Painting road stripes

[foulrift]

I need to paint road stripes on the highway overpass I just weathered.I was thinking of using masking tape but had an experience where the tape pulled the paint up.The other option would be to spray it with dull coat,paint the stripes and then re-spray it.Any thoughts or ideas would be appreciated.Bob

[bigsteel]

have you seen the new paint pens form (i believe) pollyscale? they look like they would work,otherwise i'd use the masking tape idea.it has worked for me before,so just make sure you pull the tape off to the sides,not straight up so it doesnt "grab" the edge of the paint and peel it off.i had that same problem on my dads chevelle.and the idea worked --josh

[Nomad]

The couple of roads I had made, I had good luck with permanent markers.

Loren

[MasonJar]

I haven't tried it, but intend to...!

Use Post-it Notes to mask off the area to be painted and a use a dry brushn technique to do the painting. The theory goes that Post-its will not pull up the paint, and the dry brush will give you 1) weathered look to the lines, and 2) not allow paint to seep under the Post-it.

Sounds good to me, but I'll have to construct a paved road first to try it (not too many of those in rural 1920s... )

Andrew

[TrainNut]

I use 3M automotive pinstriping tape.

[Colton_modeler]

I'd go the masking tape route, but I'd Dullcoat & seal the road first, to protect the weathering. Depending on how detailed you want your striping to be, or what era / local it's for, you could use a combination of masking tape and Chartpack tape to create controlled spacing between double lines. And if you're modelling a place that uses "Bott's Dots", I've had great success creating these with dabs of T-Shirt "puff paint".

- Chris

[foulrift]

Thanks for the replies everyone.I really appreciate it.From what I've read I'll probably opt for a combination of dull coating the weathering and post it notes with drybrush.The roadway has an expansion joint running down the middle so I figure it should be pretty easy to butt the stripes against the joint on both sides.Thanks again-Bob

[Biased turkey]

I'm not at that stage yet.
I'll paint my N scale roads next week.
Soma Kalmbach book suggests to use a French curve and a fine-point paint pen.


Jacques

[doctorwayne]

To help prevent masking tape from lifting the paint atop which it's been applied, peel the tape back over itself, creating a very sharp acute angle at the point of release, rather than lifting it. This creates less stress on the paint film. You can also use the "low-tack" masking tape, although I find the "tack" too low, allowing the tape to lift during painting, especially with lacquer-based paints. Another suggestion would be to first apply regular masking tape to a sheet of clean glass, then remove it to apply to the area to be masked. This lessens the grip of the tape's adhesive slightly.

Wayne

[foulrift]

Thanks for the replies.I've read a couple of articles in MR where some guys used Post-It notes to mask out lines with good results.The notes have a low tack to them.It was also suggested to dry brush my lines in order to blend in with the weathering on the roadway.So I think this is the way I'll go with this.Thanks again-Bob

[Biased turkey]

I like the idea of drybrushing the road stripes.

Jacques

[Colton_modeler]

Once you have the stripes masked off, you could also try dabbing the paint on with a sponge, to suggest worn markings that have begun to peel away and need repainting, like these: