I have an Arnold SW1 that I am going to strip, and repainted into Pacific Electric Tigger Stripes. I have ran into one (make that 6) issue...all of the "glass" is glued in, and so are the lights. How do you safely remove the glass and lenses?
Since the glass is glued in, you might be better off covering it with a liquid paint mask, such as Parma Fasmask.
Take a look at Peteski's post on TRW, lots of info there. Hopefully it helps. https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=37191.0
I didn't bother with the glass. I used liquid mask. As for the headlight and rear lights - I drilled them out and replaced them with fiber optic. Wolf
Sometimes if you put the shell in the freezer and then dump it into hot water (not too hot) the shock will break the glue bonds.
I also private messaged a member here who has custom painted an SW1 and might have some advice for you.
I was able to get the glass out using a chisel blade on an X-acto knife, working slowly of course. I found the headlight glass was not glued in, but the headlight housings were, I was able to slowly work them loose, also. It's definitely not engineered like a Kato shell!