I am looking for suggestions for ways to put striping on road ways for my N Scale layout. Also, ways to stripe parking lines along a city street.
Thank you for any suggestions.
They sell really thin tape that you could lay on each side measured and paint the lines down the middle. You obviously would have 3 strips of tape to do a double yellow line.
For HO scale they had an article done by Pelle Sooberg (sp?) in one of this Danville how-to articles from a MR few years ago. It was on doing streets using Woodland Scenics Smooth It. The tape was used to make the lines, so I can imagine with a smaller width tape, it would be just as fine for N scale.
Good luck
Thin auto pinstriping tape is ok for HO scale I think for road lines.
Therefore, it would seem to me that if you aquired some, and cut it in half down the middle lengthwise, that would make it about the right size for N scale {about half the size of HO}.
Just a thought .
You can get paint markers from Elmer’s, labled Painters. I have fine tip that I plan to use in HO and I think they have ultra fine tips, which might be right for N. Sorry, haven’t used mine to know just how wide a line it is going to make. It does mean free hand on the curves, but a ruler will do the straights and parking lots. I am doing transition era, so only needed white, but I know they have other colors, just not sure about yellow.
Good luck,
I actually used decals for a short road on an N-Trak module, to see if it could work, and it turned out great. What I did was to spray my road surface with a bit of clear spray, since my roadway was a gritty joint compound surface. The clear gloss gave the decal something to adhere to. I freehanded in the curves and nudged the second stripe up parallel to the first for my double yellow lines. When the decal dried, I used several passes of Micro-Sol to dissolve away the decal film. Then, as a final step, I sanded down the entire road surface, including the decal. This eroded away some of the striping, as one would expect on a not-just-paved road, plus it removed most of the gloss coating. However, I left just a little hint of the gloss intact, since asphalt can have a bit of a sheen to it.
My decals came from pinstriping that I had done together with a full order for custom decals for my fictional railroad, so I can’t point you in the direction of a good source. But it shouldn’t be hard to find stripes of dulux gold and white, perhaps even as leftovers on decal sheets you might have had for other purposes.
Hi,… I’m new at this but I used the decals. And used the Testors Dullcote over the decals.
You can buy these at a better local hobby store. Each application takes time and you do get better as you go along. The yellow stripes come in two sizes. A thicker line is closest to being prototypical, but I think you’d have to take a ball point pen and draw a black line down the center to be exact. But also in the same pack… you get a thinner yellow line… and perhaps I’ll try a true double yellow line. The other pack is similiar but with white lines. Thick and thin also.
As far as parking spaces… I used the pack (upper right) used for diesel engine stripes. These are broad diagonal stripes… that I painted yellow afterwards.
The decal packs come with instructions… but in short… they basically get you down to the point of laying the decal on the road. To move the decal into position is another task. I found the decal sticking to my fingers or sticking in the wrong position.
After a few mistakes I came to the conclusion… a need for a small puddle of water on the road… to manuever the decal into position.
I like the sound of your technique, do you have any pictures of your results?
John
I have used two techniques to stripe roads on my N-scale layout. For straight roads, I like to use dry transfer stripes. The roads in Photo 1 were striped using Woodland Scenics sheets #MG760 (white) and #MG763 (yellow). I used the 1/32" stripes on the sheets, which comes out to 5" on the prototype. Since most highway striping is 4"-6" wide, this seems to be an ideal width.
For curvy roads, the dry transfer stripes don’t work so I used Microscale decal strips as mentioned in another post above. The road in Photo 2 uses Microscale decal sheets #71101 (white) and #71106 (yellow). These sheets have two different size strips on them (3" and 4 3/4"); I used the 4 3/4" stripes since they closely match the prototype.
Photo 1 Interstate 75 at Emerson, GA
Photo 2 Allatoona Road at Emerson, GA
Jamie
Your highway looks especially good! Especially the wheel-wear marks.
Keith, What is your material you are using for the road surface?
Mike
Mike the name of the product is called, Plastruct.
Plastruct; Patterned Plastic Sheets in over 100 different scales and textures allow realism with ease. Easily painted with most flat latex or acrylic based paints. Tips and instructions enclosed.
Located in California, 1029 South Wallace Place, City of Industry, Ca 91748
Although I have 3 Hobby Stores that I go to, only one has the plastic sheets. The plastruct plastic sheets run under $11 and you get two of them. Not quite the size the size of a sheet of paper, this would appear to be 7x10 inches.
You’ll have to click on the picture to get full resolution, but the sheet in question is actually shingled roof design from Prastruct. I liked it because it resembled cobblestone roads. It is in the center of the pic, looking rather brick color.
The blue one below it is a brick pattern. The darker brick color on the right of the blue is a reed pattern but when painted gives off a brick pattern.
In series, each one.
Shingle pattern… for cobblestone road.
The brick pattern.
Sorry it has taken me so long to reply, but as I was called upon to provide a photo or two of my roadway I realized that I don’t have any decent shots! So I had to take some, and I’ve just updated my web page with an article describing the process, as well as showcasing the final product. If interested, go take a look at:
http://wpandp.com/Home/2010/06/how-to-pave-a-road-in-n-scale/
That’s a great looking scene you have created. Jamie