Restoration advice

Kevin,

   The Tin Plate 2600/600 series rolling stock we restored, that other shad done poor jobs on, we disassembled completely, snuck the major train parts into East Pittsburgh Westinghouse and put the small surface strip peening machine and made them back into perfect raw metal Tin Plate train pieces.  We then purchased new trim parts & Lettering decals from Lionel, sprayed the Rustolum under coat on the Tin Plate, matched the original paint with new Rustolum final paint colors, and after everything was dry, reassembled the Tin Plate Train.  The key is finding a good way to strip the old Tin Plate Train pieces, to make them like new once again.  The restored 600 series

orange gondola (652) you see in the picture below, is still like brand new even today, after restoration in the late 60's.

Good luck with your restoration job.

PCRR/Dave

 

With the right kind of stripping job, the rolling stock & engines come out like brand spanking new, when restored.  The letters & numbers on the original Lionel Tin Plate were on both the ends and the sides, depending on the different individual rolling stock

pieces, some of the individual 600 rolling stock had no end lettering or numbers at all, each individual piece was different.

 Was the wood grain paint different then the other paints that Lionel used during that time period?  I was just curious if I might be able to strip off the funky paint layer and leave the wood grain intact. 

The original Lionel finish was baked on, and the overpaint most likely is not, so your chances are pretty good. I'd first try mineral spirits on a rag - rub it for a while and see if the paint is coming off on the rag. There are some other solvents that will work too - the trick is to find something that will take off the later paint without affecting the more durable finish underneath. I'd avoid paint strippers for that reason - paint stripper will attack the original finish. 

 

Hi,

 

 

Thank you, I will give the mineral spirits a shot first.  I would really like to save the wood grain paint if possible.

 

   Kevin

When I read this, the first thing that came to mind was.....

 

 

Bruce

 

 

Bruce,

  The top two cars in the photo match what i have, but mine are painted green based on the underside that the previous owner did not repaint.

   Thanks,

   Kevin

Kevin,

 

I figured from your original post there was no chance of the " funky brown/gray paint " being factory applied.  I did allow my mind to wander though, and imagined your cars, long ago received a repaint to match up with an original motorized tank, now separated from the set..  Possible?

 

Bruce

 

Bruce, i wish the original colors were the gray. If they were i would be a very happy camper, since i paid $25 for the three cars.
  Just need it to warm up a bit to start working on these in the garage. I als need to rry to track down the decals to use on them, to have the rubber stamps made would be very costly for this one time use.
    Kevin

The wood grain is NOT paint...its lithographed.  So the paint may come off fine with Min spirits,or it might take the litho off as well. try in a small area first an try carefully and see what happens.

 

I don't believe they were baking finishes at that time, they were dipped and hung to dry.

Rob,
  Thank you for the information, i will try a small part first.  If that fails then i will have to opt for the maroon inserts.

   Thanks,

   Kevin