Does anyone have a way of being able to renumber Athearn diesels without having to repaint the unit. I tried Solvaset, rubbing alcohol and Polly S Easy Lift Off, all to no avail. The paint came off but the numbers stayed until I scraped them off. Also Trying to match Athearn L&N grey is next to impossible…any hints?
Thanks,
Ron from Winnipeg. [:)]
See: http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=40084
On factory painted units, the numbers and lettering is usually pad printed using the same paint as used for the rest of the model.
L&N grey in real life is the cheapest paint that the local supplier had on hand that was close. Rarely did a locomotive have all it’s panels the same color.
I haven’t used this on a loco yet, but it worked on Athearn pad-printed containers. I used Microscale’s Micro-Set, poured a puddle on the lettering, let it set for a while, but don’t let it evaporate. Next, I used a toothpick and started rubbing the lettering. It took about 15-20 minutes, but it took all the lettering off that I wanted to remove, and didn’t touch the paint. I tried an eraser, but that removed some of the paint. Good luck.
[#ditto]
Prototype railroads often renumber their locos several times over their active lifetimes. Sometimes you can even see the outline of the old number where they painted over it. Do you think for a minute that cash-strapped railroads worry about their locos being all the same color front-to-back…? Look at my beloved CSX as an example![(-D]