For some years I’ve had a pretty standard paint stripping routine.

I could use stronger stuff, but my main stripper is 90% isopropyl alcohol, purchased at the drug store. Most typically I soak a item in it for several weeks in a sealed bottle, then scrub it, soak it again (perhaps several times), and then finally work on the residual with a tool or knife point. Then finally putting it through the ultrasonic cleaner to remove any final residuals before repainting.

Over some years of doing this, I am able to look at a car and I have an idea what will come off and what won’t. Heavy old brush paint typically will lift off pretty well, but Lionel paint, for example, isn’t going to be impacted very much by the alcohol.

This car is an example of an early Lionel model that got brush painted (back in the day) black for a more prototypical look. The black paint came off relatively easily, but the gray Lionel paint is mostly still there. However, it can at this point be safely painted over.

What I find especially interesting though on this model is that you can still see a remnant of the original Lionel decal lettering, a ghostly reminder of the 1938 paint scheme this model originally had. The heavy paint that was stripped was over the original decals!

I do like to repaint models of this type (focusing on cars badly in need! One goal being to leave models better than I found them), but I’m undecided what to letter this for as of now. I might let it sit a little while like this before I take it forward to completion.