RR_Mel Before I got access to a 48” plotter I would take my drawings to a Blue Print service, they were quite a bit cheaper than the regular printing services. I agree with Randy print it out in scale so it can be easily converted to true scale i.e. 1” = 1’. I haven’t used AnyRail but my CAD will print thin lines with scale 1” squares to help resolution during the transfer process. Mel My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
Thanks Mel....Much appreciated sir!
rrinker I use 3rd Plan It, and it allows me to skip blank pages when printing to full size - so i don;t get dozens of blank pages where the aisles are, etc. That said, I did it once, for an 8x12 donut layout. ANd I will NEVER waste the money, paper, or ink to do it again. Last layout, I printed a very small bit full scale - a critical collection or turnouts that then guided the placement of everything else. I treat my CAD track plan as more of a proof of concept than an absolutel blueprint. Will my chosen curve radii, and turnout ladders, etc, fitr in the space I want them to fit in? Perfect. That's all i need to know. Another way you can do this is print to an easy to measure scale, and then lay it out on the benchwork. All you need is an architect's scale, to measure the sceld down print and translate to actual inches and fractions to mark the same line on the full size version of the same grid, drawn out on your benchwork. Again I would just locate critical areas, a yard ladder, or a curve that just clears an obstacle, etc. and just more or less freehand the in-between tracks - or just line up with a straight edge. --Randy
I use 3rd Plan It, and it allows me to skip blank pages when printing to full size - so i don;t get dozens of blank pages where the aisles are, etc.
That said, I did it once, for an 8x12 donut layout. ANd I will NEVER waste the money, paper, or ink to do it again. Last layout, I printed a very small bit full scale - a critical collection or turnouts that then guided the placement of everything else. I treat my CAD track plan as more of a proof of concept than an absolutel blueprint. Will my chosen curve radii, and turnout ladders, etc, fitr in the space I want them to fit in? Perfect. That's all i need to know.
Another way you can do this is print to an easy to measure scale, and then lay it out on the benchwork. All you need is an architect's scale, to measure the sceld down print and translate to actual inches and fractions to mark the same line on the full size version of the same grid, drawn out on your benchwork. Again I would just locate critical areas, a yard ladder, or a curve that just clears an obstacle, etc. and just more or less freehand the in-between tracks - or just line up with a straight edge.
--Randy
Randy, i appreciate that sir and it makes sense. Its got me thinking that maybe i can just select and print out my ladder yard and curve radius's and just fill in the in between stuff. I called over to my local Office Depot and for a 2'x8' print in black and white is around $41 they said...Maybe they didnt understand what i meant over the phone but that seems a little expensive for just a black and white print of basically a track layout lol.....
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
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Hello again everyone, i am at the point where i want to print some or all of my track plan out to scale and use it as a template on my benchwork. My question is this, am i better off to go somewhere like Office Depot and have the track plan printed out on a large printer or does anyone ever print them out on their home printer? The reason i asked is that as of right now if i print my track plan out on my home printer its almost 500 pages. I printed some of it out just to see how it would go but it seems like with all the seperate pages its a little hard to align all of the edges etc. I thought maybe if i had it printed out on a large printer with large paper it might be easier to get everything aligned. Anyone have any recommendations or suggestions? Thanks again for all the help you guys have been!