painting
- Thread starter botangles
- Start date
ModelRailroadForums.com is a free Model Railroad Discussion Forum and photo gallery. We cover all scales and sizes of model railroads. Online since 2002, it's one of the oldest and largest model railroad forums on the web. Whether you're a master model railroader or just getting started, you'll find something of interest here.
Some shells are held on with the coupler, so remove the couplers; then look along the sides and see if there are a few slots in the shell near the bottom edge, if there are then use a thin screwdriver and lift the shell over the tabs that filled the slots - do NOT pry a lot or you will stretch/crack/break the shell - just enough to get the tab out of the slot and move the shell up slowly, do the same to the other side - you can use a toothpick or something similar to help hold the shell away from the frame and slowly move the shell up off the frame.
Take your time and it will come off quite easily, if it is a newer engine you may also have a light board/DCC decoder board that will have wires go to the lights, etc. - do not cut theses as they are usually held on the board with small black caps, just slide the caps off the wires going to the lights and remove the wires - if the wires are soldered onto the board the cut the wires right at the board leaving a little insulation on the wire attached to the board or make a diagram of the wires, colours and which terminal they are attached to. Not really hard if you just slow down and take your time.
Now all you have to do once you get the shell completely off is to remove the headlight bulbs and lenses - the bulbs usually are held in place with a small dab of glue - just cut around it, the lenses ca be pried out from the outside. Now very carefully remove the windows which are also held in with a few dabs of glue - just cut or slide a sharp knife into the glue to cut it. Seeing as you have the handrails off, check for any other pieces that can be removed - fans, boxes, step side plates, etc.
Now you are ready to strip the old paint off to prepare for any detailing you want to do then primer and paint.
Hope you can understand this as it's easier to do than explain it
Jim
Affiliate Disclosure: We may receive a commision from some of the links and ads shown on this website (Learn More Here)
UPBigBoy
J&A Paint Shops
Some shells are held on with the coupler, so remove the couplers; then look along the sides and see if there are a few slots in the shell near the bottom edge, if there are then use a thin screwdriver and lift the shell over the tabs that filled the slots - do NOT pry a lot or you will stretch/crack/break the shell - just enough to get the tab out of the slot and move the shell up slowly, do the same to the other side - you can use a toothpick or something similar to help hold the shell away from the frame and slowly move the shell up off the frame.
Take your time and it will come off quite easily, if it is a newer engine you may also have a light board/DCC decoder board that will have wires go to the lights, etc. - do not cut theses as they are usually held on the board with small black caps, just slide the caps off the wires going to the lights and remove the wires - if the wires are soldered onto the board the cut the wires right at the board leaving a little insulation on the wire attached to the board or make a diagram of the wires, colours and which terminal they are attached to. Not really hard if you just slow down and take your time.
Now all you have to do once you get the shell completely off is to remove the headlight bulbs and lenses - the bulbs usually are held in place with a small dab of glue - just cut around it, the lenses ca be pried out from the outside. Now very carefully remove the windows which are also held in with a few dabs of glue - just cut or slide a sharp knife into the glue to cut it. Seeing as you have the handrails off, check for any other pieces that can be removed - fans, boxes, step side plates, etc.
Now you are ready to strip the old paint off to prepare for any detailing you want to do then primer and paint.
Hope you can understand this as it's easier to do than explain it
Jim
Affiliate Disclosure: We may receive a commision from some of the links and ads shown on this website (Learn More Here)