Hello! Been into trains all of my life and now that I have some disposable income, I’ve been working on a 4x8 HO scale layout in my apartment. I specifically have been modeling the 1950s Rock Island in Oklahoma where I grew up.
I just purchased an Athearn Genesis MT-4 that I want to renumber and reletter the engine to the CRI&P. MT-4s aren’t exactly like the Rock’s M-50s, but they seem pretty close (and SP & RI collaborated quite heavily during the 1900s, so it seems reasonable SP could have leased an MT-4 to RI). I’ve seen several methods online for removing decals, but nothing very conclusive on how to remove factory prints. What are some methods y’all have used to remove or cover factory prints? Also any tips for doing decal work would be greatly appreciated!
It’s been my experience it’s very difficult to remove factory printed numbers or letters. If you look back at some of the other forum threads, you’ll see there are a number of suggestions, with varying degrees of success.
If you’re up to trying them, good luck. Otherwise, it is much easier to just paint over what you don’t want. Real railroads do it all the time!
I used the technique from this video to finally remove some lettering on a three pack of Athearn hoppers earlier this week, which was very helpful! Must have overlooked it when doing my search. Going to see if it works on the locomotive’s tender today.
Another question. When it comes to clear coating a locomotive after applying decals, I assume removing the shell from the body is especially recommended on steam locomotives as to not gum up the pistons or crankshafts?
Hi,
I certainly would remove the Loco Shell from the Chassis, of Diesels as well as Steam.
I have no Steamers on my Layout, but I am sure others who do will be able advise you about their methods, tips and tricks to achieve a satisfactory finish.
Paul.
I have removed unit numbers by careful and patient use of pencil erasers. Move from more aggressive to less, i.e. old style pen eraser, to standard red rubber, to white soft plastic.
There’s a story here about renumbering an early F40 that was sold with a late F40 number, and an eight year old who recognized the mismatch…
Just tried the technique Paul recommended on the tender. Guess Athearn Genesis utilizes a different type of printing on their locomotives because it did not work. I’ll plan to remove the shells from the chasses once I get a locomotive cradle.
Just as an option, very fine grit 3M lapping film used ‘wet’ on a small glass lap might ‘polish’ the high points of the lettering down without damaging the underlying paint too much.
Counter to the usual ‘wisdom’ with polishing, start very fine (12000 grit or finer) and go ‘coarser’ only if you need to.