China around 2004. I assume similar paint was used.

Don't assume it will be safe for other engines without first trying it in an inconspicuous spot. I know 3rd Rail engines will not tolerate it nor will Weaver.

Before:

After. Note no sign of black paint on the q tip which was used to remove the lettering.

Pete

prrhorseshoecurve posted:

Gandydancer1950. Goto the micromart website and get neolube to blacken the steel rims and siderods if you wish. No harm done to the metal

 

Exactly what I was looking for. Thanks for the info....just ordered it

I did a similar thing to my MTH light Mikado from 2007. I softened the lettering on the cab and tender with denatured alcohol, and lightly shaved the lettering away with a dull flat head screwdriver. It sounds ridiculous, but the end result was pretty much perfect.

I use acetone from the hardware store to remove lettering from metal locomotives. Works, with results like the lacquer thinner (I've not used that), it seems. Used it many times.

Thanks for the help everyone!