In the August 2016 issue of MR, in the Step by Step section, Cody Grivno used Microscale Microsol to remove the last three numbers from an ore car. He was then able to renumber the car. He did not have to strip and repaint it. I recently purchased a 36' Old Time Box Car from MDC. I want to change it from Southern Pacific to Soo Line. Is it possible to use Micorol to remove the herald and car numbers without damaging the underlying car color? I would rather not strip and repaint the entire car.
Thank you.
Tim Tilson
Welcome to the forum. Your first few posts are moderated, so they may be delayed (especially over the weekend). I’m replying just to bring your question further up the stack.
Unfortunately, I don’t have direct experience with your question, but it sounds as if you actually don’t want to strip the paint (as it says in the title of the post), just remove the lettering.
Good luck with your layout.
Layout Design GalleryLayout Design Special Interest Group
Yes if you're careful you can do it. Take your time, don't push to hard. I like to use a pencil eraser.
This is an old Walthers diesel I changed from Wabash to New York Central by removing the yellow Wabash lettering and striping, spraying the model with gloss finish, and decaling for NYC.
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/m/mrr-layouts/2289588.aspx
(Sorry, links don't work from this laptop for some reason.)
A link to Stix...
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
to the Model Railroader Forums, Tim!
Tim Tilson...I want to change it from Southern Pacific to Soo Line. Is it possible to use Micorol to remove the herald and car numbers without damaging the underlying car color?...
Well, it's certainly worth a try, although in many cases I've found it more satisfactory to strip the entire car, which makes it easier to upgrade the details.
Several manufacturers of freight cars applied the paint too heavily, which often obscured details. These reefers from LifeLike (pre-Proto), which I got for a buck-apiece off the "used" table at a now-long-gone hobbyshop suffered from that problem, but with the factory paint stripped off, had some surprisingly good details. I later decided to make them into ice-service reefers (supplying ice to icing plants and ice retailers), so removed the paint and lettering that I had applied, along with the roofs, as they had cast-on roofwalks and ice hatches. Here's one of them before re-painting...
...and after new paint and lettering...
Many Tyco cars suffered the same malady of too heavy application of paint. I stripped and re-painted this one...
...and several of these...
...but when their underbodies began to sag, completely re-did them as 36' truss rod cars...
...with radial roofs...
This one, another bargain table find, is an MDC boxcar, likely similar to yours, but new-in-the-box and undecorated. I've already added some details...
...and here it is, almost ready for paint...
...and in-service...
If you have difficulty removing the necessary lettering, don't fear stripping the car completely, as it will allow you to more easily make upgrades to the car's details, if you so choose.
Wayne
Tim Tilson In the August 2016 issue of MR, in the Step by Step section, Cody Grivno used Microscale Microsol to remove the last three numbers from an ore car. He was then able to renumber the car. He did not have to strip and repaint it. I recently purchased a 36' Old Time Box Car from MDC. I want to change it from Southern Pacific to Soo Line. Is it possible to use Micorol to remove the herald and car numbers without damaging the underlying car color? I would rather not strip and repaint the entire car. Thank you. Tim Tilson
Tim, I have had luck, but not perfect luck, with Cody's technique. The Microsol as you can infer from the name is a solvent, a mild one. Diosol is another. Any of the products meant to make decals snuggle into grooves and other details is likely a mild solvent. PineSol cleaner is another mild solvent. But some guys use PineSol as a paint remover so it is perhaps not mild enough.
You do not want to flood the car side with solvent - you want to control it. I think Cody used a Microbrush or microswab, right?
I put blue painting tape on the numbers I did NOT want to remove, and on any other nearby lettering/logos etc. Dip the swab or brush in product, dab it lightly once on a paper towel so it does not splatter product on the car side, and very lightly rub. You'll rub and rub and it seems like nothing is happening and that you are wasting energy. But if you are lucky, suddenly the number or letter you seek to remove looks a bit distorted. Don't over rub after that but lightly dab and with luck, you did it.
Instead of a microbrush or microswab I have also used a tortillon, an art supply sometimes called a blending stump, which is tightly wound up paper shaft with a point like a pencil point. The lightly abrasive nature of the paper combined with the mild solvent can remove an isolated number pretty well in my experience.
But when the technique does NOT work you find that you have removed number and paint right down to bare plastic which is often black. So that is the risk.
The next challenge of course is finding a decal or dry transfer of the exact right size and -- surprisingly difficult - the exact same font (and font size). What constitutes gothic or railroad roman font is evidently a matter of opinion. Even odder - what constitutes white is evidently a matter of opinion! I keep a supply of oddball and partly used decal odds and ends that I bought at an estate sale/swap meet for just this purpose. And one source I have used again and again - the free HO and N Turtle Creek Central decals that were bound into an old issue of MR years ago when Jim Kelly was building that project layout. I even found that issue on a "free, take one" pile and verified the decals were still there so I took it.
And even if I can replace an isolated digit on the side of the car, then there are those tiny tiny numbers on the ends of the car. Yikes! I've done it but I felt like I was performing cataract surgery on a flea.
Jeff Wilson in one or another of his freight car books takes a middle ground -- he says you don't need to strip the car and start over, but he does not even attempt to replace this or that number. He removes all the numbers and starts over so that they all match and line up, etc. When all the smoke is cleared, if you have luck with Cody's number-removing method, you may still want to follow Jeff's advice, remove 'em all so that they'll match.
Dave Nelson