I have one here that has a lot of edgewear, nicks, scratches dings and what not. I thought I'd touch up the worst ones. Any recommendations for a commonly available shade of red that comes reasonably close? Perhaps one of the major brands of spray paint (I can spray some in a small cup to brush from) or a particular shade of automotive touch up bottles?
Thanks!
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I don't believe any store bought red paint will match Lionel's Texas Special. The TS red was unique with a touch of orange in it. In my opinion touch up looks worse than the scars on the shell. Olsen's Toy Trains has 2245 paint if you want to try.
Steve, Lady and Tex
Call Hennings Trains in Lansdale, Pa. They have specially mixed paints for postwar Lionel.
Lionel had trouble matching the post war paint for their celebration series release back in the late nineties. There was an article in the local paper (FreePress) at the time they were doing this model and the Lionel rep was saying the original engines were painted with an automotive lacquer and that just wasn't possible any more. What they did finally settle on was pretty close match for the color but the finish was off. Original was a very high gloss, smooth finish. The PWCS unit was more of a textured satin. At normal viewing distances it was a good match, side by side not so great.
Unless the dings/nicks are really bad, I'd leave it alone. You could take the unit to a auto paint supply store and see if they can custom match it. This will be expensive because you have to buy the paint by the quart and then pay to have it loaded into a spray can or use an airbrush to apply it.
If you are looking for touch-up paint, Testors Insignia red is very, very close.
I have one here that has a lot of edgewear, nicks, scratches dings and what not. I thought I'd touch up the worst ones. Any recommendations for a commonly available shade of red that comes reasonably close? Perhaps one of the major brands of spray paint (I can spray some in a small cup to brush from) or a particular shade of automotive touch up bottles?
Thanks!
How about a picture so maybe we have some idea of the exact condition of the piece!
Lionel had trouble matching the post war paint for their celebration series release back in the late nineties. There was an article in the local paper (FreePress) at the time they were doing this model and the Lionel rep was saying the original engines were painted with an automotive lacquer and that just wasn't possible any more. What they did finally settle on was pretty close match for the color but the finish was off. Original was a very high gloss, smooth finish. The PWCS unit was more of a textured satin. At normal viewing distances it was a good match, side by side not so great.
Unless the dings/nicks are really bad, I'd leave it alone. You could take the unit to a auto paint supply store and see if they can custom match it. This will be expensive because you have to buy the paint by the quart and then pay to have it loaded into a spray can or use an airbrush to apply it.
Chuck, I could be mistaken but I just placed my original 2245 Texas Special AB next to my PWC TS AB and they both have the same high gloss and smooth shine. I remember Lionel having a serious paint problem with the Conventional Classic release of the Santa Fe Warbonnet AA units and they offered re-paint shells to all who purchased them because of the satin red finish. Could this be the set you are referring to?
Steve, Lady and Tex
No, I'll post close up shots tonight.
Lionel did a decent job and the newer sets look like they match at normal viewing distance (3-5 feet). The originals had a wet look finish that you could read reflected material off of. Newer ones you can see something reflected but it's not as "deep" or "clear".
One thing I didn't realize about the PWCS and the original is the original with the horizontal truck actually has correct/scale wheel base while the vertical trucks are one foot short. Lionel also put in the roof screens on the PWCS like the original F-3's while the original TS had the plastic molded roof grill (they also added the second motor).
I've seen some really, really, really bad repaints of the TS at shows. Some of them were repainted with auto paint but the colors were way off. One dealer kept swearing his candy apple red TS with black side castings on the trucks was an original issue.
PWC issue -
I think it looks pretty close paint wise. The Williams however is WAY off
Side by side with a "card" to show the reflection. Overall it's a pretty good match. The original PW shell is 60 years old but it's holding up well.
PW/original has the chip on the roof fan, aka the one on the right.
Chuck Sartor is right. I bought an A-B set, that apparently had been in the bottom of the box, with the track thrown on top. It didn't have a lot of run time, but the shells were beat. A friend cleaned the shells, masked off the white, (including the star), sanded and sprayed the red with Insignia red. These are marked as refinished tinplate, and I will probably never sell them, so no harm, no foul. My friend found that the stars that were used on elementary school papers were the perfect size to mask the star. I always enjoy these, and it runs well.
I repainted this pair with the 2245 color from Olsen's Toy Trains several years ago. They were chipped up beyond just touching up. Their color is almost an exact match, but depending on how bad your shell is, either leave it, or repaint the whole thing.
Thanks everyone
much appreciated
Barry's Train Shop in Elizabethtown PA has an A-B pair that were restored by Eliott Welz several years ago, this is as close to min that you can get. Very nice!
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