I bought a proto 2000 New York Central sw8 hoping to turn it into Strasburg #8618. All I need to do is renumber it, change the side text to "Strasburg" and add a k5la on the cab. I found some decals for 8618, but I'm not sure how I should apply them. Is there a way to remove the original lettering, or should I paint over them? And what kind of adhesive is used to stick the decals on?
Building my first layout, 4x8 contemporary urban area in HO scale
You may be able to remove the existing lettering, but I usually remove the details, then drop the bodyshell into a suitable paint stripper.
As for decals, they're basically self-adhering if you apply them properly.
Here's my procedure for applying decals (some portions won't apply, as all you're adding is a roadname and some numbers, but some other modellers may find some useful stuff, too.):
First, I would suggest that you wash the car (or locomotive, structure, etc.), using warm water and dish detergent, then rinse it thoroughly with water and let it air-dry.Once it’s dry, airbrush it in an appropriate colour(s), then set it aside to let the paint dry/cure/harden, depending on the type of paint you use.Once that is done, airbrush the entire areas which will be decalled with Glosscote (or your preferred clear gloss) then let it fully dry until there’s no odour of solvent present on the car. Don’t apply the gloss only where the decals will be applied - for rolling stock and locomotives, those areas are usually the sides and ends - cover them completely with the gloss, even if the amount of decal work will be very minimal. Allow the clear coat to fully cure/harden - there should be no noticeable odour to it, (this minimises the chance of the setting solutions reacting with the clear coat).Next, use a sharp blade to cut the needed decals from the sheet, keeping as far away from the lettering as possible. Once you have all of the required lettering free of the main sheet, use a sharp blade (re-sharpen or replace as necessary) and working on a hard surface (I use a sheet of glass on my work desk for this), to trim away as much of the blank paper from as close as you can maneuver the blade to the lettering, using a straight down chopping motion, rather than slicing it away. If necessary, do this work under magnification (eyeglasses, Optivisor, or loupe).The reason for the two-part cutting is that slicing the image, even with a sharp blade, raises the edges along the cut line, and when you apply that decal to the model, the setting solution is often insufficient to make those edges settle completely flat onto the surface. Using a chopping motion has a couple of advantages, first that it allows you to position the tip of the blade as close as possible to the lettering, and second, that when you bring the blade down to make the cut, the chopping movement pushes the edge of the decal downward, which will allow better and easier setting of the lettering when it is time to apply that solution. Another tip to decrease the chances that your lettering job will look obvious as decals, is to trim the excess clear film from rounded letters or numerals such as B, C, O, P, 2, 3, 8, 0, etc. which are at the beginning or end of a block of lettering. F’rinstance, on a CANADIAN NATIONAL car, I would use a simple diagonal chop to remove the clear film from the top and bottom left side of the “C”, and the clear film from the “L” at the end of NATIONAL - this latter chop could be a simple diagonal from the top to the right edge of the foot, but an L-shaped cut would give even better results.The same trimming can be applied to dimensional data, too, even if you apply it in the blocks in which it’s printed. For example....CAPY 100000LD LMT 120000LT WT 49000....trim the top left corner of the “C”, the top right corner of the last “0” in the top line, and the bottom right corner of the last “0” in the bottom line with a simple diagonal chop. You will be surprised by how much difference it can make in the finished appearance.Use distilled water for soaking the decal - it's available in gallon jugs at any supermarket, and not at all expensive. This eliminates any dissolved minerals which might otherwise be present in tap water, and a gallon will do a lot of decals. Do not rush the soaking process for the decal, but allow it to release from the backing paper on its own. If it's big enough to handle with tweezers (not something small, such as a single digit for dimensional data), dip the released film into water, submerging it completely, then, as you withdraw it from the water, drag the back-side of it over the lip of the container holding the water - this helps to remove any residue left from the backing paper. Depending on the particular decal, you may want to repeat this a couple of times. Smaller decals, like blocks of dimensional data or single numerals, can be simply dipped into the water, then set on your work surface while the water frees them from the backing paper. Most decals applied using only water can be re-wet and moved