# Tricks for Removing Lettering from Boxcars



## tmmhead (Feb 22, 2008)

I am trying to re-decal a boxcar and need to remove some factory lettering as was wondering if there are any tricks to achieve this task. This is on an aristocraft boxcar and it would like to avoid repainting the entire car if I can just overlay the decals. Since the lettering is in black it shows through the decal very clearly so it will need to be removed. I have tried Testors ELO and it worked great at removing the paint around the letter but not the letters themselves.

Any assistance is greatly appreciated,

Tim


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## Stan Cedarleaf (Jan 2, 2008)

Tim... Probably not the answer you're looking for but..........









There is no REAL solution for lettering removal. It depends on the manufacturer, age of the car, etc., etc., etc.......

Some can be cleaned with denatured alcohol, others take brake fluid. I've mixed denatured alcohol and Acetone, (dangerous). 400-1500 grit wet dry sand paper (used wet) 

Best solution I've found is to take it off with the wet dry, repaint the car and the apply the new decals.


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## Scottychaos (Jan 2, 2008)

I had good luck removing lettering on a Bachmann spectrum mogul tender just using brake fluid.. 
the trick is let the fluid sit long enough to soften and remove the lettering, but not so long that it begins to dissolve the underlying paint.. 

use an old stiff paintbrush or toothbrush, and scrub at the lettering as it begins to dissolve. 
For whatever paint bachmann used for the tender and lettering, it worked very well.. 
in my case, the lettering dissolved nicely and the underlying black paint was hardly touched.. 
but as Stan said, there are a lot of variables..there is no one method that works in all situations. 

With other paints, and other manufacturers, this method might not work at all! and the "base paint" might dissolve immediately.. 

it depends..I can only speak of sucess with this one model!  try it out first in a really small, inconspicuous spot..see how the lettering and the underlying paint behaves. 



Before:











During:











After:










As I remember, the brake fluid did remove the gloss coat to the black paint..leaving a dull patch where the original lettering had been.. 

(the area under the original lettering was now a dull, flat black, as opposed to a glossier black on the rest of the tender) 
but I just applied the new decal, used some solvaset, then sprayed a satin clear coat to even everything out.. 
Scot


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## Bill Swindell (Jan 2, 2008)

I just removed the lettering from a USA engine. I used q-tips and lacquer thinner and applied it one letter at a time, let it set for a couple of seconds and then rubbed the letter. I quickly wiped off the thinner. The results were perfect. Absolutely no trace od the old letters and no damage to the base paint.


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## Mike Reilley (Jan 2, 2008)

Lettering on our model cars and engines is applied through a process called pad printing. What is applied to the model is INK. It's NOT paint. The trick to removing it is to find the solvent that was used in the ink when the lettering was applied. Ink differs from paint in that ink is a dye dissolved in a solvent whereas paint is a pigment suspended in a solvent. Secondly, the bonding technique for ink is based on it seeping into the material is was deposited on, whereas paint adheres to the material it was deposited on as a film. You can peel paint off. You cannot peel ink off. 

The reason you get so many answers to the "what do I use to remove lettering" question is that there's a wide variety of solvents that the dye's are dissolved in...and your job is to find which one your lettering used. So, it's not a "I don't have those chemicals" as the approach...it's "I gotta try a bunch of solvents to see which one works"....or just sand it off and start over with paint.


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## Madstang (Jan 4, 2008)

Save the laquer thinner for last because it will remove everything including paint, but leaves the raised area behind the pad printing...that will have to be sanded to be removed.

I saw the brake fluid pics..but it never worked for me...bummer.

Bubba


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## JackM (Jul 29, 2008)

Last spring I purchased three of a particular Aristo-Craft boxcar, all having the same number. Being a longtime proponent of brake fluid, I tried that and got nowhere. So I took a standard pink eraser and rubbed the last number til it disappeared. Good ol' elbow grease did the trick. However, the shape of the number was still noticeable even though the white paint/ink was gone. The base "boxcar red" was dulled a bit by the all the rubbing. 

I used white dry transfer numbers to replace the erased number, slightly larger font to cover the old "shadow", and a quick spray of Krylon clear flat. They came out just fine. 

JackM


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## Jerry Barnes (Jan 2, 2008)

Denatured alcohol and a Q tip have worked great for me.


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## tmmhead (Feb 22, 2008)

All,

Thank you for all the suggestions. I guess I'll stop being lazy and sand the letters off then repaint.

Tim


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## tj-lee (Jan 2, 2008)

I've had good luck with Super Clean degreaser: 

http://tjstrains.com/154/removing-lettering-and-decals-b/ 

Best, 
TJ


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## rhyman (Apr 19, 2009)

I have had good results using the Novus products available from micro-Mark. Link to Micro-Mark Web Site

The Novus products are buffing/polishing compounds for plastic models. In particular, I use the #2 to remove numbers and lettering from Bachmann locos and tenders. The #3 is good for cleaning-up heavier scratches left over from from cutting-off unwanted items molded into the plastic. The #1 is used to polish the areas after using #2 and/or #3.


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