Undecorated models

[ACY]

I was speaking specifically about undecorated and not painted unlettered. Several of the Spectrum models from the late 1990s were made unpainted, completely undecorated and unassembled shells etc.

[brokenrail]

I see. I know Bachmann has a few painted unlettered  Steam engines ,Un-Numbered diesels also. I would by a painted un-lettered diesel  as mentioned prier .Painted un-lettered sure would be a time saver from un-decorated anyway.

[jbrock27]

You're welcome.
I stay away from brake fluid-too caustic in my book and never had anything but success with 90% alcohol.  I put the loco shell in a gallon size zip loc bag and put just enough alcohol in to cover the shell.  Get the air out of the bag and zip it up and let it sit for a day or so.  I see people on YouTube filing a tub and you don't need to use that much alcohol.  You just need enough to cover the shell.  I use a previously cleaned toothbrush to brush off any stubborn spots of paint,  The alcohol will dry you hands out, so you might want to wear latex gloves while cleaning off the loco.  Once done, the shell gets cleaned off with soapy water.  When I run out of alcohol, I am going to try a purple cleaner found at Walmart.  The name escapes me at the moment.

[WoundedBear]

Castrol Super Clean.

Sid

[jbrock27]

Thank you.  I knew you would know, bc after all, it was you who told me about it

[electrical whiz kid]

Jim;
An alcohol stripping proceedure has been around for a long time.  WHen I was stationed in Indiana, some guy over in Peru was using it in '67.  This was before the really decorated models came around.   The one thing I  did read was that; regarding brake fluid on the newer plastic compounds that make up these really nice engines-don't use it.   Not sure i remember where I saw it, but the brake fluid will make the newer compounds very brittle. 
Your idea of using the zip-lok is a good one.  The only thing I would be concerned with is how effective that smaller amount of alcohol would be on a larger model.  One of the things that I like is that you can actually 'see' the object.  This means that you can open the bag, and if you have to, use a stiff brush or toothbrush, etc., to assist the task.

On a different note; Did Roger T. fall off of the side of the earth?
Rich C.   

[jbrock27]

Thanks for the kudos Rich    Yes, that is why I stay away from brake fluid.

RE: the bag-an advantage aside from as you pointed out, that you can see the model, is you can also "swish" the bag around with the shell in it (not too vigorously as you don't want to puncture the bag )) and this ensures the alcohol makes contact with all surfaces.  I see no need to use a Rubbermaid tub full of alcohol, to me it just wastes more alcohol than needed.  As you alluded to, I do the brushing while the shell is in the bag, while the bag is in the kitchen sink and the alcohol still in the bag.

If I had to guess about Roger I would guess he has been busy working.

[jbrock27]

P2K can be added to the list of undecorated diesels.

[brokenrail]

I like that alcohol in the bag idea Genus .I haven't had any problems with the brake fluid in the most part ,but a mess it is, along with the cost.Time to change .The bag keeps the alcohol from evaporating so it gives it more working

time.Thanks for the tip!Any knowledge on removing lettering without disturbing the paint finish on these newer

Bachmamm models.The older Bachmann models would release the lettering with some good sticky tape. Referring to the
Spectrum/Plus series years.These new models seem to have a top coat of some type that seals them in ,so the old method of tape and or eraser does not do it.Any ideas ?

[James in FL]

The older Bachmann models would release the lettering with some good sticky tape. Referring to the
Spectrum/Plus series years.These new models seem to have a top coat of some type that seals them in ,so the old method of tape and or eraser does not do it.Any ideas ?

For removing lettering/numbering without damaging underlying paint, look here;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Gf7xqIHGMQ

This works for me. Your mileage may vary.
Good luck.

[jbrock27]

Thank you broken.  You're welcome .

The bag keeps the alcohol from evaporating so it gives it more working time.

You got it!

Re: removing decals-Jim's liquid method seems the way to go.  I have seen video of people using a fat Exacto knife blade, don't know the #, but it looks like a scalpel, and they scrape the letter or number off.

[brokenrail]

Thanks,
I have seen that scraper method. I for one would end up having to repaint the whole thing and break out the bondo using that scraper method.Kind of makes me cringe seeing it done that way on a very nice model finish, knowing how mine turned out when I gave it a try on a old junker when I had better eyes. I have used alcohol to remove the print on a older kato and it worked without removing any of the base paint .Did not work so well on others.
Johnny Adam

[Desertdweller]

To get painted but undecorated Diesel shouldn't be too bad, as that is how the actual locomotives look before they are painted.  They come in gray primer before being painted to suit the customer.

The strangest experience I had with this was back in 1969 when I bought a new AHM Fairbanks-Morse C-Liner in HO.  It was painted in Penn Central Black.  I wanted to strip it to repaint it in my own railroad color scheme (silver and green).

When I stripped off the black paint (using Pine-Sol.  Don't leave it on very long or it will attack the plastic.), under the black paint was a full NH McGinnis paint job!  The factory had done to the NH locomotive what PC did to the actual NH locomotive: just sprayed it black over the NH paint.  Black seemed to cover orange and white pretty well.

Actually, I thought the NH paint job looked 100% better.

Les

[Searsport]

I have never understood the argument that unlettered steam locos cannot be justified on cost grounds. They are simply fully painted models that do not go through the final lettering process, and their box is just a standard box with a stick-on label saying "unlettered". In view of the number of steam decal sheets available from the likes of MicroScale there must be some demand. It would do Bachmann no harm to produce a couple of dozen in every production run and park them at a major retailer.

This might perhaps be linked to the fact that Bachmann seem unable to sell anything at list price. The list price for the Baldwin Modern 4-4-0 with DCC is $359 and with sound $499, but the big retailers sell them for $109.99 and $199.99 respectively. I often wonder what price Bachmann sell them for to MB Klein and Trainworld.

On the basis that there must be modellers of far more railroads than the half dozen Bachmann choose for any particular model in their range the market must be there. I am speaking of steam - there are diesels for almost everyone. But are there not steam age modellers for, e.g. the Central of Georgia, for whom Microscale make a steam decal sheet? Or 4-4-0s and 4-6-0s for the Rock Island (another MS sheet). And they are just two of the hundreds of US steam age railroads.

It baffles me!
Bill.

[jbrock27]

The nice thing about using a zip loc bag, is you throw it out when done, no having to clean it.  I also have them readily around for food and freezer storage purposes and don't have to have something unique to this process, set aside.  Would I be correct to guess that you clean out your Tupperware between uses, even if relegated to stripping?

Re: 99% Alcohol.  We have discussed this here before; 99% while available in Oh Canada, has never been something I have found in the States, hence the use of 90%, or that purple stuff.