I have several Bachmann and Athearn Genesis tenders, most with painted-on lettering. I’ll be using a paint stripper suitable for plastics, but in most cases, I want to remove both the lettering and the paint.
I’ve bought lots of pre-owned and un-used old-stock freight and passenger car kits, and have stripped pretty well all of them. That allows me to modify them with better or more correct details, and then re-letter them to represent, in many cases, specific prototypes.
Pre environmentally correct lacquer thinner was mostly toluene which will dissolve styrene if course. Not good stuff to be using these days. That’s the stuff that was taken out of Testors styrene cement for safety reasons.
Methanol is also a lacquer thinner and safer than either toluene or acetone.
I believe acetone is now the main ingredient of current lacquer thinners compliant with VOC standards.
Lacquer thinner is a substance that will thin lacquer, in the context of this thread. I.e. will dissolve and thus remove lacquer.
Note that virtually all factory pre-decorated models are pad-printed, not decals. Removing the pad printed lettering with Solvaset is easier than removing decals, since as I noted the decal film tends to remain - you remove the ink of the decal, but not the clear film. With a factory-decorated model, you can remove the lettering without a trace with Solvaset and an eraser - and patience.
Based on my several experiences now removing pad printed lettering I am definitely going to try the low key approach next time, if there is a next time.
Is Solvaset any stronger than Microset or Microsol? There seems to be a terminology confusion between “set” and “sol”. I just remember that the blue label is for floating the decals around and the red label ls for melting them down into the nooks and crannies. Microset (blue) floats decals whereas Microsol (red) can destroy.
Tamiya uses “set” to mean the same as Microscale uses “sol”. Confusing to me.
I haven’t used the Solvaset myself (only the Microscale products) but from everything I’ve read Solvaset is approximately the same strength as the Micro Sol. I haven’t read or seen anything on Tamiya’s entry into the decal market, so I can’t say anything either way.
The Micro Set (blue) can also be used for flat areas when there isn’t any need to “melt” around heavy details. It does fine around rivets, etc. But for “heavy” detail as in corrugated passenger car sides, engine grills, etc, Micro Sol (red) after using the blue to position is a good idea.
