1:35 USA Road Signs

USA Road Signs 1:35 — printed road signs for a diorama (ETA diorama)

The sheet is a paper accessory for scenes in 1:35 scale. It carries printed American road signs that you cut out and fit to posts of your own. It is not a kit or a waterslide decal — you get a printed sheet from which you trim the parts yourself. Signs are among the elements that give a scene a particular country fastest: as soon as an American sign stands by the road, the viewer does not have to guess where the action takes place.

Mounting on a post and bending

Paper does not stand up by itself, so back the motif. Thin plastic around three tenths of a millimeter thick or a piece of sheet metal from a can works well — a metal backing holds its shape and will take a bend that looks like a sign scuffed after an impact. The cleanest way is to glue the sign onto both sides of the backing, so that the back is as presentable as the front; where you have no print for the back, simply paint the backing gray. You make the post from wire about one millimeter in diameter or from a plastic profile and push it into the base of the diorama.

Credibility of scale and weathering

Watch the height of the post: in 1:35 scale an ordinary sign by a road is roughly at the head height of a standing figure, not higher. Blacken the edges after trimming with a marker, so that white paper does not stand out. Age it with a light wash in a dark shade drawn off with a cloth, fine spots of rust at the foot of the post and a light matte clear coat from a spray, which levels the sheen of the print.

Who the sheet is for

• Builders of road and urban dioramas in 1:35 scale
• Modelers of American vehicles who want to place a scene clearly in the USA
• Figure painters putting street scenes together
• Anyone who wants to complete a scene simply and without an airbrush

It is a printed paper accessory for a diorama. Posts, glue, paints and the base of a scene are not included in the package.