So still learning the detailing tricks of the trade as it were. My question is that I have several of the Bachmann Spectrum 2-8-0 Consolidations that I am wanting to renumber/decal for D&RGW...sorry Santa Fe fans. Wondering what would be the best way to strip the number and ATSF from the loco without stripping the paint if possible? Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.
I use a Q-tip soaked in 91% alcohol and then a lot of elbow grease. Unfortunately, Bachmann's lettering/numbering is pretty tough to get off without losing the clearcoat and some of the underlying black paint. I usually wind up touching up the cab with a micro-brush and then respraying the entire tender shell. -Mark
I have used Micro Set to some degree of success on some lettering not all though. Soft brush to get a pool of the Micro Set over the lettering and let soak for awhile then a stiff brush to scrub gently. Or the old pencil eraser sharpened to a point and gently rub the lettering away. In both cases I have always needed to replace the clearcoat and ocassionally actually touch up the paint. I have an ancient pencil type typewriter eraser that I can put in a pencil sharpener and get to a small point. But those things are next to impossible to find anymore.
Oh..................the shame of it all, removing America's #1 railroad decals from a great locomotive...................ha ha both Mark and John have good idea's for removal of the decals. Since I usually have to repaint anyway, I just repaint the model over the decals myself. An airbrush leaves no thick paint and for me works well. But then, I'm a lozy old coot.
Being that it's steam, just dip it in denatured alcohol, and strip it. Repaint the tender and decal. Black is not that difficult to match and you will probably end up dullcoating the whole thing anyhow that helps blend it all. It's too much work to just try to remove the lettering and keep the original paint in tact. You will always end up with blimishes where you try to scrub off the old lettering. The lettering on our models are not decals, they are pad printed ink and often tougher to remove than the actual paint.
OK, Skipgear, time for a dumb question: do you mean rubbing alcohol, and if so the 70% or 91% variety? Sorry for being so ignorant, but I can only remember buying one bottle of the stuff about 20 years ago, and it's still almost full!hboy:
Denatured alcohol is sold in the paint department of most stores as a solvent. It is also sold as camp stove fuel. I don't use rubbing alcohol for anything, it often has oils added in that cause problems with painting later.
Thank you, Tony! I absolutely did not know that - you would think in my 64 years I would have picked up on that somewhere along the line.
Another thing to try is a 50/50 mix of Denatured Alcohol and Laquer Thinner for those exceptionally hard to strip shells. I have been using that mix to clean over-spray off of lexan RC car bodies for years. The mix dilutes the laquer to the point that it doesn't damage the plastic. Always test before you dip though, there are some plastics that are a little less resiliant than others.
I use either the 91% alcohol from the drugstore with no added ingredients except water. The lower grade rubbing alchols can have as said earlier added ingredients. Also the large stores like Walmart or Kmart have the smaller bottles of the 91% at the pharmacy area and the metal cans of alochol in the paint departments besides the big box home improvement stores. I have found in the past that in some drugstores the denatured alcohol was behind the pharmacy counter.
Sorry for the long no response time. So I definately appreciate the advice. I did go and pick up a bottle of 91% Alcohol and a can of denatured from Walmart. 11-12 bucks total...that including my liquid fuel (Mtn Dew). So I used the 91% and worked like a charm. Though as you will notice it doesn't get it completely and likely going to have to paint. Hoping to avoid it as I do not have a compressor for doing it now a sprayer. Likely to barter to use a club members to finish this little job up and see how it turns out.
Scalecoat makes gantastic paint stripper that will knock the Bachmann lettering off, but work quick so as to stay out of the black paint. Or, just mask the sides off, clear the whole tender and cab sides with it on a q-tip (or several), then rely on Bachmann's black plastic to decal onto and clear-coat with satin. Should look just fine
I re decaled an HO and an N 2-8-0. I removed the lettering with pinesol disinfectant cleaner applied with a Q tip and rubbed in gently with new pencil eraser. It worked well and was easy and the cost was $0 except for the decals. I may try the Alcohol route next time. I have also used the pine sol to strip paint off a couple of locos.
