removing factory decals off engines

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I have a few engines that i want to re-name.
2 bachmann spectrum engines
2 sunset brass engines.

How does one go about removing the railroad name off the tenders of the eninges with out runing the finish?

thanks

Kevin

2

The product I’ve had the most success with is Easy Lift Off from Polly-S. Use a Q-tip and a lot of care and patience. But even so, you will almost undoubtedly experience some damage to the original finish.

3

Never done it, but the guy at the LHS told me to put toothpaste on it and scrub them off with a tooth brush. But like I said, I haven’t tried it to see. Someone said something about a new paasche air eraser the other day, it sounds like a miniature sand blast gun that uses flour for an abrasive. Here’s a link:

http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?page=-1&TOPIC_ID=47473&REPLY_ID=516160#516160

Greg

4

I dont have many to remove, so buying a micro sand blaster isnt gonna happen. i think i will try the toothpaste method on a test car.

If it doesnt work well, I will just paint engine black over the exising decal and slap mine overtop ot it.

thanks.
Kevin

5

Try a toothpick, small piece of paper towel, and a little Comet cleanser. Using the toothpick to direct the paper towel, very lightly scrub Comet on the decal in a circular motion. I do apologize as it has been along time since I used this method, and I can’t remember if wet or dry is best, but I think it was moist Comet (and that would make sense and be less abrasive). It worked well without affecting the underlying paint. MR or a Kalmbach “tips” book had the trick described somewhere.

6

Thanks, I will try that.

Kevin

7

Are they decals? Or is the lettering paint?

IF it really is decals, soak the body in warm water, with mabe a drop or two of liquid dish detergent. This will loosed the decal adhesive, and you can easily remove the decal by rinsing with warm water, and mabe a light scrub with a soft toothbrush.

If the lettering is painted or tampo printed, I’ve had some success with removing the lettering using Cresto painter’s hand cleaner, and the orange hand cleaner with pumice. Try a Q-tip, or perhaps the paper towel tooth pick method mentioned above to work only on the lettering, trying to stay off the painted base color as much as possible.

Rotor

8

I’ve used a pencil eraser to remove the clearcoat applied over the decal and some of the decal. Then use the decal solvent used while applying decals to remove the remainder.

9

If its a decal use the decal remver from microscale, it wont ruin the paintwork, Im not a fan of soaking or using old tooth brushes…

hope this helps

Mike…