Have a quick question here…how long and how far apart should I make my road lines?
Thanks guys…gotta eat!
Road lines?
I would assume the yellow center line(s) would be 6 scale inches wide, 6 scale inches apart and the white ‘edge of the lane’ lines would be 10 - 12 scale feet out from the center, depending on whether it is a county, state or Federal highway. As for length, how long is your road? Remember to break the lines at intersections.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - where most roads were two ruts in the mud)
A little more information would be helpful. Which lines? The white centerline dashes from one to the next? Two yellow lines down the center? There is a site somewhere that explains them and when things were changed (i.e. from single white line - no passing and dashed white line - passing to two yellow with dashed white inbetween.) also when places started using a line on the right hand side of the lane. It has been discussed before, someone may be able to chime in with the exact location or you can search using the box to the right. Highway markings would be the first I’d search for.
Good luck,
There’s no doubt a Federal regulation concerning Interstate and U.S. highways. Each state may have their own for State, county, and city maintained highways. Many changes have occurred over the years, so the time frame of your layout also needs to be known. And finding some way to make such narrow stripes is another challenge. Automotive pin striping tape doesn’t adhere well at all to some surfaces and it isn’t available in all the varieties you would need to use.
The Federal gov and States work together to set standards for all public roads. While there may be minor variations, State, County and City standards are close to the Federal standards.
This link is to Chapter 6 of the California Traffic Manual. Most of the information is applicable for the mid 1960’s to the present. ( Note the dimensions are in the Metric System)
http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/traffops/signtech/signdel/pdf/TMChapter6.pdf
In California, prior to the early to mid 60’s all striping, including centerlines were usually white and there were no edge (shoulder) lines. The solid “no passing” stripe while usually white, was somtimes yellow starting sometine in the 1950’s.
Note rhat many of the drawings do not show the white edge line. The prefered lane width is 12’ but some roads lightly traveled roads may have lanes as narrow as 9’. If the road is too narrow for 9’ lanes there usually is no painted centerline.
Lightly traveled residential streets in cities usually are not striped no matter what the width.
When standards change It can take years to change all the striping. Last time I drove it a lightly traveled county road near Oroville, CA still had a white centerline.
I usually make my driving lanes 1" wide for N and 2" for HO (been a while for HO). Just remember that with modeling there’s always going to be some compression or expansion to get the illusion you want or just because of space constraints. Basically if it “looks” believable, it is.
Also line colors may or may not always be to spec, depending on what you’re trying to do and the space you have to do it.
Archer
Hi!
I too am in a hurry and have not read the other posts… So bear with me here.
What is the scale and time frame and location/type of roads? If you are dealing with the last 30 years or so, just go outside and pace them off. If earlier, such as pre/post war, then there will be much fewer lines (if any) and of course narrower lanes. As prototype measurements often don’t translate well to the model world, you might just get a piece of cardboard and a couple model vehicles and experiment with widths, etc., that “look right”.
Mobilman44