How Does One Strip Paint Off Of A Lionel 202 Plastic Shell?

Classic Toy Trains Forum
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Hello All:
I am in the process of fixing my childhood 202. The paint is very rough and I was wanting to strip it down and do a repaint. What products can I use and not damage the plastic shell? Also, what is the best paint to use to get a color match? I saw online that the decals are available. Thanks for any help sharing your knowledge and experiences.

Mickey D

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Hi Mickey!
You’ve got the Lionel Union Pacific Alco FA 202? OK, probably the best way to get the old paint off is immersing the shell in Simple Green concentrate. It may take a week or two to loosen the old paint but the stuff does work and won’t hurt the plastic.
I’ve also used 99% concentrate isopropyl alcohol but sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. It’s expensive too, Simple Green’s a lot cheaper.
As far as matching the original orange paint there’s vintage Lionel color paints available from Henning’s Trains. https://henningstrains.com Look under “Collector Color.”
However they sell it in half-pint cans which may be more than you need. I like Tamiya paints my self but if there’s no hobby shop in your area you can try Rustoleum all-material paints. In both cases you’ll have to go for a close enough. If anyone’s aware of Post-War Lionel spec paints they’ll have to sound off.

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As far as I was aware, the ‘Collector Color’ paints were really for matching pre-war Lionel colors, not so much matching postwar Lionel items. I don’t think the orange would be a good match.

Regarding paint stripping, I’ve used Easy-Off oven cleaner to strip paint with reasonably good results, no harm done to the plastic.

A word of warning, the 202 had heat stamped lettering- this generally leaves a slight physical impression in the plastic, that will remain after paint has been removed. You may need to spend some time with filler and sandpaper to “smooth out” the impressions in the shell, so you don’t have the ‘ghost’ of the old lettering lingering on in your re-paint.

-El

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Very satisfied with EZ-Lift-Off. Don’t know if it is still available, but it does no harm to plastics.

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Thank you for all of the input!

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You’re welcome! And best of luck with the project!