Printing tips for our kits, signs and brick papers | Railwayscenics
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Printing tips

All of the Printable kits and texture papers designed by Railwayscenics are supplied in zip files as PDF (Portable Document Format) files.

To read PDF files you must have Adobe Reader installed on your computer. This software is free, and is available by clicking on the image below if you do not have it already.

Get adobe reader

All the kits and texture papers are designed to be printed on to A4 (210x297mm) size paper.

Each of our printable kits comes with various printing requirements. Please read the instructions supplied with the download before you print.

Texture sheets

A quality photo matt paper or a 120-160gsm plain white paper is recommended. A textured paper can be used if added relief is needed to the finished surface. We have found that the better the quality of the paper, the better the final print will be. Printing should be carried out using your printers special setting for photos, and if possible for matte paper. This will use more ink but will give a very high quality image.

Template sheets

The template sheets only need to be printed onto ordinary quality copier paper and can be printed at a low resolution if needed. These sheets are printed, cut out and stuck to your card, then cut around. They can be removed from the card if required after cutting.

Glazing sheets

The glazing sheets should be printed onto a special coated clear acetate sheet, or overhead projector film, which is suitable for use in your type of printer. When using the clear film, make sure to print on the correct side of the film otherwise the ink may not dry.

Instructions

It is not necessary to print these pages as they can be read from the screen of a device. If you choose to print them, there are no special print requirements and can be printed onto the ordinary quality printer, or copy, paper and should be read before starting the assembly.

To open our zipped files

Our zipped folders are created using WINZIP. This is available for most operating systems but is no longer free. We have listed some alternative free programs that will also open zipped folders. Just click the images to be taken to the website where each program can be found. Once you have downloaded and installed the small program, you should be able to open the zipped files just by clicking on the file.

Get 7zip
Get camunzip
Get winzip

To print a PDF

  1. Launch Adobe Reader and then open up the files in the download, or if you have adobe reader installed just double click the file.
  2. Select FILE then PRINT.
  3. Select the printer you wish to use if you have more than one.
  4. IMPORTANT: Print at 100% and ensure that all page scaling, FIT TO PAGE or similar are UNCHECKED. Failure to do this will result in the printout not being to scale.
  5. Select PROPERTIES, and select the type of paper you are printing on, and then select the desired quality or dpi. The higher the print quality the better the results. On some of our downloads lines will be missing if a low printer resolution has been selected.
  6. Save these printer settings (if this feature is available).
  7. Select OK or PRINT.

To print a particular page of the PDF.

It is possible to only print one page of a PDF. This is particularly helpful if you have made a mistake and wish to print the part again.

  1. Open the PDF using Adobe reader.
  2. Select the print option by either using the menu or clicking on the print button.
  3. On the main screen that opens, go down the page to the PRINT RANGE section.
  4. Select the page number that you require.
  5. Select OK or PRINT to print the page.

A printer test sheet can be downloaded from the free downloads area to allow you to see the scaled textures and test your printer settings. It also shows you some of the different textures that we have available. The printout is scaled to 4mm ft.

Re-size chart

Several of our customers have asked us how to resize our scale models, and those from other companies, when using either a copier or printer. Use this table to give the appropriate enlarge or reduce to re scale the drawing. You should always check that the change is correct by using a fixed size measurment to check accuracy.

Just be aware that to get most of these models to build correctly you will also have to scale down the thickness of the card used to create the structure.

Example:- To resize a kit from 1:87 (HO Scale) to 1:76 (OO Gauge) you should divide 87 by 76 then multiply by 100 to get 114.473%, which in the chart below has been rounded up to 114.5%.

  O Scale
1:43.5
OO Scale
1:76
HO Scale
1:87
TT Scale
1:101.6
TT 120 Scale
1:120
N Scale
1:148
O Scale
1:43.5
--- 174.7% 200% 234% 275.9% 340.2%
OO Scale
1:76
57.2% --- 114.5% 134% 157.9% 194.7%
HO Scale
1:87
50% 87.4% --- 117% 137.9% 170.1%
TT Scale
1:101.6
42.8% 74.8% 86% --- 118.1% 145.7%
TT120 scale
1:120
36.3% 63.3% 72.5% 84.7% --- 123.3%
N Scale
1:148
29.4% 51.4% 58.9% 69% 81.1% ---

Using the above table

Find your scale in the table along the top, then scroll down to the desired scale and find out the factor you need to enlarge or reduce. So, if, say, I have HO scale plans I want to enlarge to O scale, I run across the top to HO, then down to O scale, and see that I need to enlarge the plans to 200%. If I have O scale plans I want to reduce to OO scale, I run across the top to O and down to OO, and see I need to reduce the plans to 57.2%.The decimal places can be rounded either up or down to keep things simple with very little noticeable difference in the size.

UK Paper Size Guide

Each numbered A size is exactly half the size of the previous one. If you cut a sheet of A4 paper in half along its longest side, you will end up with two sheets of A5.

Format Width x Height - Inches Width x Height - mm
4AO 93.6 x 66.2 inches 2378 x 1682mm
2AO 66.2 x 46.8 inches 1189 x 1682mm
A0 46.8 x 33.1 inches 1189 x 841mm
A1 33.1 x 23.4 inches 841 x 594mm
A2 23.4 x 16.5 inches 594 x 420mm
A3 16.5 x 11.7 inches 420 x 297mm
A4 11.7 x 8.3 inches 297 x 210mm
A5 8.3 x 5.8 inches 210 x 148mm
A6 5.8 x 4.1 inches 148 x 105mm
A7 4.1 x. 2.9 inches 105 x 74mm
A8 2.9 x. 2.0 inches 72 x 54mm
A9 2.0 x. 1.5 inches 52 x 37mm
A10 1.5 x. 1.0 inches 37 x 26mm