Microsol To Remove Atlas Print

Alan,

really the only clear answer is to test an Atlas car. The paint used on the Athearn sides is quite different from what is now used on an Atlas car.

I'd be interested in seeing the results, so please post them

No. doesn't work. the Atlas printing causes the printing to integrate it self into the car side. I tried microsol and 91% alcohol. and no matter how carefully I worked the lettering, it would remove paint and you could see a raised ghosting in the car sides that had to be sanded down to provide a smooth surface. seems like the printing is applied with heat in some way. even after stripping the paint off a loco hood it still had a raised portion in the shape of the herald 

I've been wanting to remove only the "Wilmington, Del." lettering from the below Atlas tank cars. I've read everywhere on the internet, and all the people that actually tried it stated that they achieved less than ideal results .... from various methods.

Some guy, on some forum, swears that he saw the results of someone using the jelled alcohol Sterno fuel. It was carefully applied with a paint brush only to the letters he wanted to remove, and then they came off easily, without damage to the underlying paint. 

I may give it a try, when I have some time.

Matt

To All,

I found the truly best way to remove the lettering,numbers in my case,is with sanding paper. 

On the 5161s the paint isn't affected much while on the 4750s it sometimes took the paint down to or close to the grey. I've changes all numbers on 1 5161,but found the end car numbers almost IMPOSSIBLE to do a good job on,when adding the new dry transfers as far as proper alighnment.

Future plans for renumbering are to change only a few numbers. This is noticeable as the dry transfer is a wider & darker number,but hardly noticeable when walking by the car. I applied dry transfers over the existing numbers on 1 car and that works a lot better for a guide but it also costs a lot to do 25 cars that way in the price of decals. So for now,I will change only what's necessary.

I use 3M 320 grade sandpaper to remove the decals. Hope this helps.

Merry Christmas to all.

Al Hummel

Alan Hummel posted:

I watched a video on using Micro-sol to remove print off Athearn freight cars. It was highly effective. They used toilet paper over the desired car numbers to be removed,then,using a Q Tip,applied some Micro-sol on the tissue. This bled through to the numbers. It was let set on the tissue for 5 minutes,then the tissue was removed & the Q Tip was used to wipe away the print. Any remaining print was cleared by using Scotch Tape pressed on the print,then lifted off the car lifting the print.

My question is,can I expect the same results using this procedure on Atlas freight cars I'm trying to change the car no's on? I've been using sand paper with great results,the only draw back being,some paint is often removed also which is NOT desirable.

Thanks to all for your responses in advance.

Al Hummel

As far as I know this won't work. Athearn uses some sort of ink for their lettering which can be dissolved with microsol. I did however have luck with this method on a set of K-line well cars. Hope this helps.