I am having difficulty stripping the lettering from a Lionel wood side caboose from the early 1990s. The lettering ink settled into the wood grain and does not seem to want to come out. The only product I have tried is Testors ELO. After washing, I used ultra-fine glass bead blasting but the recessed ink does not respond.
Obviously, I do not want to lose the wood graining. The caboose will be repainted after the old lettering has been removed. Any suggestions?
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Possible it was heat stamped and not pad printed?
Sir,
I have had good luck with Castrol Super Clean (in the purple bottle) or Simple Green cleaner and a stiff bristled brush. I like to take a cheap bristle, sometimes called a chip brush, and trim the bristles back to where they are pretty stiff. A 3/4 inch to one inch wide brush gives good results. It takes time. I get my Super Clean at the local auto parts supplier.
Scalecoat paint remover is another choice. The Super Clean smells a lot like it - not a very scientific test - so it may have similar active ingredients.
Using these compounds I have removed Floquil and Scalecoat from brass, Floquil Polly-S, Scalecoat II, and water based craft paint from plastic, and factory paint from Atlas (in HO), Lionel Postwar, and MPC.
Please do not leave any of these solvents on the model overnight; some plastics will become brittle with prolonged exposure.
Another avenue you might explore is that the remaining ink is so thin that the grain may not be obscured. A thin overspray of an easily removable type paint such as a water based white might reveal that the detail is in fact not obscured; the overspray can then be more easily removed and the repaint can continue.
I would recommend using an undercoat to even out any color variations prior to applying the final colors.
V/R,
Mike
Thanks to both of you gentlemen for your response. It is not heat stamped, so the Castrol approach will be followed as described.
Owen, Send it to me if you dont have any luck. I aint seen one I cant strip yet. I dont like the chemicals because you cant keep control of what you're doing. I charge $10 per shell plus what ever shipping cost you. I've stripped some pretty stanky shells for other OGR forum members and the details came out clean and intact. Below you will see a pic of Ole'mcnasty before and after.
rustyrailoscale@windstream.net
Thomas
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