How do I remove stripped screws?

I've tried the rubber band trick, and I even bought screwgrab, but neither worked, so I'm wondering if those screw-extraction drillbits come in sizes small enough for these trains.
Specifically, I've stripped the screw holding HiT Toys Bill's face onto his smokebox. I'd really like to avoid damaging the plastic at all, and don't want to waste more of my money like I did on the bottle of Screwgrab.

If those drill bits DO come small enough, I don't think I'd necessarily need to replace it anyway, since the plastic parts that actually hold the face in are a pretty tight fit, and the custom faces I want to get will probably have to be applied with blacktack instead of being slotted in anyway.

I've never used a drill before, so what kind would you guys recommend I get for Christmas?

Any better ways I could remove the screw?

[Super]

Maybe it might help if you could post a picture with what you are having trouble with Brat

I've added a photo to the original post. The screw is stripped nearly to the point of being a circle, and screwgrab paste did not help at all. I managed to get the screw out of Ben's face but really don't want to risk damaging Bill.

OK, I see that by 'stripped' you mean that you've ruined the head, probably by using the wrong type or size of screwdriver.  'Stripped' in my book usually refers to stripping off the threads, but others may use the word differently.

In any case, you should easily be able to drill off the screw head because there's a nice deep hole in the head to guide the drill bit.  If you choose a drill bit with a diameter similar to the shank of the screw, the screwhead will come off when you've drilled a few mm into it, and then you should be able to take the assembly apart.

[Super]

In my experience 'defacing' the Thomas engines, those face screw heads are easily stripped because most modifiers do not have a short enough, right size head, screwdriver to get into the narrow, short, engine shell to remove the screw straight on. So most use a normal sized (too long) of screwdriver which doesn't allow the Phillips head wings to fit correctly because the driver is on an angle. Works most of the time but if the screw is too tight the head will strip out as shown.

If you have a Rotary Tool with a thin cut-off wheel/disc you could try slicing a groove in the head and then use a slotted screwdriver. I would also suggest trying to warm up the plastic where the screw is, with a Hair Dryer but do not heat it so much that the plastic gets soft or damage any stickers/decals. You may want to at least try the warm up method first and use the screwgrab/rubberband methods you tried before but be careful with the heat.

groove & slotted screwdriver solution sounds good to me too.

In my experience 'defacing' the Thomas engines, those face screw heads are easily stripped because most modifiers do not have a short enough, right size head, screwdriver to get into the narrow, short, engine shell to remove the screw straight on. So most use a normal sized (too long) of screwdriver which doesn't allow the Phillips head wings to fit correctly because the driver is on an angle. Works most of the time but if the screw is too tight the head will strip out as shown.

If you have a Rotary Tool with a thin cut-off wheel/disc you could try slicing a groove in the head and then use a slotted screwdriver. I would also suggest trying to warm up the plastic where the screw is, with a Hair Dryer but do not heat it so much that the plastic gets soft or damage any stickers/decals. You may want to at least try the warm up method first and use the screwgrab/rubberband methods you tried before but be careful with the heat.

I do have a very thin screwdriver that fits within the boiler/tank nicely, but the screws on HiT Toys products are just so tight that it takes an astronomical amount of effort and grip to actually move the screw, and I failed a couple too many times and ended up just wrecking the whole screwhead. I've had similar problems with the screws on other HiT Toys rolling stock, but it's particularly difficult to get a grip because of the delicate nature of the engine and the tight space..

What rotary tool would you recommend? I'm not knowledgeable about hardware (in regards to computers and crafts alike) so I don't know where to start and don't want to end up ordering a tool that will be too big or too destructive for such a small job.

What rotary tool would you recommend? I'm not knowledgeable about hardware (in regards to computers and crafts alike) so I don't know where to start and don't want to end up ordering a tool that will be too big or too destructive for such a small job.

The name Dremel is so well known that it's almost generic, like the way Hoover is (or used to be anyway) synonymous with vacuum cleaner.  Plenty of online research to be done, but the name Proxxon seems to be recurrent. I don't think you need to pay those kind of prices though, I have two very cheap Dremel clones that have always worked fine for me. Your local tool and/or hobby store might be a good place to see what's available and get more advice. Variable speed is useful.

[Super]

I am hesitant to recommend a Rotary Tool for someone who is not familiar with using the tool especially in a small space. It would be very easy to ruin what you are working on and worse seriously hurting yourself. What I would recommend and is much cheaper is to forget about this shell and just find yourself another, possibly not running, engine and hope the experienced you have gained trying to get the first screw out will make it easier to remove the second screw.. At any rate, fill us in on your progress and if you succeeded and let us know any method you were successful with. Good Luck 👍

EDIT: My advice on your question of using a drill...it would be near impossible to drill that screw where it is with a bit straight enough to remove the screw and the risk for injury is the same as above.