Removing Decals without removing paintwork

[pomerol]

I am wondering if anyone out there has an idiot-proof way of removing decals from paintwork, particularly on locomotives and freightcars, without damaging the factory paint....I have a few pieces which are the correct paint for my freelanced road, but I need to put new decals on....any ideas...(nb: I am in Australia, so products may well be different or entirely unavailable to me, due to shipping regs etc. Any help would be appreciated. (Iam modelling a ficticious road called The Alamosa RR, a sub of the DRGW).

[ClinchValleySD40]

Are you referring to factory painted lettering which is actually painted on and not decals?

[pomerol]

I guess I am...do most new locomotives have factory painted lettering rather than decaled?

[rambo1]

Try alcohol from a drug store or some very light house hold cleaners with a cotton swab.Even toothpaste might work but be careful these things could dull the paint.rambo1.........

[ClinchValleySD40]

Manufactures don't use decals. They paint (pad print) all their cars and locos.

Like rambo says, try alcohol or a pencil eraser or Pine Sol. I've also heard some guys use Micro Sol, but haven't tried it myself.

[pomerol]

Thanks for the replies...what is Pine Sol? We have a disinfectant called Pine-o-Clean...would that be similar?

[Supermicha]

I used cotton sticks with 96%ic alcohol to remove the AMTRAK marks on Walthers superliner cars and that worked very well without damaging the silver basic paint...

Normal decals can be removed also with this method, but a bath in warm water for a few minutes and little help from a tooth brush will work too...