General Discussion (Model Railroader)

loathar,

The "STOP" signs on the road are decals I got at a hobby shop in Kansas City, don't know if it was Kansas City MO or KS.  Can't remember the name either, sorry. 

I've been hoping some enterprising company, hint: WOODLAND SCENICS, would produce this type of thing in a dry transfer.  I've put down the X with graphics tape and put transfer R's on the sides, they only have 5 R's on the tranfer sheets in the correct size.  The sheets cost too much for the amount of use I'd get from them, so my RR crossings don't have the pavement marked yet.  May God save me from the rivet counters on that regard. 

Jim,

I'd put down a guide strip, then lay the actual center strip next to it. 

A new #11 Xacto blade works good for this.  Lay a short strip, then place the tip of the blade, with alittle pressure, against the tape and snap the loose end of the tape.  You may need to experiment, but it works well. 

I used AMI, now defunct, HO roadbed for my roads.  That material is fairly soft, if you're using harder road surface, you can put more pressure on the blade tip when cutting.

Mike -

1. Would you consider doing a mini-clinic with pictures of you in the process of putting this on so we can see you cut the dashed lines? (some of us are more visually oriented and learn more by seeing than by reading about it).

2. Are you concerned with the ends of the tape peeling up?

3. Have you tried airbrushing the center of your road yellow, then taping the lines as a mask, then airbrushing the road gray, then pulling the tape up? Wondered how that would compare?

Thanks for posting the pics. I'd sure like to see more of your layout. Nice work.

FT 

ft-fan,

I didn't do any dashed lines on my layout.  There were no areas where passing on the two lane roads would have been permitted.  As for the ends curling, it hasn't been an issue.  They seem to stay put fairly well.

I scatch built a road bridge on one end of the layout and did ecatly as you suggested for the lines.  I painted a wide yellow strip down the middle and used the graphics tape as a mask.  Once the concrete road bed was painted, I lifted the tape and the lines were there.

The near end of the bridge is slightly out of focus, but I think you can see the stripes clearly enough.

The asphalt road at each end has the tape stripe.  It blends nicely with the painted stripe on the bridge deck.  The deck was made in two pieces, one for each lane, with expansion joints scribed on, then painted.

Hello again guys.  I just finished the white edge stripes on the last section of road on my layout.

It has curves at each end of the road.  After laying the tape, a detail I had forgotten, jumped up and slapped me in the face.

When laying the tape for a curve in the road, don't put tension, (pull), on the tape as you're putting it down.  The curves lifted and pulled straight through the curve.  I was able, with the aid of a dental pick, to lift the tape, from the center of the run to the end, and re-apply it.  I remembered that it's necessary to pull a length of tape free of the roll before pressing it in place.

For curved sections of road, pull a foot or so of tape, then press it down to the surface, near the tape roll, then continue pressing it down moving toward the free end of the tape.  This allows the tape to go down without being under tension.  Once that end is down, pull the tape roll to release more and work, again from the center, toward the end.

I hope this doesn't sound too confusing.

Jim,

I got mine on Friday, having ordered it online Sunday night, but didn't do anything till yesterday.  They shipped it Priority mail, so they didn't dip too deeply into our wallets for shipping and handling.

If you're doing a double centerline, it's not as critical, as the first piece is just used as a guide and will be pulled up after you lay the actual stripes.

Good luck with your first attempt, hopefully some of my comments will save you the initial frustration that I went through.

My next project is to weather the stripes by dry brushing a wash of the road color over them.  I want to let them get well settled for a week or so before I do that.  I found out that if you apply the weathering too wet, it gets under the tape and allows it to lift.

EDIT

Here are three shots of the road as it is now.

This scene has to be viewed from the end of the layout, not normally viewed.  You'd be pinched in the corner looking at this.

Here's a closer shot of the end of the bridge.

This is the end of the road visible from the front of the layout.

The only thing left to do is weather the road surface.

Well, the Chartpak graphic tape arrived the day after Christmas and I got up enough nerve to try it.  This is the first time I put road markings on a layout to this degree.  I think it came out OK. Jim

Very nicely done, Jim.  The parking stripes are a nice touch too.