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I have an MTH tender with a giant Red Sox logo on the tender. I want to remove it and replace it with a different logo. What’s the best way to remove it without damaging the underlying paint?  I’ve thought about spray painting over it but that would just create another layer to deal with. Does immersing the tender in water work, or maybe Goof-Off?.  Any help would be appreciated. Thanks......

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Paint used on plastic is different then the paint used on diecast. For plastic I had some luck with Testors Easy Lift Off (ELO). Try it on the inside first to make sure it won't damage the base paint. Its slow but usually safe on most base paints. You may still have repaint if it leaves too much of a haze but at least the graphic won't be visible under the new paint.

Pete

That is not a decal on the side of that tender. That is tampo pad printed graphics. Very similar to all the graphics MTH uses on their diecast body shells. However, with plastic shells, as everyone has pointed out, some chemicals will leach through and eat the plastic. Leaving you with a pile of poo.......you’re going to have a tough road to remove all that paint and leave the base color behind perfectly unblemished. If this was a diecast shell, graphics can be easily wiped away with a rag dampened with lacquer thinner...but under no circumstances can you do this with a plastic shell....it will go bye-byes.....my suggestion would be to repaint the tender shell how you want it, to lesson the affect of the offending graphics, wet sand the graphics to blend into the surroundings with fine paper, 800 or finer.staying away from fine details such as rivets or stanchions that are cast in details.  Then prime and paint as desired....that is the only safe way I’ve found to redo those railking plastic tender shells.....hope that helps, don’t mean to tread on anybody’s feet..........Pat

Last edited by harmonyards

WOW.... Who would have thought! Thanks for the info, Pat!

I actually Googled “How do you remove tampo printing from plastic?” .  Naturally, there is a YouTube video that demonstrates how to do it using Testors Easy Lift Off (ELO). It may take several tries but it’s supposed to leave the original plastic finish intact. Again, thanks to everyone who replied back!

A - maybe the - primary point, only touched on above, is: are they "decals"? Are they "paint"? Are they "ink"? None of those 3 things is treated the same way as the others, and one needs to know which medium was used.

I have removed true decals by soaking in water for a couple of days. I remove printed lettering on metal pieces with acetone. Plastic pieces are harder to deal with; the sanding method I use when I can. Thankfully, most of my removal/re-lettering is done on non-toy-level steamers, and most of them are brass or die-cast beginning to end.

Since you are all talking about removing decals I thought I would ask if anyone knows where I might be able to buy MTH military decals for a conversion of a MTH 5 car New York passenger set 20-4019 that I’d like to convert  to MTH U.S. military passenger cars.

Thank you for sharing your ideas about decal removal.

Best

ChooChooKid

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