Large Scale Central

Bachmann Loco Lettering

General Discussion
#1

Gents,

I have been trying to remove the lettering and striping from my Little River Logging Co heisler. I tried Super Clean Cleaner-Degreaser. I bought it at Walmart in a purple gallon bottle. It doesn’t say it is Castrol. I applied some to the cab side and it took an hour to remove the ‘5’ and the stripes. I was using cotton swabs to apply it and another one to remove the paint. It seemed to work better with a dry, clean swab. The black paint is now shiny where the white was. Should it be taking this long to remove this small amount of lettering? Should the cab paint be shiny where the lettering was? I thought about using Krylon satin black to match the original paint. Any thoughts and/or advice? Thanks for all of your help.

#2

Mario,

There are others who are better than I at this, but I have had some experience with it. On one particular Bachmann, the gold lift rather readily, but the white took over night. I had the pieces soaking a shallow pan, in the morning I had to add some more super clean. Waited about an hour and attacked it again. Finally. One other case the white wouldn’t budge, so I got my paint thinner (NOT lacquer thinner) and daubed on and just waited until I could see it work and then moved the white away with a q-tip.

I’ve tried the brake fluid, never had results. Also Stripper from Micro-Mart, but that is getting too expensive (but it works, but sometimes it has to soak a long time, too.

Black satin is nice, but a better approach is Krylon clear satin and Matte. Testor’s makes a clear satin also. All of these work very well. Sometimes to get an even tone, spray the entire model sparingly and the effect is very nice.
It also protects the paint job. I also have clear gloss, for special applications (like wheel centers all should be equal appearing).

You should be getting better help here shortly.

Barry - BBT

#3

Barry,

Thanks for your help and advice!

#4

“Oops” in the white can (graffiti/marker remover) seems to work pretty well. Guy who told me about it said to be sure to wash it off afterwards.

#5

Mario, If you’re OK with a repaint or touch up of area you could wet sand off lettering with 400 grit paper and some H2o…just work carefully around rivits cover them with strips of blue masking tape. On Heisler loco there are only 2 rows of rivits. You dont need to totaly remove lettering…just smooth it down. Lettering will look thin and faded when done. If your going to use a spraycan that paint will go on fairly thick compared to an airbrushed finish and should hide any lettering. good luck…

#6

I have used “Never Dull” with some success (no guarantees though). It is a metal wheel polish sold in auto parts stores. It is a solvent soaked cotton wadding. I think you should always be prepared for a new paint job, just in case, when trying to remove painted lettering.

Another option with vinyl lettering is to mount the lettering on a vinyl background of similar color to the paint job, and just cover the whole mess up.

#7

Thanks for your ideas, guys. I will give it another go.

Dave, I thought about wet sanding, but I don’t think I’m up to a repaint just yet.

Barry, your tip about the clear finishes sounds like a winner as the black paint under the lettering and stripes is in good shape. It’s just shiny.

Matthew, I’ll stop at the store on the way home tonight for the Oops. I have been using cotton balls dipped in clean water to clean off the Super Clean. Do you think that is enough to wash this stuff off?

Del, will the Never Dull harm the paint? My skills at painting leave a lot to be desired and I can’t bring my self to practice on my Heisler. I’ve painted rolling stock and track so far, but no locos. Maybe one day soon.

If all of the old markings don’t come all the way off, it will just show that this loco has a history. Maybe that will work to my advantage. Thanks again!!!

#8

Most of these lettering removal techniques do one of two things: They either remove the lettering or the base paint!

#9
Quote:
... If all of the old markings don't come all the way off, it will just show that this loco has a history. Maybe that will work to my advantage. Thanks again!!!
That happened more often than not. Second-hand equipment frequently was simply painted over, the edges of the old lettering and linework visible beneath the new paint. Railroads and equipment dealers didn't have the time, or want to bother spending the money on cleaning things up beyond what they had to. That's as true today as it was 100 years ago, too.

Later,

K

#10

I have not removed the lettering on any of my repaints.
My RR’s are shortlines. They run old, second hand, outdated equipment.
Ralph