I clearcoated, I put the Walthers decal protector on them, clearcoated again, did everything I could think of. Don't know why they're peeling.
I have 5 of these - 2 dummies, 2 that have motors, but use rubber bands to drive the trucks (as opposed to being "powered" by rubberbands. LOL, I know what you meant!), and 1 with an Ernst gear driver conversion.
My rubber bands are dead (new ones on order), and the Ernst conversion was a disaster. The gear box sits on the metal body and grinds like no tomorrow. But worse, the truck doesn't sit on the track evenly - the forward pair of wheels sits off the rail, so in a curve, it derails.