I have some highways on mo HO layout that are in need of striping, Does anyony have any ideas on how to do this. I have been looking for some 1/6’’ yellow pinstriping but haven’t able to find any. I could mask them off and use my airbrush but that is a lot of work and thought some of you might have some better ideas. Thanks, Mike
I would stick to the airbrush as the tape may end up too thick. I think the painted on would be easier to weather also. If you think its to much work think of it like ballsting the your track, its very slow tedious work, you must take your time to do a good job.
Just my $.02.
I use two different ways. One is to use the white and / or yellow woodland scenics rub off dry decal transfers but they don’t give you many on the sheet and they can get costly if you have a lot of roads to stripe.
The other way is to use white and /or yellow 1/16" pin striping tape. (it goes on a lot faster too because all you have to do is remove the paper backing and press it down onto the road) The tape can be purchased at a good LHS.
I’ve tried to use an airbrush and tape before but a few of the stripes didn’t come out too well so it has to be re-done again. It’s a really slow process. The pin striping is your best bet.
A couple of years ago I found a small striping tool that consists of a glass bottle with a narrow wheel on the cap end, that is used to apply pinstriping to such things as bicycle fenders. I don’t remember where I purchased this item, but a bicycle shop may have one that you can look at.
I use tape and brush paint on straight roads. I paint free-hand on turns. For parking lots I brush-paint free-hand with a very fine brush. Helps if you have a steady hand. It isn’t perfect, but it’s good enough for me.
You can still get chart-pac tape at drafting/art supply stores. It comes in various widths and colors and dashed. It’s pretty thin and flexible enough to go around curves.
What I do is take regular yellow electrical tape and roll it out 3-4 feet on a glass table, counter top or other smooth surface. I measure up 1/16 in. on the tape and then use a long straight edge and an exacto knife to cut the tape into strips. Works quite nicely and is very inexpensive to make.
I use Dave V’s approach - brush painting, either freehand or with tape if necessary - and so far I’m happy with the results I’ve gotten.
The darker rectangles are asphalt “patches”, and the little black spots are supposed to be cracks filled-in with tar.
Remember, stripes on prototype highways aren’t always perfect; sometimes the faded paint of old striping will show beyond the edge of newly-painted stripes, and other times the driver of the paint truck may be startled, causing a squiggle to appear in an otherwise straight line.
Here is what I use. It is colored pencils at Walmart in the craft section. They are not cheap ones either at $12.84 for a pack of 10 colors. The work realyy great and give a perfect effect of lines on a road. The colors I use from the pack are Yellow, Red, white and Blue for handicap parking spaces to draw up the man n the wheelchair. You will find great results but I doubt anyone will give this a try. Then I just use a long ruler to make straight lines, then freehand curves.
I’ve got a “Cobalt Yellow” pencil that I use for striping as well.
I was going to add a photo or two from my website, but it appears that my router at home has decided to quit working.
I have gone to a @#$%^&* of a lot of trouble masking centter stripe on highway, covering scenery and structureds and spray painting stripe. Then I found a way so easy it is almost cheating. I just draw yellow line with artist’s color pencil. Better than any striping, decal stuff, spray paint, anything, has ever turned out.
Our experience with pinstriping here in the dry Arizona climate is that it will be okay for a year or so until it starts to dry out, and then it starts curling up on the ends. Some type of sealant might have prevented it from happening, but it was too late.
Sounds interesting, I’ll have to give that a try!
I forgot to mention earlier, my roads are sheet styrene painted with Ralph Lauren brand ‘River Rock’ latex paint. It dries with a somewhat rough texture that resembles the surface of an asphalt road.
Automotive supply stores, like PepBoys, carry pinstriping tape in various sizes and colors.
I buy Prostripe Pinstripes at PepBoys. It comes in 40 foot rolls in both 1/4 inch and 1/8 inch. Pretty easy to cut in half if you want 1/16 inch. I buy white and yellow, but there is no virtually no limit to the color choices including a double yellow pinstripe. A roll costs less than $5.00.
The yellow and white pencils are not only the most realistic; they’re the easiest and most controllable. A straightedge for the straights and a flexible curve (available at most drafting or art supply stores) for the curves lets you apply a consistent pressure.
The pencil lines look like striping that’s seen some traffic, as opposed to a lot of paint methods and pin striping, which are too bright and solid.
When you’re done, fix it with a couple of light coats of matte fixative.
Colored pencils work well if your road surface is rough enough, like if you use spackle or WS paving materials. If your roads are styrene, like mine, the surface is too smooth for the colored pencil to grip. You end up simply scratching off the road-colored paint with the pencil.
I keep the striping paint coat thin and splotchy to show wear.
I use the striping tape method and am pleased with the results.
