lionel engine number restoration

Practice with the rubber stamp, use masking tape as a guide to get it straight, .....try the rubber stamp on some piece of scrap until you get the right amount of transfer paint, and pressure applied correctly,.......if you make a mistake, wipe it off, and repeat, .....you’ll get as many chances as the jar of color allows, ......

Pat

thanks for that advice Pat and practicing on another metal surface is what i’ll do and did some reading that oil based ink on the stamp is easier to manage and that is avail in sharpie form at staples

I have over a hundred tries on some engines. Stamp, wipe off, stamp wipe off......

Depends on how critical you are.

I have water base ink so it wipes off easily with a damp cloth. I suspect oil base ink would wipe off just as easily with paint thinner.

Pete

thanks Pete and I know it takes good eyesight and steady hand with a lot of patience and that will be the hardest part of this restoral

How do you plan to get the ink on the stamp? It was recommended to me to use a rubber roller to spread the ink on some plate glass or other hard flat surface and use it like an ink pad.

Pete

I have some very small brushes and will practice many times and i’ll try the oil based ink that is available to swipe on and that is available in a sharpie

Yup. Rubber roller on a piece of glass. Practice. Postwar locomotives didn't always have complete or straight numbers.

@jth877 posted:

Yup. Rubber roller on a piece of glass. Practice. Postwar locomotives didn't always have complete or straight numbers.

How true that is!....as long as it was legible, ....pass,...and yet we kill ourselves to stamp them beyond perfect,....I’ve seen them so blurry and smeared you could barely make out the digits,...

Pat

I have tried rubber stamps in the past and wasn't very good at it. The edges would flatten out or part of the lettering didn't transfer.

What I use are pre-made numbers and lettering dry transfers. Easy to apply and look professional. There is a guy, The name escapes me at the moment who has All kinds of Lionel dry transfers including #665. If you are interested in the dry transfer route if the rubber stamping doesn't work out to your liking, I know a reader here knows who I'm talking about.

J&A Hobbies in Pennsylvania has transfers. He does not have a web presence but has an ad in TCA quarterly and likely a few other club magazines. If you google the name I think his phone number comes up.

Pete

sounds like the best plan Chuck to go with the dry transfer numbering so i’m starting to look for a supplier on the size and character type thanks for the info

Thanks Norton. That's the guy.

Also at that stage in production Lionel was heat stamping which actually penetrates into the paint. Dry transfer looks more like original style. But if rubber stamped that still looks the best and if you mess up just wipe off and do again until you get it right