I have to remove the lettering on several Walthers/Life Like P2K diesel locomotives. I have tried using Solveset, and isopropyl alcohol, as suggested in several online forums, and they work well with Athearn blue box equipment, but not so well with the Proto equip.
I have five CB&Q locomotives that need to be renumbered, but when I tried the above solutions, they removed more than just the numbers. Any better ideas?
RicZ
Subject should read “Removing Only the Lettering…”
RicZ
You can always try using an eraser. The retractable erasers (pictured below) are quite handy and allow you good control:
Just take your time and use a gentle rubbing action (in one direction) to slowly remove the lettering.
Tom
If you are really fast, you can use acetone (fingernail polish remover). I’ve used it on freight cars before when renumbering cars, buy you have to be quick with a light touch with a small, stiff brush.
If you are talking about just changing the Engines numbers, I would not try to remove them. I would just patch them out, find a near perfect match for the paint color, square off the numbers,paint them, let dry and put on your new numbers. I did that on 6 Athearn BB SD 40-2’S, just changed the last two numbers,with the same style of lettering, you can’t even tell. Athearn BB engines at the time, only came in one number… Have Fun!!
Cheers, [D]
Frank
I’ve had good luck using Solvaset and a regular pencil eraser to remove lettering from a Walthers engine. It takes time, but if you’re patient, you can remove the lettering without harming the paint underneath. You may have to apply the Solvaset several times before the lettering starts to smear, but just keep adding Solvaset when the eraser starts to feel ‘dry’ and keep rubbing. I took an old Walthers FM switcher decorated for the Wabash (black engine with gold lettering and stripes) and removed all the lettering and striping and re-decaled it for New York Central. It worked out nicely.
Ric, I came up with the perfect solution (no pun intended). I use this technique for any cars or engines that I have to remove decals from (or to redecal over them). It does not involve the use of any solvents which, as you have found out, removes some of the background paint, as well. Simply go to your local hobby shop and buy a 3-5 ACRYLIC paints that CLOSELY matches the decal background of your car or engine (I use “Model Color” acrylic paints that come in small plastic bottles). Also get a bottle of white and black in case you have to lighten or darken your color you closely come up with. Buy a 6-pack of small empty bottles, too. With these bottles, make up some color samples that best matches the background color. First, try painting the colors on some discarded plastic sheeting. Let them dry. Obviously, you’ll choose the mix that will be the best background match of your car or locomotive. Simply take a paint brush and paint out the decal. You can then redecal over the painted-out decal or leave it out altogether. This entire procedure is a lot easier than it sounds, and you’ll end up with a highly professional looking job! -artguy
This is a method that one of the guys “across the street” came up with. Sounds really interesting.
http://www.modelrailroadforums.com/forum/showthread.php?30948-Removing-Paint-Lettering-Like-a-Boss!
Imagine using simple jelled alcohol to remove just the lettering. I do a lot of painting and I never would have thought of this. I’ve been able to get it done with Solvaset, Q-tips, and/or an eraser. But it was always a slow process if you didn’t want to remove all the lettering and the underneath paint.
It had gotten so slow for me that I found that it was easier to just strip and repaint the tender/loco/car.