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Questions, Answers & Tips - 2
build up a crown in the road, or gouged for potholes. Fine sand
can be sifted into it, then fixed in place with white glue and
water. Grass tufts from Silflor or Woodland Scenics can add a
green or weedy strip down the center of a two-wheel track.
Charlie Comstock has posted an excellent feature on making dirt
roads at
and a Model Trains Video download is available for sale at
You'll find a useful eight-page article called "Zip Texturing
Resurrected," in the September-October 2010 issue of
Model Railroad Hobbyist at
– MRH
Design a paint scheme
Q.
I am looking for a computer program that I can use to design
the paint scheme for my new road. I would prefer a free one,
but if that is not possible I am willing to buy, at a reasonable
cost, a program that will help.
– Glenn Patterson
A.
We located one site with drawings at
and copies of The Railroad Paint Shop at
Lots of general graphics apps are out there. Just Google
"graphic drawing app" and the first couple of pages are full of
choices.
One program to consider is Corel Painter Lite, at $69 retail. It
would be more than adequate for doing lettering and filling in
outlines.
See the PC World review at
You didn't mention what engines you have in mind, but if you
Google “diesel locomotive diagrams” quite a few drawings
come up. For personal use, these could be copied into a paint
program, with the lettering plan and paint scheme added on
separate layers. Loco outlines (2) can also be scanned from rail-
road shop manuals.
In the recent past, there was a site with many good engine dia-
grams at
but it
seems to be inactive.
– MRH
Track joiners
Q.
In the middle of building my layout, I have run out of Atlas
Code 83 track connectors and they are nowhere to be found.
2
2. This EMD SW9 is scanned from old railroad shop dia-
grams. A simple painting program can be used to design
a custom paint scheme – or you can print the diagram and
work with acrylics or colored pencils.
MRH-May 2013
