Removing lettering from painted plastic bodies without removing the paint

dkdkrd,

Thank you for your reply.  I've been checking the LHS for either of these removers and have come up empty.  I see an 8oz can of PollyS ELO in the MicroMark catalog.  Is this the same as the Testors?

Joe

Joe this is not for everyone but I have a Pennsy mikado jr. I re lettered for N&W
I removed the lettering by using a barley damp paper towel with lacquer thinner.
It did remove a very slight amount of the green underneath but not enough to matter.
I followed up with another towel wetted with denatured alcohol.
most engines and rolling stock have a grainy surface on them anyway which is not a good surface for decals to stick to.

I give the item to be decaled a coat of Pledge with future shine to get a smooth surface apply the decal and another coat of Pledge.
I follow it up with Testors dull coat.

This is that Mikado

David

Joe, I have used ELO on modern rolling stock and it works but it will affect the paint underneath as well. It will leave a film of the lettering paint and also begin to remove some of the base paint like lacquer thinner will. Don't try it on Post War though as you will certainly lift the base paint. Same goes for pressure blasting. Testors bought Floquil who also made Polly S.

Pete

Brake fluid &  Q Tip.

To one and all thank you for your replies and suggestions.

KD, I finally found the Testors ELOat a LHS.  I'm working on my second project and have determined that there is a learning curve involved.  My first project was to convert a MTH 19th century W&ARR cabin car into an Alaska Railroad Cabin Car to go with my Lionel ARR Mikado simply by removing the W&.  The wood grain allowed the ELO to travel beyond the lettering.  Trying to wipe up the excess effected the finish but not the color but no harm done.  After several applicatiions the majority of the lettering was removed, however I couldn't get the lettering out of the woodgrain.  This was remedied with a brown Sharpie marker that hid the remaing white paint of the lettering and blended well with the body color.  I learned to apply less ELO with my very fine paint brush to prevent spreading.  My second project is on going, remove SP reporting marks and UP Herald from KLine railroad police bw caboose.  After applying to reporting marks and herald on one side I learned that while taking up excess with a Q-tip rubbing will aid in removal of lettering but will also effect the finish of the surrounding area and that i needed to more careful while applying to the herald.  The white lettering and stripes in the herald were actually the body paint under the herald and I wound up with gray stripes and Union Pacific that  covered with Reefer White which is pretty good match.  On the other side I let the ELO sit and do it's work on the lettering and just wiped it all away with a damp sponge with very little effect to the underlying finish.  More careful placement on the herald is yielding better results but I haven't quite gotten it all off yet.

David, Where did you get the N&W Decals?  I'm thinking about converting an extra Lionel Lines Tender into a water tender to add to my Railking Y6B.  I have some generic N&W decals from Champ Decals but nothing like you've got on the back end of the tender.

Again thank you all for your recommendations.

Joe

No problem David, I will not be working on that project for a while.  MAybe they will be back in stock by then.  Was it a set for a steam engine or just a tender?