an almost infinite number of times. For very small pieces of decal (a single letter or numeral, or even a period or comma, I place the dry decal near its intended place, then wet it with a drop of water on my fingertip or the end of a knife or tweezers. It can usually be slid off the backing paper easily, then maneuvered into place. Use references on the model (rivet lines, panel lines, doors, ladders, and other details) as guides to position the lettering correctly and level. Where those details aren't available, I like to cut strips of masking tape as guidelines, and when lettering with individual letters or numerals, often use a pencil to denote, on the tape, the beginning and end of each word, so that the spacing is correct. Likewise, individual letter spacing is not usually uniform, but rather depends on the particular letters and their sequence within the words. Google "kerning" for more info. Once the decals have been applied on the gloss surface and have been blotted using a clean cloth, I use a small brush to apply a fairly weak setting solution around the perimeter of each individual pieces of decal, and also on the decals’s surface - Microscale’s Microset works well for this step. Let the decals dry fully - it usually takes 10 or 15 minutes at most.Next, I use the brush-in-cap from the Solvaset bottle to apply this stronger decal setting solution, in the same manner as the previous operation. I let this dry completely (a couple hours at least, although I often leave them overnight) then use a clean cloth over my fingertip, dipped in the distilled water to wet it, then gently rub the wet cloth over each piece of the applied and set decals - this should remove any marks left by the action of the Solvaset. Use a dry portion of the same cloth to remove any remaining water from the model’s surface.After the decals have been cleaned and have fully-dried, I overspray them with another coat of clear gloss. This step may seem unnecessary, but the gloss of the decal seldom matches exactly the gloss of the surface on which it has been applied. This overspray ensures that the entire surface has a uniform finish. If you're using an airbrush for applying the clear finish, it will dry (to-the-touch, at least) very rapidly, and you can then apply the flat (or semi-gloss, if you're modelling a fairly new car) almost immediately. After this step, the decal work is completed, and the car set aside, usually at least overnight or for a day-or-so to let the clear coats fully harden. Airbrushing gives you the option of mixing that final clear coat to whatever sheen or flatness you wish for that particular model. The car can then be weathered as you wish, but unless you're weathering using oils or chalk, I'd recommend no flat overspray over the weathering, as it usually makes the weathering effects too uniform.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Wayne
You can use an eraser to try to remove the lettering and numbers, or by carefully scraping off the lettering with the edge of a new #11 Xacto blade. Afterwards , after masking off the windows, you can put a clear gloss coating on the shell, as decals prefer a gloss surface.
Do you have written permission from the Strasburg to violate their trademark and/or copyright?
OK, I'm joking - but barely
Back in the late Eighties/early Nineties, some railroads tried to force model manufacturers to pay licensing fees to duplicate their liveries (including that of predecessor roads merged into today's corporate behemoths). They justified it as "We're just going to charge a dollar a year so no one can claim in court that we don't defend our trademark and get to use it in ways we don't approve of" But that was widely mocked and it was seen as an attempted power grab (would EMD and GE come next saying that they wanted licence fees for duplicating the appearance of their products?) In addition, some wiser heads at corporate HQ's said, "Do we really want to tick off a bunch of people who should be our natural allies and lose the free advertising we get"? So the idea slunk back into the hole from which it had crawled out of
Second, you can use a pencil eraser - not too much force, you don't want to damage the paint underneath - to try to remove the factory lettering, then apply glosscoat with a fine brushto that area and decal as per the great instructions above
Most original lettering is paint, not decals. I have had no luck with solvaset. Pencil erasers (and fiberglass brushes) remove paint between the letters and that on top of molded hinges and such.
Stripping modern models, with all the details is somewhat problematic. Done well, it is the best way to go.
I am at the age where good enough is all I need. I will knock down the lettering with a pencil eraser than paint a patch over the lettering and then apply the decals.
It looks like you have lighted number boards. I'm not sure how to deal with that.
Wayne's method of decaling cannot be improved upon.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley