Restoring more prewar Lionel

[pjdog350]

I have the paint all blasted off the Lionel 259e. It's ready for paint. I still need the wheels & gears. Waiting on my parts guy? And the weather needs to warm up and the wind needs to lay down. Wish I had a paint room. I ask the wife if I could use the extra bathroom but all I got was a nasty frown. So I guess that's out!

The last Lionel 1700 I got on EBay has a super good motor with a working E-Unit? But the bodies are a mess. Someone pained over rusty bodies with super hard paint, 2 of the 6 frames are badly bent. I used 60 LBS of blasting material and still could not get all the rust and paint off. Had the air compressor turned up to 100LBS. So it's a wire wheel now.

The power unit body is the worse? The two extra 1701's I got are worse then the power unit's body.

I told myself all morning this is why I do this work. But as long as I'm in the mancave I'm safe!

[pjdog350]

I think this is the last 1700 I'll do. I'm going for a brown top, front, back, frames & roof. Yellow sides

[pjdog350]

Does anyone know the part number for wheels and gears for a 259E.

My parts supplier still has not shipped my parts. Something is wrong.
So I’m looking for a new Lionel parts supplier?

[pjdog350]

This morning I started painting the 259E engine body & tender. I was shocked to see the paint blister up. I checked the temperature that is a requirement on the can. It said 40 to 80 degrees? It was 59 degrees so what’s the problem. I then thought that maybe I didn’t wait long enough for the temperature of the metal to match the temperature of the paint. I had the 259E parts in the house for 2 days and just took them out to spray the black satin. So I decided to spray primer on the 1700 car bodies. They where fine. They looked really nice?

Later - after lunch I tried again. I sprayed the 259E frame again after cleaning it up first. Same problem. I tried another part, the tender body. It also blistered. So now I know it’s got nothing to do with temperature. I switched black paint from satin to flat. That paint worked fine. Guess I have a flat black 259E. I’ll have to blast and repaint the 259E frame, tender body, the little parts on the side that look like piping.

I then got the 1700E paint out for tomorrow. Looking for the yellow & brown. Found it. Also got the primer so I can respray the 259E parts. That’s when the light bulb came on. It’s not primer, it’s gray paint with primer in it? So spraying satin black over gray paint two days later maybe a problem. Flat black works but not satin.

The next problem is I have gray paint all over all the 6 car 1700’s I’m working on. I thought I was spraying primer on them. I was going to do yellow & brown like a M10000. I don’t have enough sand to blast everything I working on and start over.

Maybe my M10000 will be a gray 1700 with red frames and vestibules. Damn!!

[pjdog350]

I hate to removed the gray paint I have on the 1700 I'm doing. They look good to me. I think I'll just paint the frames red and the vestibules red.

The 259E flat paint is great but the satin is blistered? So I'll correct that in the morning.

[CNJRR]

You could build yourself a cheap paint box?

[pjdog350]

I  have no idea what a cheap paint box looks like. Tell me more?

[pjdog350]

I started putting the body of the 259e Back together. I guess I should have made a video of how I got it apart. It’s a real challenge doing the assembly in the right order and not scratching the paint. I had to take a break. I’ve done this 100’s of times for post war Lionel but prewar is a different deal. I know I’ll get it done but the frustration level is high. I miss my youth! Better eyes and finger control. Being old sucks.

Up side is I had a hot cup of coffee and ran the two 675’s this morning. One going east and one going west. They are sweet little runners. Nothing like a cup of coffee, a good dog and the smell of Ozone in the morning.

[starfire700]

To build a really cheap paint box, you could use a large cardboard box, like a washing machine carton, remove 1 panel (front) and set it on a table. This would contain the over-spray, but you still would need an exhaust for the fumes. A piece of dryer-vent pipe going out the back at the top would pull away some fumes, but must be vented to the outside.
A step-up to a permanent paint booth would be the same thing, but made from plywood, still must be vented to the outside, a power bathroom exhaust with changeable filter would help and you could mount a small strip light in the top. The exhaust with filter would also be the best alternative for the environment.
My solution to the overspray and fume problem is to paint outside. It is a challenge in the winter and bad weather, but produces the best results with the least complaints from others in the house. I paint very little these days, so don't blame me for global warming. LOL

[pjdog350]

I decided not to remove the current gray paint from the 1700 project. It’s really looks great to me. I started putting the 1700 together this morning along with the 259E.

It looks great all gray but sense there is no primer the paint is coming off easily but I’ll work it. I got the 1700 and 1 1701 together. While working on another 1701 after installing the trucks, coupler rods I was getting ready to put the body on and saw I missed painting one side of the frame. I did a patch work and the tape pulled off the paint on the bottom of the frame. NUTS.  Needs primer. I’m going to redo The Whole  thing.

[pjdog350]

Things didn't turn out the way I was planning. However I do like the gray paint job on the 1700 I wanted Brown & yellow.

I saw what I wanted on the can of paint I used. It said 'gray + primer' I thought it said 'gray primer'. The Plus sign is super small and I just didn't read it. Then any thing I tried to paint over the gray blistered?

Sometimes I get grumpy when things are not going my way so I decided to just leave the damn thing gray until the weather gets warmer and better suits my painting outside.

Turns out I like it!! But without primer it has trouble holding on to the paint. So I may strip it and redo it with primer then gray!

[pjdog350]

Making some progress on the poor Lionel 259E.  These are allot harder than I thought they would be. I should have made a video when I took it apart. Plus I'm having the same primer problem I had with the 1700 gray ghost? Being old id not easy!

I'm still having a hard time finding wheels and gears for this engine. Been waiting over a month. My parts guy I think is having problems.

The tender still needs to be painter again. For the third time. The paint gods are upset with me I think?

[pjdog350]

Got the paint off the tender by sand blasting. Used black primer and baked it an hour. Will put the flat paint on tonight.

Also worked on the 259E BODY. I have very little to do on it now. I'm still in trouble with getting drive wheels. Tried to call my parts guy bill but on one answered the phone. If I had know that getting 259 wheels was such a big problem I never would have pulled the wheels off in the first place. I've sent 5 different Lionel parts suppliers emails asking if they have wheels of can they tell me the part number for the wheel so I can do a more intelligent search!