I have a pair of the N Scale LifeLike 1997 release SW9/1200 units, in factory Milwaukee Road paint. These came with the pre-1959 numberings. My intention is to bring both engines into the mid-1960s. I have previously tried Easy Lift Off and Isopropyl alcohol. Soft pencil eraser, cotton swab. Prior attempts have damaged the orange paint beneath. I am still hoping there is a way to do this, without repainting both of them. Am I overlooking something here? Any fresh ideas, beyond what I have already attempted?
A variation on the eraser method is to use my rotary tool with the white Pentel erasers. With a fine point created on the tip it gives better control of where lettering material is being removed. Sometimes I do find some paint jobs are very thin but the decals usually cover up the tiny patches where the shell is exposed. If you can find the exact paint match you can also apply it to clear decal material and "patch" over the old numbers before applying new ones.
I remove collet from Dremel motor and plug a Pentel Mechanical Pencil Eraser in the opening. I gently rub the letters with the motor on low speed. Go slow as it will take the paint off around the letter if you are not careful.
Something I never considered is whether these are decals, or painted on. I have a feeling they are painted.
As I understand it the lettering is more like an ink applied with a pad printing process. Whatever, it is usually a lot tougher than the paint underneath it. When stripping paint, many times the lettering is the last thing to go as it protects paint underneath it and the stripping solution seems to have to eat in from the sides under the lettering. That is just my take on it and I have never seriously investigated what was going on.
Upon reading a number of British model ry magazines, they use a substance called T-Cut Color Restorer, which is some type of a fine car polish. You use a Q-Tip with a small amount of T-Cut to gently rub the lettering until it disappears. T-Cut isn't sold directly in the US, but it is available on Amazon. Make sure you get the original uncolored version, as it now comes in different colors.
