Large Scale Central

Relettering an Annie?

General Discussion
#1

I can get a new 5th Gen Annie for a pretty good price locally, But it is the wrong color and road name. I can live with the maroon color. Having all black engines in the lineup gets boring. But I would definitely want to change the road name. The engine does not have a number on it so that one is a non issue.

Does anyone have experience removing the lettering from the Annie tenders without damaging the plastic or “paint” underneath? I assume the color is part of the plastic like the early green Big Hauler tender I have for my Railbroom, but I hate to assume. I tested some Novus2 on a small spot. As expected, it took the paint off in short order. But also as expected, it polished the plastic too. I don’t want to repaint the engine and tender, just remove the letters.

Also, does anyone make Rio Grand lettering in gold to match the rest of the loco?

#2

Purple power works good. Use cotton balls on the letter area soaked in it.

Jason

#3

After a couple of hours its already working.

Can anyone recommend a good decal maker for G scale? Particular the Rio Grande in Gold?

Also, anyone know what Font they used back around 1900s.

#4

The first two that come to mind are:

Cedarleaf Custom Railroad Decals

G Scale Graphics

#5

A touch of clarification…Stan Cedarleaf makes water slide decals. G Scale Graphics is primarily Vinyl lettering

#6

Which one is easier to apply over those darned rivets which run down the center of the tender?

#7

Heres some gold ones.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Large-scale-D-RGW-passenger-combine-gold-decal-lettering-set-/283742761287?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49292

or

sanjuandecals.com

#8

water slide is easier to apply over rivets. It will shrink around the rivet after you apply decal set.

Having said that, I make this statement after 60 years of decal applications on models.

Your results mat be different…

I’ve used Stan’s over wood, metal and plastic.

#9

John Bouck said:

water slide is easier to apply over rivets. It will shrink around the rivet after you apply decal set.

Having said that, I make this statement after 60 years of decal applications on models.

Your results mat be different…

I’ve used Stan’s over wood, metal and plastic.

I haven’t even existed for 60 years yet, close but not 60! (https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)

But will say that, yes, thoughtful application of decal setting solutions can and will do much.

And through the decades I have encountered some decals, and even some decal instructions, where a bit of pressure applied with a warm damp cloth helps.

But you don’t want to do that to a decal freshly softened with solution, that can lead to fragments of the decal sticking to your cloth.

#10

Derailed said:

Which one is easier to apply over those darned rivets which run down the center of the tender?

I stripped those rivets off, and just left the outer ones. I chisel blade in a hobby knife handle did the trick - though it messed up the paint.

#11

Pete Thornton said:

Derailed said:

Which one is easier to apply over those darned rivets which run down the center of the tender?

I stripped those rivets off, and just left the outer ones. I chisel blade in a hobby knife handle did the trick - though it messed up the paint.

Water type decals when properly installed look like this, edges, around doors, and rivets are shrunk down using decal setting solutions and top results can be obtained with decal applying and setting solutions knowledge. I didn’t learn on my first try, but after applying decals and repaints for 50 plus years I finally just about got it figured out.

trainman

#12

Thanks. Still trying to get the lettering off the first side. Its weird. After two hours over half the lettering just wiped off. But after 24 hours and reapplying the solution multiple times to ensure it stays wet, the other half shows no sign of budging.