Don't ya' hate it?

[Anonymous]

 Just bid on some passenger cars on ebay. Set of three passenger cars, chatam, hillside and mapplewood. Won two missed one. Oh well... They need repainting anyways so should not be that big of deal to track a stray passenger down.

Does anyone make lettering for these cars?

[Jumijo]

Those cars were heat stamped lettered, so they most likely have little indents in the shape of the letters and numbers. Repaint the cars, then fill in the lettering with black paint.

Jim

[darianj]

 Just bid on some passenger cars on ebay. Set of three passenger cars, chatam, hillside and mapplewood. Won two missed one.

Yes I do hate it!  But congrates on the cars you did get.

[Anonymous]

Those cars were heat stamped lettered, so they most likely have little indents in the shape of the letters and numbers. Repaint the cars, then fill in the lettering with black paint.

Jim

 

Very true. Will try this methood. Thanks

[Prairietype]

A trick I use to repaint lettering, etc., (I don't think this method is all that original). It's essentially a stenciling with tape: I take clear tape and put it over lettering, then with a brand new exacto knife I trace the letter outline with the point (very, very, carefully) and with precision lines and curves, but not enough to actually contact the plastic. Then I lift out the celephane tape letter.

I mask off the rest, and then shoot it (air brush) very lightly with the paint that matches.  I take care not to spray the paint heavily, just enough to fill in the missing paint. One thing that plagues many paint jobs of this type is a lip of paint at the edge, this is where it is most important to avoid a heavy build-up of paint, and this can be caused by the spraying too much at a time.  It's best to spray it ultra-light and from a little greater distance so that when it hits the lettering it is less fluid.  This will take some time, maybe as much as ten minutes of multiple single pass, light spray. And only spray as much as you need to fill it in.

The trick is to avoid excessive paint build-up.

[brianel027]

Boy Jaabat and Prairie, I'm a former exhibiting artist and thus have a very steady hand. But it gives me the shivers to think about attempting you guys ideas. If you guys have each done your respective ideas, my hat is off to both of you! Really! And you know I do a lot of repainting (which is an understatement).

What I'd do is lightly sand down some of the indentations from the heat stamped lettering, and then reapint as usual. Then I'd go one of two ways: one would be to use Microscale individual alphabet letters and I'd re-decal over the existing lettering indents. OR I'd use Microscale blank stock and make my own decals. But I haven't had much luck making my own colored lettering, so I'd opt for the later idea if the lettering was going to be black in color.

I believe these Lionel cars referred to are the green and yellow trim ones, so you could use either white or yellow lettering, or even gold delux. Decals don't like silver paint as much (I know, that sound's like an invitation to a joke!!!).... let's just say decals don't go on silver paint as well as other colors.... something to be considered. Dry transfers work nicely (if you have the steady hand and eye) on silver paint.

[Prairietype]

With regard to my method, there is something I should have mentioned at that time: practice.

Practice on something that isn't valuable, like a big gulp cup, or a coffee can, a wooden cigar box, anything that is a throw away.

Do not attempt this on the passenger car until you have mastered the technique on something else.

One time I used the method to restore a Radio Flyer wagon, ca. 1952, that was lettered Safeway Flyer. I did not want to lose the Safeway Flyer lettering, so I did the celephane tape stencilling in reverse, to protect the lettering while I painted red around it.  I took the red paint down to bare metal, shot two light primer coats and then Ace True Value red. When painting around the lettering I whisked it by from afar, and very quickly, and with many light passes. It consumed a lot of paint lost in the air, and slowly built up over twenty minutes. I think I made one quick pass per minute. It took time but it worked.