Let's Be Frank

Thank you for visiting. We have a few things to say that frankly, need to be said...

First—Jeff Lemke Trains is a small, dedicated brass model train repair and restoration business. We specialize in soldering repairs, grit-blasting, chemical cleaning, and weathering for HO, S, and O scale models. Our painting services retired in January 2024 to enable us to focus exclusively on repairs and restorations. 

We maintain roughly 75 projects at any time, with turnaround ranging from weeks to over a year depending on complexity. Our rate is still just $39/HR plus parts and materials. Quality is our priority—so if speed and lowest price matter most, we will not be the right fit for those priorities. We're here to create exceptional results for those who value craftsmanship above all else. Doing that takes time, the right tools, and lots of experience.

Second—As we already mentioned, we retired our paint shop in 2024, and we're no longer providing referrals to any paint shop or custom painter. You'll need to locate them on your own.

Here's why...

Painting brass models today is more challenging than ever due to changing materials and chemicals. Unfortunately our industry has lost a great many custom painters, some due to retirement, but many others due to safety complacency. Wearing and using the proper safety gear is vitally important. Fully ten of the guys we used to work with passed in recent years because they weren't paying attention to the thing that mattered most: Their good health.

We encourage anyone taking on model painting work to invest in proper safety gear, regularly maintain their paint respirators and spray booth filters, to protect their health above all else. Our website and Facebook page explain in great detail how we do this kind of work without compromising our health. We've been doing it this way for 40+ years. Which is how we've made it to 67 years of age without perishing in the process.

It's vitally important to take our examples, suggestions and warnings seriously or YOU could end up the next victim of thinking painting model trains is more important than your life. They're not. Please don't make that mistake. We've lost too many close-associates on account of improper respirator use, clogged spray booth filters, poor air flow through their spray booths, and using small, hobby spray booths that can't move enough air to do you any good at all. Social media is loaded with inappropriate examples of modelers painting inside of tiny hobby spray booths with clogged paint filters with swirling clouds of paint mist floating in the air. No matter the kind of paint being used, that is how you poison yourself and drastically shorten your life.

Third—When we started this business in August 2017 we had no idea how successful it might turn out to be. Optimism quickly turned to horror when over a 60 day period of time more than 1,400 brass models arrived unannounced with a note in each box saying, "To be painted". No shop on earth could possibly handle that much business. But many people don't understand that. The bottom line on paint shops can be this particularly troublesome situation—LOTS of models left unpainted, untouched. The image above shows the 1,400 models we returned unpainted after they arrived here without invitation.

If y'all think we might be exaggerating a bit, when Boyd Reyes retired from painting brass passenger cars for collectors, two fellows tried to send us 900 brass Santa Fe passenger cars to paint. That's when we we put our foot down. Enough already.

If you are a would-be-could-be-painter-kind-of-guy who gets excited at the prospect of painting lots of models for other people—THINK AGAIN. Please beware of the folks who ask to send one model, then ship 100. Poor businessmen think it's a windfall. Smart ones realize this is a situation to be avoided at all costs because it can stifle a small business in a heartbeat.

Looking ahead—Just imagine being the spouse of a painter-guy who accepted 5,000 brass models to paint, and then health issues befall the painter-guy.

What's a spouse to do in this situation?

So one of the nastier aspects of running a model painting business is the fact that there are a few people who will send truckloads of models at the drop of a hat, often unannounced, and that causes problems. The biggest problem of all is that when those models get refused and/or returned to the sender, that sender will find someone else to send those same models to again and again and again in the hopes that someone will eventually paint them. I know of several "painters" whose homes are literally filled to the ceilings with other people's brass models. In reality, their homes have become storage depots for another person's fantasies about what one painter might be able to provide, one day. That's dreaming on a grand scale.

On average, we accept only 5% of the requests that come in each year for repair and restoration work. And since we retired our paint shop in 2024, we reject 100% of requests for full paint jobs. We have to. There's just one of us. Thousands of you.

Having personally rescued well over a thousand brass models from a variety of failed custom painters, we know how devastating this problem can be for families trying to regain their models from painters who won't return phone calls or emails. Vast collections of brass models have been lost to failed custom shops when they aren't real businesses, aren't insured, don't have security, and don't have a backup plan to handle their own life emergencies.

We do.

Thanks again for visiting our website today. Carol and I truly appreciate your business and we wish you the best experiences with any of the shops you choose to work with.

Cheers!

Jeff Lemke