Large Scale Central

Covering over a road name?

General Discussion
#1

Hi, noob here with another noob question. So I have an ubiquitous LGB Mogul, one of the thousands that are lettered with “Colorado & Southern” on the tender. It is that same dark gray/almost black but not quite black that they all are.

Is there a common way to cover over the “Colorado & Southern” with something else of my choice? And I don’t mean paint, I am not set up for painting, do not have the aptitude to paint well, and I have a million other things I need to be working on in my first year of large scale hobby-dom that I am not going to try yet another project. Know what you are capable of, and set your limits.

I looked at Stan Cedarleaf’s decals, and the G Scale Graphics vinyl, but they both seem to be lettering or logo’s with either clear or nonexistent backgrounds. Does anyone make essentially a sticker, that doesn’t look like a horrible big sticker slapped on the side when applied?

I obviously don’t know what I don’t know, and am looking for some advice.

Much appreciated,

Thomas

#2

why not have one of the Vinyl guys do you a Black Background (Black Vinyl Rectangle) to cover the letters on the loco/tender and add White Letters laid over the top of that. Layer it, if you will

#3

You could also try to strip the letters but, I think Cale has the the easiest option.

Terry

#4

I’ll bet Stan Cedarleaf can make you a decal with a black background. Or go crazy - have him do a rectangle with curved corners in green with a white stripe and your new RR name on it.

#5

I used “Simple Green” to remove the lettering from my Piko locos. Put it on a paper towel then hold it onto the letters till it permeates the decal, then rub off, takes some time and multiple applications but the results really are good. Not all decals are susceptible to Simple Green but most seam to work with it.

#6

Hmmmmmmmm simple green???who would have thought!!!

Great Ideal Vic Thanks

Nicky

#7

Wow, you guys are awesome! Thanks for all the good advice, gives me a lot to think about. i can try something simplistic on my own like Boomer suggests, or I can see if Stan or Del can make solid color background decals either matching that not-quite-black or just go totally different.

And right now I’m going to go look under the kitchen sink, I swear we had some Simple Green in this house somewhere :smiley:

Anybody else do anything interesting or different while we are on this subject? Hey, it beats talking yelling screaming fighting about AristoCraft, right?

#8

Thomas S said:

Wow, you guys are awesome! Thanks for all the good advice, gives me a lot to think about. i can try something simplistic on my own like Boomer suggests, or I can see if Stan or Del can make solid color background decals either matching that not-quite-black or just go totally different.

And right now I’m going to go look under the kitchen sink, I swear we had some Simple Green in this house somewhere :smiley:

Anybody else do anything interesting or different while we are on this subject? Hey, it beats talking yelling screaming fighting about AristoCraft, right

AristoCraft What !!!:wink: ooops Craft my bad.

#9

I took off the C&S lettering on my mogul many many years ago.

It was suggested to me by a fellow modeler to use a product called Eagle One Nevr-Dull. It’s a car polish, I think. But surprisingly it did a really good job of removing the lettering on the mogul tender without taking off the underlying paint. It did leave the area a little shiny though.

Here it is (#345) along with an undecorated mogul I numbered 315:

(http://imageshack.com/a/img513/2227/moguls.jpg)

#10

I used Never Dull to shine my brass when I was in the Navy. Good stuff!

#11

OK I’m a bit curious…what do ya mean by not set up to paint? All it takes is a rattle can and the great outdoors, and the lid of a pizza box as a drop cloth…yes you can get really technical, but I’ve painted like this for years…even in winter or bad weather when everyone is saying “its too bad outside to paint”…practice on some soda cans…

The other option is to get some decal paper and make your own water slide decals…the artwork is the hard part there…then you spray on some sea;er…let it dry and appy to the model…to get white lettering I use white decal paper and do a backround of, well the back round color…touch up the edges with a sharpie and apply it like any other wate slide decal…

#12

Bart, I spray painted the roof of my gas station in a snowstorm, outside, under a large umbrella. So yes it can be done, as long as the spray cans are warm.

The “issue” with simply spray painting over lettering, is that it can telegraph through the paint. The lettering is raised a bit, and that can telegraph through the paint you over coat it with. So I prefer to remove lettering before repainting. I have removed lettering with rubbing alcohol, brake fluid, a rag dampened with lacquer thinner, and real fine wet/dry sand paper. I have to experiment to see what will work on the lettering in question.

I have a nice paint booth in my workshop, and right now its playing storage shelf to a good half dozen projects. So when I airbrush, I cover my workbench and storage bins with newspaper, and then fire away.

#13

I’ve used " Low fume, Easy-Off" to remove lettering off Aristo (100T hoppers) and USAT (gp38).

#14

Well, I learned a little more advanced method from Stan Cedarleaf. I bought an “Air Eraser” at Harbor Freight Tools. You load the hopper with Baking Soda (cheap in a large bag at your local Megamart), and carefully b.s. blast it off. It does take some experimentation not to take off the base coat, but once you learn it, it’s a great method. Then you have a blank surface to do what you want.

#15

Several solvents work for different makes. Acetone, de-natured alcohol, lacquer thinner. Just take a Q-tip and rub on the paint a little, wipe it with a towel, if it comes off, if not, try another chemical. Brake fluid also works sometimes.

#16

Not sure what LGB use for “decals” (think its pad printing with paint actually) but I tried all sorts of unfriendly chemicals. Had to use one of those fibreglass brushes in the end and respray.

#17

I’ve used a lot of these methods, and they all work in different cases. You do have to experiment.
I like the print and glue method that Boomer has described. It 's a great temporary solution, maybe the best when you’re pressed for time or unsure of just what you want to end up with. Thanks to the ten-foot rule nobody will ever know…
I have used Boomer’s system on tenders. I’ve also taken it a bit further, printing the entire tender side on paper and applying it to the model with the white glue as he recommends.
You can even pick up any rivet detail by pressing - not rubbing - the paper with an eraser. The rivets will show through.
You can keep the original image file so you can refresh your model, or change the roadname or the font, or whatever, as the mood strikes.
The best aspect of Boomer’s method is that you can so easily remove it whenever you want.
Oh, and chances are nobody will notice how cheap you have been!

#18

I’ve had good results with a degreaser called Super Clean.

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

Best,

TJ Lee

#19

Tim Lee said:

I’ve had good results with a degreaser called Super Clean.

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

Best,

TJ Lee

There was a lengthy discussion on one of the Yahoo groups about using

Super Clean degreaser to remove lettering from Bachmann rolling stock.

Everyone who tried it said it worked great. It was slow to work (hours),

but it did not affect the paint under the lettering. I bought some, but I

have not tried it yet.

Tom

#20

Tom Stephens said:

There was a lengthy discussion on one of the Yahoo groups about using

Super Clean degreaser to remove lettering from Bachmann rolling stock.

Everyone who tried it said it worked great. It was slow to work (hours),

but it did not affect the paint under the lettering. I bought some, but I

have not tried it yet.

Tom

Tom,

It works pretty well. In my “how to” I was getting results in 10-15 minutes so they may have changed the formula. Used some this week to remove a decal and it took a good hour and a half to started to melt the decal and the fake snow on the windows.

Best,

TJ