I recently purchased a 2681 set off eBay, and I knew from the listing that the locomotive needed work, and some of the parts had fallen off the cars.

However, I wasn't quite prepared for the basket case that I received. Someone had taken ALL the lighting units out of the cars, including both the decoders that controlled them.[:(] Somehow, it looked like some child with a mouthful of chocolate had managed to spray chocolate bits all over the place. Any spot those were came clean, except for the fine gold striping. Anywhere the little bits of chocolate landed, the gold either turned blue, or disappeared completely. By the way, the cars were described as "clean".[V] I thought about returning the whole thing to the seller, then decided to keep it, despite all the problems, after I finally got the locomotive to move under its own power. I decided it was time to resurrect my long-atrophied model-painting skills (I once did custom painting and model-building work for a couple of local train shops).

I know I'll have to scratchbuild quite a few replacement parts, unless someone knows of a way to find individual parts for these cars. I won't bore anyone with a list if there's no source.

Most importantly, and here's where you guys can be the biggest help, I need suggestions for paint to match the blue, off-white, and grey (rooftops) paint for the cars, and what paint to match the green, dark red, and black on the locomotive.

I'm no stranger to the airbrush, or to mixing paints to get a good color match, but most of my experience is with hard-to-get-these-days Floquil, and with PollyS acrylics. I would imagine Märklin used neither brand on this set!

Next, is it possible for my dealer to get spare locomotive parts (parts for the 37192 are still listed as available on the Märklin.de website, but they don't sell to the US)? I know it may be possible "In theory", but I don't want to be waiting the next 20 years for parts![8)] If I have to resort to begging one of you guys on the "other side of the pond" to buy the parts I need and ship them to me, I'll beg gladly!

I do have, as a "Plan B" in case I cannot restore the cars to my liking in the Blue & White color scheme. I have a 43620 Hofsalonwagen der Kaiserin, which is painted in the green "camouflage" paint scheme used during WWI. It would be a fun project to paint the cars in the basket-case set I have in that same paint scheme. Yes, I can make the decals I would need. I assume the Kaiser's car would have the same, more subdued shield as on the Kaiserin's car, and all the others would have plain sides, except for the crowns on the doors. I would need to know how to match the green and black paint for the sides, and the graphite-colored paint on the roof of the car.

Come to think of it, if spare parts could be found for the 43620, those could be used to replace quite a bit of missing/broken details on the other cars.

Thanks for any help anyone can provide!

Don

p.s., if it goes well, I may post photos of the progress, as long as everyone promises not to be sickened at the photos of the cars as they are now. It is NOT pretty!

We do not mind Ugly Pictures as before long they become lovely pictures. always nice to see the transformation.
n