Painting Lines on Road

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dlobmwm3

Member
Can anyone give guidance on how to paint perfect white and yellow lines. I tried with a paper stencil and spray painting but the paint was too liquidly.
 
you'll need some means to control the amount of spray, as you would get with an airbrush. Otherwise you might try the stencil with a mostly dry brush, building up to the amount you want in light layers.

more and thinner layers is more better......more times than not.
 


I use a beuglar Roller stripe-er. Can't buy these anymore I don't think. I've had mine for many years.
 
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By far the easiest way to get nice looking lane makers is using yellow and white drafting tape. It's thin, flexible, and makes it simple to lay down straight or even curved lines. It used to be readily available at office supply stores like Staples but it less so know that more plans are done on CAD. There are several sources on-line where you can still order it and it's reasonably priced.
 
I was at a hobby shop yesterday and found road line decals by a manufacturer I can't recall, and dry transfer road lines by Woodland Scenics.
I would think the dry transfer or rub on type would be best.
In the past I've used liquid paint pens with masking tape for lines.
 
Rico said:
I was at a hobby shop yesterday and found road line decals by a manufacturer I can't recall, and dry transfer road lines by Woodland Scenics.
I would think the dry transfer or rub on type would be best.
In the past I've used liquid paint pens with masking tape for lines.
Click to expand...

I think the ones you are talking about are made by Builders In Scale. I have both there yellow and white stripe road sets. They were not cheap from what i remember, $6 a pop, and i would not recommend them for use on anything else but styrene, unless of coarse you spray or paint a coat of flat finish or something to seal the stripe in place. I used them on WS Smooth-It roads after i had painted them, the roads were wiped down, let them dry for a few hours, and then the stripes were applied, well they worked great for the first day, but when i woke up the next morning, some of the stripes were beginning to pop up on the ends and i didnt think to apply some type of sealer before i pulled them all up and did my construction scene on the module i had them on lol.

Ill try them again and use some sealer next time i apply them to WS Smooth-It, that should keep them down and in place....

Ive tried pinstripe tape, but i all i could find was 1/8" and that is still horribly oversized for HO scale. I know you can order smaller online, but i have not done so yet. I also wanna dry some drafting tape as Jim said.

Never heard of the dry transfers from WS, didnt know they made road stripes. Ill have to check those out as well
 


I've used both Micoscale decal stipes and WS dry transfers. The problem with decals is that they are difficult to handle and the yellow tends to fade out against a concrete color surface. The dry transfer colors look better but they are really only good on a smooth surface. Any irregularities and the dry transfers won't adhere properly. I tried them on my brick streets and it was a disaster. Both decals and dry transfers need to be sealed with something like Dullcote to make them permanent or they will start peeling or breaking off.

I've also used a fine point paint marker and a straight edge with success...as long as the line was straight. Doing curves is a pain to get right. I've used crepe paper tape to form the curves and then painted inside the mask but I finally thought, as long as I'm already using tape, why not get tape that works as a line. Thus, I now use drafting tape. It's flexible and can be pulled into most curves by eye. It doesn't need any sealer and sticks so well that it will pull up any paint on the surface if you remove it.
 
Beugler Striper

The Beugler Striper makes pinstriping and detailed paint lining on any surface remarkably simple, and it’s easy to use. Your Beugler Striper comes complete with a variety of wheel heads enabling you to stripe in several widths, from extremely fine lines to clean broad strokes.


http://www.beugler.com/
 
I have the same kind of striper, but, mine is about 50 yrs. old & has a small glass bottle instead of the metal tube. I've been using it for years. I also pin striped a motorcycle w/mine back in the mid sixties. It has all kinds of guides & you can make your own. You can use all kinds of paint w/them too.
 
Jim, Where could I get some drafting tape/ That sounds like the best way to put down stripes, especially w/old shaky hands like mine.
 
I've seen model striping tape at art supply/hobby stores. However it does not appear thin enough for HO scale ( 1/8" is the smallest I've seen).
 
Larry, the brand you want is Chartpak. It comes in 1/8" and 1/16" widths, which is just about perfectly scale for HO pavement markings. It comes in a bunch of different colors, including white and yellow. They used to be carried by places like Office Depot but you rarely find them there any longer since the advent of CAD for drawings. A good place to order on-line is http://www.filmtools.com/forchartap14.html. They've got a good selection of widths and colors.
 
Road Stripes

I used 4 scale inch decal stripe for the stripes on the roads on my layout.
Since I live on a major highway I went out early one Sunday morning while there was little traffic and measured the stripe. It is 4 inches wide and 20 fwwt long with a 10 foot skip.
The roads on my layout are made from roll roofing cut to shape for the area where the road is going. I turn the roofing back side up and use contact cement to fasten it to 1/4 inch cork. This gets the road to the same level as the track.
The road is then painted flat black and when the black is dry a rattle can of Gloss-cote is used to prepare the road for decal stripes and any other markings. The decals are applied just like on a railcar. After teh decals are dry and set a rattle can of Dull-cote is used to seal in the decals and dull the road surface.
 


Modeling transition era streets, I have been using a Bic correction pen. Its like a medium ball point pen, filled with white correction fluid. Makes great white lines!
 
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