A few months ago I paid 20 dollars for two maroon 607 Macy special passenger cars in poor shape at an antique store. Theres about 40 percent of the original paint intact on both cars. Some of the letters in Macy special on 3 of the cream inserts are either obscured by rust or faded the most of the paint intact is the roof and bottom frame with the 2 black tanks and the Macy matiainence instructions are mostly intact. Would it be a good idea to restore them and what would be the best way to restore these? Both cars are also missing one coupler.
No-one's got an opinon? OK, I'll venture one.
I'd say with 60% of the original paint gone no collector of pre-war Lionels are going to be interested in them so in a way you've got a "blank slate" to do with what you want. I see no harm in doing a complete restoration at this point.
The only problem would be any pits in the sheet metal. Unfortunately pits are forever. You can mitigate them somewhat by wire-wheeling the metal but you can't go too far. Depending on how bad the pits are you can try filling them with auto body putty but since I've never tried that I can't tell you how well it might work.
As far as repainting is concerned you only have to please yourself but if you want the authentic Lionel pre-war colors give these folks a try:
https://www.henningstrains.com/
The downside there is you'll need an airbrush to apply it properly. Henning's has pre-war parts as well.
Some pre-war style decals are available from this source:
https://www.lbrenterprisesllc.com/
And again, with only yourself to please in my opinion it wouldn't be a mortal sin if you used Rust-Oleum spray paint in whatever color you like and call it a day. I've used Rust-Oleum spray paint myself, it's good stuff but a bit on the heavy side.
Good luck!
One last thing, I found out from another forum that auto primer paint does pretty well at mitigating pits in metal.
https://www.lbrenterprisesllc.com/page07.html?no_redirect=true
I see the decals on choochooauctions.com (Train City) from time to time. Often restoration stuff is all that's listed in the prewar categories. Joe Mania has some restoration parts and rubber stamps at jlmtrains.com.
eBay is also usually lousy with parts in just about every condition imaginable.
Are you sure about the numbers? My book lists the Macy Special cars as being the 605 Pullman and 606 Observation. It also says the lettering was "rubber stamped on the orange body.". And "Dark red trim and pea green doors decorated this 1929-30 car, which had an orange roof and nickel journal boxes".
Personally I'd go with either a nice cheerful red body with cream trim (maybe a maroon roof) or the Stephen Girard two tone green and cream.
Either way I doubt anyone would care too much about upgrading cars with that much paint loss. If we were talking about wether or not to remove the patina on a no. 700 Special Show Window Display set in 2 7/8 gauge from 1903 nickel plated with phosphor bronze motors that "no known surviving examples" is all the books ever say about this mythical beast, then I'd get a posse of train nuts together!
Same me, different spelling!
[quote user="pennytrains]
Are you sure about the numbers? My book lists the Macy Special cars as being the 605 Pullman and 606 Observation. It also says the lettering was "rubber stamped on the orange body.". And "Dark red trim and pea green doors decorated this 1929-30 car, which had an orange roof and nickel journal boxes"
[/quote]
the 2 Macy special cars both say 607 and I believe they were made 1931. They would have been part of the Macy special version of outfit 296 and would have come with a maroon 252 two 607 macy special passenger cars and a 608 macy special observation car.
Flintlock76 The only problem would be any pits in the sheet metal. Unfortunately pits are forever. You can mitigate them somewhat by wire-wheeling the metal but you can't go too far.
The only problem would be any pits in the sheet metal. Unfortunately pits are forever. You can mitigate them somewhat by wire-wheeling the metal but you can't go too far.
What are pits that would be in the metal you describe of? Are they imperfections or defects in the sheet metal that would appear over time?
Pitting occurs when the rust has eaten deeply into the steel. Generally speaking without some kind of repair they will show as small craters in your finished paint. Pitting can also be caused by chemical reactions such as battery acid leaks or even electrical arcing.
You said it all Becky! Thanks!
(You beat me to it but that's OK!)
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