Seeking Advice. Stripping Lionel Aluminum Hoppers

someone had posted a soda blaster at the Harbor freight store for removing just the decals. I think it had the name eraser in it's title. A small handheld version that could be controlled. I haven't bought it yet. I wanted to remove the Patriot's logo on a RK steamer. Rubbing alcohol did nothing to it.

 Someone else posted just use a super fine sandpaper to smooth the surface. You'd have to prime it anyways. Good luck. I gave up. I'm not a painter!

Yeah.  If the paint is that good, leave it on.  Use 600 "wet" sand paper if you think the applied lettering will show through your new grey paint.

 

Aluminum takes special prep to get good paint adherence - Lionel has already done that for you.

I've "experimented" stripping one of these cars so far and they are a real @#&$ to strip completely.  These cars are made up of four different materials that you have to strip paint from; plastic (roof and bottom bays), die cast (ends), extruded aluminum (sides), and etched brass (roof walk).  I've tried Scalecoat II Paint remover and that worked okay on the plastic parts but it seemed to weaken the fine die cast ladder support sections on the ends to the point that they kinda crumbled (I plan to rebuild these pieces with brass strip unless I decide to write this car off as a "learning experience"   [still isn't completely stripped yet]...).  I tried 91% alcohol and that did nothing.  Haven't tried brake fluid yet.  I tried Easy-Off oven cleaner in a plastic bag and that started to soften some of the paint from the aluminum sides but more or less had very little overall impact.  I bought some "non-toxic" gel type paint stripper from Home Depot and that lifted the paint from the aluminum sides and some of the larger die cast surfaces but still required some scraping with a plastic putty knife as this process was similar to stripping paint off of wood furniture.  The gel paint remover didn't seem to harm the plastic, though.  Lastly, I purchased a Paache Air Eraser and that would remove the paint down to bare metal on all of the material (didn't harm the surface at all - even the plastic was left with a nice surface) but it takes FOREVER and uses a lot of blast media since the effective blast point is only 1/16" - 1/8" area.  I tried using baking soda as the blast media (since it was very inexpensive) and although it worked, the gun kept getting clogged and took longer to strip a given area than the silica-type media that came in the air eraser kit.  You can purchase 5 lb. refills of the silica media from Amazon.  If someone finds the magic potion to strip these cars, let the group know, I certainly haven't found it yet.

 

Scott K.

Austin, TX

That grey is a good base, just remove the logo and lettering. I have the HF Air Eraser and it would work great for that, but fine sand paper would work just fine.

Thanks for the responses guys!  Sounds like sanding is the way to go with these cars. 

 

Much appreciated!

 

Jack 

Gents,

 

I was able to pick up some 600 wet sandpaper this weekend.  I am happy to report success!  The lettering came off quickly and easily.  Thanks again for the advice.

 

Jack

 

 

Hi Jack,

Great looking cars!  That is exactly what I am going to do with some medium gray CSX versions of this car - wet sand the lettering off it and not try and strip the paint - I learned my lesson the hard way.   Love that GP30 too!

 

Scott K.

Austin, TX