FAQ
In 2005 Scalescenes pioneered downloadable model railway kits and texture sheets. Downloading is essentially just clicking on link that is emailed to you and then copying the files to your computer. There are no time limits on the download links or files and once the kit PDF files are on your hard drive you may print them as many times as you require.
Once you have built a Scalescenes kit it is understandable that you would want to share the files with a friend. Please don’t. Scalescenes (Graphic designer John Wiffen) has invested a lot of time and money in the development of these kits. In order for Scalescenes to continue bringing you innovative kits your support is vital.
Apologies, I don't have a printed catalogue, however full product information including prices, dimensions and images is available on each kit product page.
Scalescenes is happy for modellers to sell surplus built models but selling MULTIPLE COPIES of your original download clearly constitutes 'commercial exploitation' and is a breach of the copyright information at the bottom of each page.
Unfortunately, I'm unable to offer ready printed versions as I'm running Scalescenes from Australia and the postage costs to the UK are very high.
Regrettably we are unable to accept bank transfers, cheques or postal orders. Scalescenes is actually run from Australia and as a result transfer fees unfortunately often exceed the value of the order.
If your download email doesn't contain any links (blue text) please ensure that your email settings allow you to 'View as HTML'.
To check that ZIP files are correctly opening within File or Windows explorer, right-click on the zip folder file, a fly out menu will now appear, scroll down to "Open with." Select ‘File explorer' and check the 'Always use the selected program to open this type of file' button. This should now open up the downloaded ZIP folder and this will allow you to see PDF files.
Any type of colour printer that will take A4 size paper is suitable. For larger kits or projects access to colour laser printer would be an advantage. Colour laser printers have dramatically reduced in price in recent years and are generally much cheaper per page to run than an inkjet.
Certainly, self adhesive backed paper is well suited for the card mounted prints and very useful for the cut out ‘window overlays’ (avoids any excess glue on the clear film). Please refer to the next FAQ as to how to print just the window overly section of a page.
About the only thing that self adhesive paper isn’t well suited to is wrapping the’Cover layers’ over and around the ‘Base layers’.
Yes, you can print just a selected section of a page from Acrobat if your printer supports it.
Firstly zoom into the section that you wish to print and then select print. Once in the print window in the 'Print range' section, select 'Current view'. Please ensure that 'Page scaling - none' is also selected. If 'Fit to print margins' is enabled then the selected section will print out at the incorrect scale.
It doesn’t have to. Kits are printed on to paper and then mounted on to one of three different cards (light, medium and heavy). The thickness of the card is determined by the scale you are building in and is explained in the instructions.
Very few of the kits have elements that are suitable to be printed directly on to card that is thin enough to go through a printer. Instead the construction method generally revolves around cutting out simple 'base layers' and then wrapping a 'cover layer' around them. This is a far superior method of construction as you don't end up with ugly exposed card edges (the downside of many other card kits).
All Scalescenes products have been very carefully colour calibrated and exported to commercial printing standards. Unfortunately, all colour printers produce a slightly different interpretation of the colours. Here are some things you can try if your print doesn’t look right:
- Check the ink levels and ensure that the heads are clean and in alignment (most printers have a small 'utilities' window to deal with these issues, refer to the users guide).
- Change the type of paper you are using (for example Matt photo inkjet paper tends to produce much richer colours than even the best copier type paper).
- Ensure that the paper hasn’t been affected by moisture.
- Make sure the paper type in your printer settings matches the type of paper you are using.
- If your printer has the option, try changing its colour management settings (these are usually found in the options section of of your print window). Different settings can yield very different results on the same printer.
Generally printing the A4 kits on to Letter works out OK as I always try to leave fairly generous margins at the top and bottom of the pages. If you find that a couple of small sections do get cut off you should be able to print just that area again. Firstly zoom into the section that you wish to print and then select print. Once in the print window in the 'Print range' section, select 'Current view'. Please ensure that 'Page scaling - none' is also selected. If 'Fit to print margins' is enabled then the selected section will print out at the incorrect scale.
No problem, just print out the section that went wrong and build it again!
Paper and cardboard thickness is often specified by its weight per square metre rather than dimensional thickness. (eg. most copier papers are approximately 80gsm) Try to get as close to the weight or thickness as specified in the instructions as possible (a limited amount of variation in thickness has been factored into the kits).
Having spent over twenty years working as a graphic designer, I really can't say I trust the longevity of spray glue, it does have a tendency to dry out and separate over time. After much experimentation, as unlikely as it seems I have found the best option by far for mounting the sheets on to card is the humble glue stick (I use UHU).
As long the back of the sheet is given a generous but even coat of glue, not only do glue sticks not wrinkle or bubble, but they also have the ability to be repositioned and smoothed for several minutes after application. After running a roller over the sheet, I have found gluestick adhesive to have excellent longevity.