Walthers' 60 passenger cars: remove lettering with out taking paint possible?

[caboose63]

since Walthers' undecorated versions of their 60 foot passenger cars are now sold out i was wondering if anyone knows if its possible to remove the railroad names on the car sides with out taking off the paint or having to repaint the whole car itself? i figure if i could get away with just removing the lettering on their 60 foot passenger cars and not do repainting it would look nice say having cars in GN, ATSF or UP colors with my layout's name Leelanau County railway on the sides.

[Anonymous]

Here are some tips i picked up when I ran a similar thread on "The Guage" some time ago.

QUOTE: I've had good luck removing heralds and markings with a white gum art eraser. No solvents except a little water.

Most use ink rather than paint for lettering, I don't know if they use ink as well for the base color. If the color on another car is right, but you just need to change lettering, you can sometimes take the lettering off with a light application of decal setting solution on a "Q" tip without disturbing the paint underneath.

Sometimes you can use a little denatured alcohol, brake fluid, or some Scalecoat Rinse Away just painted on the letters you want to remove. I think Accurail casts their cars in the main body color, and then uses pad printing to put on numbers. I recently stripped the paint off of an Athearn bay window caboose, and found that the lettering seemed to be the last thing I could get to come off! I would try various compounds commonly used for stripping paint from plastic and see what works. The main thing is to just paint it on those letter you want to remove, being careful not to get your chemicals on anything you don't want disturbed. Sometimes Microsol, decal setting solution will disolve letter as well.

If you are willing to experiment with a car you ought to be able to remove the lettering. You can try Walthers Solvaset applied with a brush onto the lettering, let it sit a bit, then use a pencil erasure to rub. It will take awhile and at first it may seem to be doing nothing. Patience! This has worked for me with Life Like and Bowser lettering.
Now the paint under where the lettering was will be noticably flatter than the rest, just use a spray can of glosscote. This will prep the surface for the decals. Wash between removing the letters and applying the glosscote of course.

I used the Solvaset technique on some Athearn Passenger Cars with good success. The surface is different after removing the lettering but as noted above this can be handled.

I did try the Solvaset technique on an Atlas RTR car without any success, however, so again it's best to experiment before wasting a $25 model.

At the Long Beach CA train show earlier this spring, I discussed this with the Walther's representative at their booth. While not necessarily approving, he didn't nix the idea. He suggested their undecorated models, which you now point out have sold out.

George

[tstage]

jrinnorthcountry63,

I have found that a stiff eraser (like those found on a cheap, disposable, mechanical pencil) does a wonderful job removing unwanted letter, with minimum smudging to the underlying paint. It takes a little bit of effort and time but I've had good success with it. Maybe one of those clickable erasers would work, too?

Tom

[Anonymous]

The eraser that worked best for me was the Papermate "Pink Pearl" which can be picked up at art/hobby supply stores like Michaels.

[MRTerry]

I've removed the numbers from Walthers 60' cars using a pencil eraser and Microscale Micro Sol decal solvent. Just be patient and rub gently - you don't want to scrub through the paint.
Thanks for reading MR,
Terry

[tstage]

As Terry indicates above, use a gentle action when rubbing to minimize the effect on the underlying paint. I neglected to mention that.

Tom