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I am about to order several Atlas HO GSC Pulpwood Flat cars (Atlas product #1611-1) in BN. I wish to renumber each one of them to give them all different road numbers, something I have never attempted before, so it will be a bit of a challenge for me. My questions are.... Is there a decal set on the market which will match the font of the factory-applied numbers? And what would be the best method of covering up the original number?
Also does anyone own any of these car and has tried this before? I would appreciate any advice or opinions.
I've heard (MR article) that a little pine-sol on a q-tip will remove the lettering without damaging the paint underneath, if you're careful. Then you could lay a new decal over the clean spot.
pine-sol will also strip the paint if you're not careful.
The numbering is pad printed, not decaled, so you would need some sort of solvent to remove it.
I've never tried the comet method.
With the older Athearn blue box engines, lettering could be removed with a pencil eraser. Have you tried that? If it doesn't work, maybe a bright boy would? Then again a bright boy may scratch the paint underneath.
Did BN ever acquire any of those cars second hand? If they did, then it may be easier to get the cars for another road, paint out the marks and numbers, then decal your own in as a patch.
You know, you should get your hands on one of the BN color guides published. BN is known for converting railcars for specific purposes; and log flats are no exception. Which brings the next question...are you looking to do full length logs? They are more common on the west coast to the best of my recollection; as opposed to "pulp wood" cars on the east coast. The logs are cut differently, the cars are loaded differently. Anyway, IF you decide to do full length log, Details West sells log bunks that can be applied to 50' general purpose flats that would have been used in previous assignments as hauling equipment like tractors...or idlers for pole loads. Furthermore, as far as rolling stock numbers, those cars would have been renumbered for the new assignment, so get yourself a set of Microscale decal numbers and you'd be ligit to patch out old numbers and reassign...
Masking and renumbering might be the cleanest way to go. No matter how careful I am removing factory lettering and clear-coating before adding new decals, there seems to be 'visible evidence' of the process 80% of the time.
The car manufacturers and Microscale and other decal makers rarely agree 100% on the size, weight and coloring, so painting out and applying all new marks and numbers will look better.
I've had some luck removing lettering with a fiberglass eraser pen that drafting supply/art stores sell for use on Mylar drawings.
Bon Ami might be a friendlier abrasive than Comet; I'll have to experiment with that. Pine-Sol and other liquids seem to me to get into the underlying paint too easily but some manufacturers' cars are more vulnerable than others.
