General opinions on painting old Lionel Locomotives

I am new to the hobby and really enjoying it. One question I have is around the painting of older locomotives and other cars. Some stock is beat up pretty bad, beyond the normal patina. Others have poor paint jobs. In many cases, these item still operate and run well. What are the thoughts of repainting these items to look original?

1 Like

I thank that is a matter of preference, they say repainting takes away from the value, if your not worried about resale paint away. Most of all just have FUN!!!

3 Likes

I have a few old American Flyer locomotives. Yeah, the paint is worn, but I would be reluctant to repaint them. I prefer to keep them “as is”.

Rich

1 Like

I think it’s really a matter of personal taste and the article involved. For example I’ve got several Post-War Lionels I’ve repainted and gotten some good comments about.
In my opinion if the article or articles are very common and in marginal exterior condition it’s no sin to repaint and refinish. Prices ARE dropping on Post-Wars (and some Pre-Wars as well) as collectors downsize and the demand just isn’t there as it used to be.
I WOULD make exceptions on very scarce articles which are best left alone in whatever condition they’re in. For the time being anyway, who knows what the future holds?

Agree with other’s comments.

As long as you are doing it for your own enjoyment, do as you would like. If you ever intend to resell them after repainting, then it’s very important to be honest about the fact that you have restored them to make them look new.

That said, I agree with Flintlock76, you generally might not want to repaint something truly rare, like an original Lionel postwar Hudson, or some of the more uncommon postwar Lionel F3 sets, or odd-ball rarities/variations like a Lionel postwar #2338 Milwaukee Road GP7 with the orange stripe that runs around cab as well as the main body. (You are unlikely to “accidentally” come upon many of these if you are new to the hobby though, unless you are new because you inherited a large collection from someone who was a serious collector).

3 Likes

I sing with the chorus, if it’s yours you can paint it, modify it, hot-rod it, etc.

Just an example of a justifyable repaint, I took a good runner that looked like this:


And turned it into this:

And I got some nice complements on it at a club fun run too.

6 Likes

Very nice work, Flintlock. Very nice work.

Rich

1 Like

Thanks Rich!

If the paint is rare, leave it there. If the paint is gone, party on! Of course there are always exceptions. Use the TCA grading scale for guidance. Their grading criteria is excellent.

But obviously you wouldn’t repaint an original piece from Lionel’s 2 7/8 Gauge line from 1900 to 1905 no matter how many paint chips are missing. In the case of those items you only restore if the piece is in imminent danger of destruction due to extensive corrosion. But since most of us will never even see a piece of original Lionel 2 7/8 Gauge outside of a museum, you probably will never have to worry about that. But it’s probably the best example of what “rare” truly means when it comes to collecting Lionel trains.

3 Likes

“If the paint is rare, leave it there…”
Wow! I wish I thought of that! Good one Becky! You said in one line what took me three paragraphs! Great work!

1 Like

Thanks everyone. I have a nice, working Lionel 736 that I picked up that has already been painted once in non standard colors. I would like to make it look like new. I know better than to alter an old valuable piece, but this one needs a makeover :blush:

3 Likes

736’s are relatively common and prices are dropping. Add to that the fact that yours has been painted over already and it’s OK for you to indulge yourself!

2 Likes

Strip her bare! Personally I like semi gloss or satin.

Here’s an example to encourage you. I repainted a hard-luck case MPC Mikado (and added a 4-wheel trailing truck) to represent an 1121-class MoPac Berkshire. Here are a few pics of her rounding the curve bordering the farm at Notch Junction on our layout:



The black is Krylon Satin from a spray can; the graphite I mixed from grays and gunmetal in bottles. The number boards, generator, and bell are PSC detail parts, and the feedwater heater (on the fireman’s side) was an orphan piece I acquired from Pecos River long after he closed up shop. The decals came from Oddballs, unfortunately also long gone.

5 Likes

Wow, very nice. I would like to see someone top that.

Rich

Thanks for sharing. Looks great!

Beautiful job!
I’ve been using Tamiya spray paints and have had excellent results. For the smokeboxes I use Tamiya “Gunmetal Gray.” It has a glittery look when dry however when I do the clear-coat finish either flat or semi-gloss the glittery look tones down to a nice graphite look.
I’ve been doing my own decals lately on an ink-jet printer but there ARE some decal sources out there.
k4decals.com (I haven’t tried them yet.)
protocraft.com (Excellent quality but again they don’t cover all 'roads. They DO have a nice assortment of detail parts for sale.)

1 Like

Thanks for the decals info. I’m sure that I’ll need that at some point.

1 Like

You’re welcome!