Spiderweb looking windows in my lionel NYC heavyweight cars

I never seen anything like this before. I don't think I would like looking at it. Unless you wont to pretend it's a drab and rainy day in Lionel Ville.

I would call Lionel tech support and ask them what they can do for you. I cant remember rain drop effect mention in the catalog.

I have a NYC heavyweight car (2 axel trucks) with green tinted windows that checked and bubbled like that.  At first I hated it but grew to really like it!  I think the car was from around 2006 or so, and this was wide spread.  I though I read where it was a combination of bad tint and application process.  Your only option would be to replace the window panels.

Rich

Cut a wood block to fit inside the diaphram and apply some heat. Hair dryer may do it or you may need a heat gun though not full blast. Maybe an over at around 200-225F.

Pete

I have 5 sets of heavy weight  cars like this. 1 southern set, a NYC 20th century set. 2 George Washington sets, and an Alton set... 

I was going to replace them with simple acetates but they have a tint to them so its not going to look right. 

Note,these cars are not fun to take apart... a real bugger, if you have 35 cars to do you may procrastinate like me.

The diaphragms for these passenger cars... are they hard to get?

I've seen this before, and I'm not 100% sure exactly what causes it.  Looks a little like mildew to me.  I have some Lionel cars with a similar issue.

It looks like pebbled glass.

It's definitely a problem with the plastic that was used and not just something that you can clean off. Over time the frosting or crackling effect gets worse until there are whole areas of the plastic obscured by what looks like snowdrifts! The only solution is to replace the plastic strips. I have not found any that duplicate the green tint yet although in fact it's rather unrealistic to have that tint.

Those specks or whatever do not come off. Sorry to say you have to put up with it or sell them off, I did.

Here's a plan. Get yourself the MTH NYC heavyweights from 2005. These came with the exploding trucks. Take the trucks off the Lionel cars and put them on the MTH cars. Then start a diner fanchise and sell off the Lionel car bodies. Central Diner. Whaddaya tink?

I thought so.

Pete

Looks like a defect in the plastic which could be bubbles as they appear to be spots and not streaking.

Like everyone said, there is no fix that I know of.  I tried scrubbing them with various solvents, nothing made a dent.

I have that problem with my Lionel Heavyweights,the hobby store sells K & B Clear plastic sheets so I make my own,also had to do it with the old sillouette Heavyweights that I put interiors into.

Mikey

I might be wrong but certain plastics when exposed to intense light and heat chelate or bubble, could be from bulb lighting or just plain plastic degradation. Happens more with molded plastics than sheet extruded

The feature we all are observing is called 'crazing' which occurs when polymers (e.g., polystyrene) are exposed to an organic component with a chemical solubility and polarity range to which that polymer is susceptible. Because crazing is akin to micro-cracking, no amount of cleaning or rubbing will remove them. In this instance, I suspect (am pretty sure, actually) that there is an undesirable organic component in the contact adhesive that was used to attach the window glazing to the interior car walls.

There is a fix and it entails obtaining new green-tinted contact strip glazing from Lionel and a fair amount of work. I had to redo a set of NYC heavyweights a number of years ago. Lionel sent the replacement glazing strips gratuitously and, then, I went through the somewhat laborious job of disassembling and reassembling the entire set (less the baggage car). The replacement glazing has now lasted about a half a decade, so I assume that the replacement glazing strips do not have the offending component in their contact adhesive.

Hope this helps.

Bob

I replaced mind also with new strips from lionel.  At the same time I added people inside.

I can't offer a quick fix but can only report that my 2005 set shows no sign of this crazing. Different window material, different adhesives? Who knows.

Pete

I just use plastic sheets from packaging, I have tons of it for uses like this.

Its pain full to look at them - especially the observation cars....

Yep, it does suck that happens.