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 a lot by the alcohol.

This car is one that 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, but 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.

I do like to repaint models of this type (focusing on cars badly in need!), 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, perhaps with a gray scheme of some sort for variety.