I was surprised to see some dry transfer sheets in the Woodland Scenics catalog that I just downloaded. They had lettering sheets with different fonts as well as railroad specific and signs. I like having the catalog on the PC as I often cannot find paper catalogs when I need them, but I always know where my PC is.
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.
Mike, Didn’t sound too confusing to me. In fact, your timing is great as I have some tape in the mail to me and should be ready to try some doing some center lines after Santa leaves. Obvioulsly curves in the road are going to be the hard part. Jim
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
That turned out like you’ve done it before! It’s a good photo, too.
Very nicely done, Jim. The parking stripes are a nice touch too.