Baseball Set (Make-over)

So first step once I got to the basement was to disassemble the locomotive and tender.  The locomotive shell is held to the frame via 4 screws on the bottom side - two back by the cab, and two near the cylinders.  The shell then slips off the frame.  I set the frame aside for now, but the cylinders have gold stripes and will need some manual painting to match the shell.  The smokebox front is also held on with a couple of screws and was easily removed.  I removed the lenses (headlight and two green marker lights) using an appropriately sized allen key and light tapping.  All of the hand rails are ran through small plastic stanchions that are press-fitted into the shell.  After removing the metal handrail and made sure to put all of the stanchions back in the frame before painting.  All handrails on the tender are similarly mounted.  I also removed the gold-painted bell from the smokebox front.  I taped all of the screws and little bits together with masking tape before securing to the locomotive frame on a storage shelf.

The cars have proven to be more difficult, and I've only managed to complete one this week.  Follow online tips to remove the top (search for "baby madison bulb replacement, here is a Youtube video and here is a OGR forum post on the topic).  I ended up soliciting the help of some toothpicks for the first time, but am going to focus harder on the video's method (fingers only) next time.  Once the top was off, I taped the window portion of the insert - inside AND outside - to allow for painting of the roof.  I then used a thin and wide finger nail file to pry the end caps off to allow for easier painting of the inside surfaces of the vestibule area.  I removed the couplers from the trucks by removing the associated screw, and then wheels and electrical pickup assemblies from the trucks by gently prying the side-frames apart with a screwdriver, before cutting the soldered wires inside the car and removing the pickup assemblies and lights altogether.  Finally, I taped the trucks inside and out.

Here's a comparison of the prepped coach next to the remaining untouched coach.

Another view of all of the parts.  The tape on the coupler is just holding the associated screw - I have no plans to paint these parts.

Here we see the electrical pickup assembly before I clipped the wires and completely removed it from the car.  You can clearly see the coupler attachment screw here, and the rivet holding the truck to the car body.  I tried to drill one out, but they were too loose and I couldn't keep them from spinning - so I resorted to just taping off the trucks.

Long term plans are to paint the cars for the Pennsylvania Railroad, since I have a couple of older PRR steam locomotives in my collection, and the berkshire as NKP 765 (which is the reason I found this forum in the first place - thanks Rich!).  Considering a matching MTH NKP caboose.  Decals are on order directly from Microscale (PRR O Scale Passenger sets) and a hobby shop in NJ (NKP Steam).

More to come!  I'm trying to show how to do this with minimal cost and no special equipment - so any suggestions on a plastic-friendly approximation of PRR's heavyweight maroon, in spray paint form?