OK, have been able to strip the lettering off the PM reefer. Good news and bad news (well, not that bad).
DISCLAIMER: this worked for me, on an original Precision Masters reefer lettered for AT&SF. I can't guarantee it will necessarily work on Red Caboose cars, or those lettered for other roads or custom painted.
Good news:
A 24 hour bath in 91% Isopropyl Alcohol, a soft toothbrush, and occasional use of a fingernail removed 99.5% of the lettering. What was left was a "shadow" in some places- but the car is 30 years old, and I think the dyes in the ink discolored the plastic in a few places. I also note that the plastic is slightly darker orange where the square logos used to be- which I attribute to the model probably picking up a little UV over the years (it's run on at least 2, perhaps 3 layouts), and "bleaching" out the orange a bit in the uncovered areas. I don't anticipate any problems after its painted.
The bad news:
I wasn't able to get the car to "pop" open after time in the freezer. These are old enough that I probably assembled it with MEK back in the day, and its welded together. Rather than force anything, I dumped the whole car in the alcohol bath. This resulted in the black roof and ends turning medium/dark gray. Rather too "weathered" for a car painted in 1952 on my 1956 era layout. The underframe, brakewheel and end ladders (which I think are Delrin or something similar) are still jet black, so I am assuming the ends and roof were either painted (although there is no black residue in the container I soaked it in) or perhaps clear coated, or the black styrene (or whatever plastic) reacted with the alcohol. Again, I think this will be fine after paint is applied, but I was hoping to avoid a repaint on these parts.
