Which paint for reletering the Lionel 2435 Elizabeth coach

I used Floquil along with liquid masker around the edges but later saw that another forum member used cheap craft store acrylic, not being super careful. He was able to scrape away the excess  and it looked like new. If I ever do another restoration like this (unlikely) I would use acrylic.

This was stripped in laundry detergent, then painted with Tamiya silver.

Pete

Norton posted:

I used Floquil along with liquid masker around the edges but later saw that another forum member used cheap craft store acrylic, not being super careful. He was able to scrape away the excess  and it looked like new. If I ever do another restoration like this (unlikely) I would use acrylic.

This was stripped in laundry detergent, then painted with Tamiya silver.

Pete

That's actually a very nice job.

Why would you use acrylic?

The problem that I foresee with scrapping away the excess lettering paint is that the silver paint is so delicate.  However, I bought this on the bay as a repaint.  So, I'm thinking that if I repaint the silver I could then touch up any damaged silver paint with a matching color.

Which Tamiya silver paint did you use?

Thanks,

Alan

The silver is TS83 spray in a can. I agree the original paint would be very delicate but this paint is pretty durable. It would stand up to light scraping with a finger nail or paper or wooden swab stick. The idea of using acrylic is it doesn't chemically bond with the silver like a solvent paint would. Being you are filling the heat stamp you don't have to worry about rubbing off what is in the depressions.

BTW I did all four cars of this set with Floquil and masker.  Once is enough. I have learned my lesson.

Pete

No one makes decals/dry transfers for this purpose?

You can get transfers. I bought a set for the red lettered cars that Alan has. The problem is these Post War cars are heat stamped which means all the lettering is inset in the plastic. To use decals or transfers you would have to fill and sand the stamped plastic. Doing this you risk sanding off the rivets. Also if you try and just place the transfers over the heat stamps they don't line up.

In the end you lose the original look. You might as well buy a modern repro and save yourself hours of work. Here is a modern car from the PWC Burlington GP9 set.

Pete

The Tamiya TS83 paint looks great.  It gives a beautiful new color look, however,  I am matching this car with others that have normally aged.  So the silver is a bit more tarnished looking.

Any suggestions on an other silver paint would be appreciated.

Mostly, though, I'm looking for a color match for the red letters.

Thanks to all,

Alan

Testors 1246 is slightly grayer but only a tad. Put them side to side and you can see a difference. Both will have more gloss than original paint though.

Pete