Lionel 248 Restoration Project, before and after pictures.
I like to get old pieces that were badly painted or poor restoration and try to bring them back to life. May sound weird, but I like doing this better than running them? If the paint is original and descent I will leave it as original and just clean, lube and replace any broken or missing pieces.
Purchased this on eBay, someone painted it blue and painted all of the brass with gold paint. The wheels were already replaced with “Model Engineering Works” wheels. The contact pickup looks original and is in good condition. Almost all of the trim was there. Applied voltage to the motor and it ran with a little groaning from lack of lubrication. Cleaned and lubed the motor and it runs good.
Stripped the Blue paint of the shell, black paint off the chassis and gold paint from the brass parts and aluminum springs. Use “0000” steel wool on the brass then cleared them. Primed the Cab, masked the brass flag stations off the primed the chassis. Waited 48 hours and applied the red on the shell (couple of coats). The Chassis was done the same way except I applied a clear coat to cover the brass flag stations and ended up with a crustoleum paint job (cleared wrinkled the black). Stripped the chassis again and repeated the process waiting longer for the paint to cure and had the same results. Opened up a post “Help Rattle Can Painting” and I received lots of ideas. Anyway the painting and stripping was dome 5 times all with the same results. So on the last painting I did not clear coat the Flag Stations and Chassis in one step, I just used a brush and cleared coated the stations (should have done this the second painting).
The grill and numbered board are supposed to be a cream color. I used a almond Rustoleum paint and it looks more white then a cream/almond color. Maybe the red body makes it look whiter? Since I had the cream/almond color paint out I decided to paint a lower stripe on the shell (I know this was never done, but I like it).
Ordered rubber stamps from JLM Trains, Joe suggested to get the 248 and Lionel in one stamp and he will do the proper spacing (2 in 1 stamp). The first stamp went on perfect the second piece took 4 tries. The stamps are very sharp with perfect spacing and look original, better than decals or stick-on’s.
Replaced parts are as follows: one railing, one ladder, one cast headlight w/ bulb, pantograph and the two spring type couplers and coupler rivets.
I also installed a cab light using a Radio Shack screw type bulb holder and a 14V/100ma bulb with a 100ohm resistor in series to bring the brightness of the bulb down and preventing a bulb burn out. I also wired a grounding wire from the light screw mounting to the chassis, insuring a good connection. Black electrical tape was applied to the shell side/front seems to stop the light from shinning through.
Rewired with super flex stranded silicone black wire (50 to 60 strands per 20awg wire) and used heat shrink on all connections and terminals.
When mounting the shell to the chassis I used a 4-34 filterer screw with a nylon washer behind (not to bugger up the shell paint).
Let me know what you think?
Next project may be another a 530 or 630 observation car painted red with the same almond trim to match the 248.
More pictures in attachment
