Those are all hard questions to answer. It all depends...
Depends on which train you wish to deface and your skills in moding. The easiest and fastest I would say is to use a faced train that just has a screw holding the face on. Remove the screw & face, caliper the size of the face then find yourself a smoke box door from HO or OO train parts to glue in its place and you are done. This becomes trickier with some of the faced trains that uses the face and its screw to also hold the bracket for the screw that holds the battery compartment screw in which case you can remove the face plate screw but will then have to Super Glue the bracket back in for the compartment screw.
How long will it take, the fastest way is the one explained above which would take 15 minutes or more with the glue drying time. Of course if you are looking into painting and signage to completely change a look it can add to the time considerably. I must also mention that there are a few faces that are part of the train schell and has to be cut out or ground down to deface. These would take a lot longer and require some experience in modifying.
For me, I take my sweet time. It takes me quite a while. From the initial idea, investigation into the train I am defacing like its parts and what it takes to remove the face and install a smoke box door, the engineering brainstorming in my mind, my favorite part, to come up with possible obstacles Painting to be prepared for or additions to the mod. Painting will also add to the time. I am currently working on a Tank Engine deface and waiting on the smoke box door before I start. I like to have everything on hand before starting.
Just start with an easy face and give it a whirl especially if it is an extra train.
Depends on which train you wish to deface and your skills in moding. The easiest and fastest I would say is to use a faced train that just has a screw holding the face on. Remove the screw & face, caliper the size of the face then find yourself a smoke box door from HO or OO train parts to glue in its place and you are done. This becomes trickier with some of the faced trains that uses the face and its screw to also hold the bracket for the screw that holds the battery compartment screw in which case you can remove the face plate screw but will then have to Super Glue the bracket back in for the compartment screw.
How long will it take, the fastest way is the one explained above which would take 15 minutes or more with the glue drying time. Of course if you are looking into painting and signage to completely change a look it can add to the time considerably. I must also mention that there are a few faces that are part of the train schell and has to be cut out or ground down to deface. These would take a lot longer and require some experience in modifying.
For me, I take my sweet time. It takes me quite a while. From the initial idea, investigation into the train I am defacing like its parts and what it takes to remove the face and install a smoke box door, the engineering brainstorming in my mind, my favorite part, to come up with possible obstacles Painting to be prepared for or additions to the mod. Painting will also add to the time. I am currently working on a Tank Engine deface and waiting on the smoke box door before I start. I like to have everything on hand before starting.
Just start with an easy face and give it a whirl especially if it is an extra train.