This has probably been asked before and if so please forgive me. i have some Lionel American Flyer S scale cylindrical hoppers lettered for Burlington Northern that I need to remove the logos and the BURLINGTON NORTHERN and the BN and number from so as to paint for another railroad. I want to keep the color intact along with the dimensional data as those will be the same. What can I use to remove that lettering number and logos? One person suggested nail polish remover. Seems to me that would ruin the model I am open to all suggestions.
Usually any questions about toy trains are better directed to the similar Forum under Classic Toy Trains. But removal of lettering, but not paint, is a sort of universal scale modeling issue so perhaps persons on this Forum have more experience than your usual toy train enthusiast who is unlikely to ever want to do what you propose.
Nail polish remover is likely to remove everything down to bare plastic.
Whatever you do has to be done with caution and slow careful steps that might seem piddling but are needed to accomplish your specific goals.
I suggest getting some of what are called microbrushes (like very tiny Q tips). Get some 50% isopropyl alchohol. It also comes in 70% and 90% but those might be too strong. With weak isopropyl on the micro brush pick a part of the lettering and start rubbing, but don’t let the alchohol spread beyond where you want things removed. Eventually I think you will see the white (presumably) lettering or logo start to soften. Sometimes some VERY gentle coaxing with a chisel blade in a knife handle can help. Do not gouge the plastic. This can be a time consuming and painstaking process. Assuming you finally get the logo and lettering off, the green paint might look a bit rough. Try rubbing with a wet cloth to smooth it out again.
It might even be wise to use masking tape to create little windows of where you want to concentrate your efforts.
If the 50% isopropyl does nothing try some 70% but resist the temptation to get it over and done with. But if you start seeing green base paint color on your micro brush, stop everything and let things dry out before you start in again.
This would be easier to show you than it is to explain. The key is to concentrate your removal efforts only on those parts you want to remove - don’t just mush it around. Tiny careful motions.
The basic principle is to start with the weakest solvents and work up from there. The suggestion of 50% isopropyl alcohol is good but I wouldn’t buy a 50% mixture per say. I would buy as high a concentration as you can and then dilute it with distilled water, or even tap water if its not too hard and you don’t let it dry on the model. That way you can make up small amounts at lower concentrations to test with.
Speaking of testing, I would always start on the bottom of the car on the main body colour where a bit of smudged paint won’t show. Apply a small amount of the solution and if nothing happens try it on the lettering. If, on the other hand, the finish you want to save comes off easily on the bottom of the car then I would suggest trying another method.
One thing that worked well for me when I wanted to remove some logos from older Classic Metal Works truck cabs was Tamiya Super Thin Styrene Cement. In that case, the body colour was not bothered by the solvent but the letters came off quite quickly. Obviously, that is something that should be tested in an out of sight spot first to see if it attacks the body colour.
Good idea, Dave, starting with a weakened alcohol/water solution. I’ve used Walthers (Hobsco?) Solvaset decal solvent on occasion, testing it in an unseen spot first, and rubbed carefully with Q-tips. With either solvent, be careful not to rub hard enough that you go through any finish coat of paint. I always liked to remove car numbers and apply others in the series, leaving realistic gaps. Good luck!
Thanks fot your input I really appreciate it, however, I did not know at the time I posted my initial question and only found it afterward but Cody has a video tip on just this subject though not on a Lionel American Flyer car but the technique should work on my cars as well. Using a paintbrush he wets the lettering/logo to be removed with Micro-Sol and lets it set for 5 minutes or so. He then prods the lettering with the paintbrush and if it starts to come up he dampens it further with a Q-tip then covers the lettering with tape and burnishes it with a tgoothpick. When he removes the tape the majority of the lettering comes with it. He may have to do that procedure again but eventually the unwanted lettering/logo will be removed.
I just viewed Cody’s video. I’ll be interested to see if Cody’s technique works for you. Please keep us up to date. I have a number of older Athearn Canadian Pacific box cars that all have the same reporting number. I think I’m going to see if Cody’s method will pull the numbers off so they can be re-numbered.
I went to try my Micro Sol but discovered that the cap had cracked so the top wasn’t sealed. I gave it a try, but not suprisingly it didn’t touch the numbers because I suspect the solution has lost its punch being exposed to air. I’ll have to wait before I can get a new bottle. I have an LHS within a reasonable distance but I’m not going to make a special trip. Having the solution mailed to me is a non-starter because it would end up in our community mail box and would likely freeze before I could get to it. No, I’m not willing to sit beside the mail box every day until the Micro Sol arrives![swg][(-D][(-D]
Well I just tried Cody’s tip and it did not work. Lionel must use a different type ink that any of the HO manufacturers. I have a couple more ideas in store one being Simple Green. Someone suggested using that and an eraser to remove the unwanted lettering and logo. if there were decals available for the dimensional data of these cylindrical hoppers I woulod just strip the paint and lettering and repaint and re letter them but I have been unable to to find the correct decals.
As for your Micro-Sol becoming frozen it is possible too that it bacame frozen on the delivery truck on the way to your post office box. your best bet might be to go to a town that has a hobby shop and pick up a bottle and keep it in a shirt pocket until you get home. I did that even for the short drive home. i just did not know what would happen if it froze so I was not about to take any chances.
Just for grins and giggles I tried using an eraser I bought at Staples in a set of erasers and together with the Micro-Set it started taking the lettering off. I bought a package of erasers for something like $3.49 that included a bunch of those type you put on the end of a pencil some sort of grippers that I assume you put on a pencil and 3 flat type erasers a pink one a blue one and an orange one. So far the orange eraser seems to work best but I have not yet tried the other two i will make a further progresseport after i test all three.
I just found something else that’s going to present a challenge. There is a very small BN and a car number on the very end at the top. Getting this off so as to put another set of reporting marks is going to be fun to say the least because there is not room for the eraser to fit in there. Those of you who can remember William Bendix in THE LIFE OF RILEY will remember his very famous byline…what a revolting development this is lololololololololololol
I wonder if it is possible to find plain decal paper of approximately the same color as the basic car, so that a small piece of that decal could cover the small BN and car number. If it is an out of the way place it is less likely to be noticed especially if it then covered with somethng else.
I never thought of that but all I really need would be a rectangular “patch” to cover the small BN nd number. Wuth a good paint program it should be easy to mimic the paint color then print it on a sheet of decal paper then prep it in the specified manner and apply. Then when it;s good and dry add the new decals.
I went to my local hobby shop and bought a bottle of Micro-Sol the stuff with the red label. Together with that orange eraser i mentioned previously it works a whole lot better. i am still going to have to do several applications and rubbing with the eraser but this works a whole lot easier.
It’s working even better than i first reported. After a while i tried using a toothpick and “scratched” on the logo…the factory applied logo began coming off with no problem at all and the original paint was not harmed in the least. Bob
I bought a battery operated eraser at Hobby Lobby. It has the replaceable eraser tips that can be replaced. It works quite well on smaller lettering/logos…it just takes some time.
I did something similar with an Oral B battery powered toothbrush. I kept the bristles on one head and removed those from another then epoxied a round piece of styrene where the bristles were then attach an adhesive sanding disk the same diameter. it works great for sanding off small details for superdetailing and the one with the bristles works great for paint removal. It may have even worked in this case as well but i am getting great results as is.