New question on gondola repaint job

[Brutus]

Okay, I got some Simple Green, some Krylon paint and I have some super fine sandpaper just in case.

Now, how do I remove these crappy cheap trucks?  It looks like there is a black plastic pin through the bottom of the gondola and that goes through the top of the truck.  Do you just squeeze the pin to pull the truck off, or will I ruin it?

I don't want to spend any more on this cheap gondola, just repaint it so the old decals don't shine through the black paint...  Thanks for any help.

[csxt30]

Jim : If your car is like this one, The pin is plastic & I just squeeze it together underneath &  the truck will fall down.  Here is a picture of mine with the pin that was in it.

Thanks, John

[brianel027]

Jim, hope that Krylon is the plastic Fusion type. Otherwise I would strongly advise using a plastic safe grey primer first. The primer will cover the old paint and make the body opaque much better than paint alone.

Now, before you ask, to reattach your trucks, go to your hardware store and get two blackened hex screws, like an 8-32 that's at least 5/8 inch long and two nylon insert lock nuts or stop nuts. Attach the trucks, tightening the screws completely, then loosening them just enough so that the trucks turn left and right freely. This will eliminate any derailments you might have had due to the MPC plastic snap rivets.

[jefelectric]

brianel,

What do you use for a plastic safe primer?  I have been reading a lot of labels and haven't found one that I am sure is safe.  Any recomendations?

[Brutus]

Maybe ask at the store?  I had my wife pick up a can of Krylon Fusion For Plastic paint - black satin.  Thanks for the info men, I'll pick up some screws - I think the guy before me took these off and re-used the plastic pins already, because one of them is really elongated.  He also glued about 5 ounces of metal (nuts etc) into the gondola, but I pried them a little and they came right out.  His glue really messed up the plastic though.

[otftch]

I use the wal-mart brand primer. $1.00 a can.It covers and sands well.I've ben using it on plastic models for years.

                          Ed

[Jumijo]

John,

I have that Same gondola. I bought it to repaint as part of my daughter's soon to be "girl's train". Thanks for showing us how that truck comes apart.



Brian,

I know we discussed this before. Contrary to what you've heard, my MPC Republic Steel gondola is heat stamped. I'm going to have to putty it before painting.

Jim

[brianel027]

Morning Jim, well it's not so much a matter of what I've heard on this one, as much as what I've experienced. It is entirely possible that General Mills did heat stamp some cars. They started production in 1970 and early on used many left over Lionel parts and equipment. the trucks on the early issue cars from 1970 came with an altered Lionel AAR Timken style plastic truck with the plastic armature, but instead of a thumbtack, had a rectangular piece of metal. The early 9200 series box cars also came with postwar metal door guides like their earlier Lionel counterparts, until MPC changed the design.

The gondola is a tough one due to the lack of space between the bracing. Try sanding your indentations with a medium sandpaper, then use a fine auto sandpaper to finish. You won't get all the heat stamp indentation off, but you should be able to reduce it. Wash the car body in soapy detergent, dry completely and then give it a coat of grey primer. Let the primer completely dry and then using a small piece of Plastruct, like 1/4 inch wide, use that as a "putty knife" and use your plastic fill. The grey primer will help you see more clearly where you need to fill it in. Smooth and let this dry and give it another coat of primer. Hope this will help.

Jeff, the contents and instructions on most commercial spray paints are of little help in our circumstances. My experince has shown me these brands are safe on plastic trains I have done:

Krylon Short Cuts / Krylon Regular / Krylon Fusion / Krylon Acrylic Water Base / DAP Spray-N-Go and Touch-N-Tone / Perfect Paint / Decrolon / NYBCO Color Touch / PlasticKote Hobby Spray / Weaver's Scale Cote / Testor's.

I really like the Spray-N-Go, Touch-N-Tone and NYBCO colors because they really do dry fast. The can says 10 minutes to handle, and this is accurate. The NYBCO rust primer, though for some reason doesn't dry as fast and needs 24 hours to completely dry. Weaver's colors are good for when you need a very specific railroad color: Pullman green is a tough one to find as a commercial color. On the other hand, Krylon Short Cuts has a blue that is a spot on dead ringer for Conrail blue, though it is my understanding Short Cuts are now being discontinued with the introduction of the Krylon Fusion. DAP Spray-N-Go has also been discontinued, but you can still find some out there.

I also use a self-made paint booth, made from a cardboarde box with a couple clamp lights for heat.

I always prime everything for ease of putting on the final color coat (color-paint adhesion) and because I like things to be opaque. So I do prime both the inside and outside surfaces. This is more important with a lighted car like a caboose, or Plasticville buildings that you plan on illuminating - unless you want to have the famous "Pumkin Glow" effect. I also use a dark primer like rust or gray colored. If the car or building is to be a final lighter color, then I will put on a quick couple sprays of flat white over the gray or rust colored primer. Light colors such as pale blue, shades of pink and yelllow do not cover as well over gray or rust and will require many coats unless you use a white flat coating over the first primer coats.

Be forewarned that postwar Lionel cars made from Bakelite do not take the paint as easily. Lionel had this problem too. They can be painted as today's paints are an improvement over what Lionel had available at the time, but do not go on as easily and take a little more patience with lighter coatings.

Once you have used a plastic safe primer to completely cover the car body, you can use a Rustolem color for a final coat. Rustoleum makes a color that is pretty darn close to Penn Central green.

ALSO take note that if you are going to use decals, like Microscale (they are the BEST), you need to use a glossy paint for the final coats, or gloss coat the car body before decaling. Decals don't go on well over anything but a glossy surface. Dry transfers will go a flat or semi-gloss, but if you burnish them too hard, you will see that in the paint. I've used both and though decals take a little more work to get rid of the outside cut lines, I now prefer decals... there's a little more play in placement for decals than with dry transfers.

[jefelectric]

brianel,

Thanks for the painting info.  I saved and printed it out for future reference.

[Jumijo]

Great tips, Brian. As usual, your input is invaluable.

Jim

[marxalot]

I appreciate all the painting recommendations too. Regarding installation of decals, maybe I have been lucky but I have had no problems putting decals on a flat paint. My last car re-hab was what I call my "InternetCar" as I won an old Marx boxcar on e-bay; then won Monon decals; then I purchased on-line some scale coat flat paint and dullcote... all delivered by the U.S. Mail. The end result turned out okay. The one decal mishap was a mistake by me not affected by the paint finish! Unless it was the fumes? Hadn't thought of that as an excuse until now!

 

 

Jim