Using free Gimp software, (GNU Image Manipulation Program), with ScaleModelPlans.com Templates

ScaleModelPlans.com has an on-line catalog of structure plans for model railroad layouts and dioramas. Their plan sets come with several options to construct a model structure in any one of several scales. This tutorial will demonstrate how to use their plans in conjunction with a free Open-Source software program to produce some amazing results.

This is ScaleModelPlans.com plan #1495 done in cardstock.  Although ScaleModelPlans plan sets come with a pre-colored cardstock pattern for a quick and simple project, they also include templates for Model Builder Software. I have discovered another interesting alternative - one that uses FREE software!

Download GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) - Free

Click here to See other ScaleModelPlans projects

When you open Gimp you will find a conventional "Windows" looking program, with most of the functions in the expected places. 

Most of the value in the program, to model builders, will be in the ability to add and customize architectural textures, windows, and doors.  I will elaborate on those aspects later, but first I will demonstrate how easy it is to use the program with a ScaleModelPlans.com WMF template file. Open the program and go to File Open and browse for your plan file. Typically, the ScaleModelPlans.com WMF templates start with the letters MBxxxx.

This section of the tutorial will provide a quick overview on "painting" your structure project. I will demonstrate later how to get your textures, doors & windows.

You may have to select the black drop-down arrow and choose Microsoft WMF file in order to see the preview of the files.  You should see something similar to the image on the right.

Refer to the Setup Guide and set the Width and Height in inches according to the Chart settings for your plan. Also set the resolution to 300 pixels/in. Following these settings should provide an accurate print out of your project.

(*Note: The Setup Guide settings refer to ScaleModelPlans Plan files)

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Click on the Pattern Fill radio button .  Clicking on the sample texture swatch below it will bring up all of the installed textures, including any that you have installed, (explained later).

You will see a thumbnail image of each of the standard patterns as well as the ones that you install.

Select the Paint Bucket tool and click inside each of the areas in the template to fill with texture.

That's all there is to this stage.  Try to get each panel right the first time, as it can be difficult to fix mistakes without starting over again. Save your project as a Gimp XCF File so that you can go back and finish at a later time if required.

Installing Doors & Windows

One of the nice things about cardstock modeling is that if you don't like the first results you can do it over again. Notice the different siding.

Window and doors have been installed as "brushes", (covered in a separate tutorial). If you don't see the Brushes Panel go to Windows Dockable Dialogs Brushes.

Simply drag the desired window or door onto the plan and move it into place with the Move Tool  .

You can resize an object with the Perspective Tool and dragging any of the corner handles on the selected object.

 (Adding Windows and Doors is covered in next tutorial)

Each window and door will appear on it's own layer. You can right-click on a layer to duplicate a window or door. The duplicate copy appears over top of the original but can be moved with the Move tool .

To prevent accidently changing or deleting something you can lock the layers, (windows) that you are not currently working on by clicking on that layer to the right of the eyeball icon. Just remember to unlock the layer if you need to edit.

Printing

Depending on your printer and the layout of the pages you're printing, you may have to adjust your printer margins. If possible, do a Print Preview first. The example below shows the print result being slightly offset on the page.  This may or may present a problem, depending on how close the image is to the edge of the page, but it can be rectified by going to File Page Setup and adjusting the margins manually.

The final step before printing is to double check the Width and Height against the settings from the ScalemodelPlans.com  Setup Guide.  Select the Image Settings tab on the Print window.

Also check the orientation, (landscape or Portrait) under the General tab Preferences.

Refer to the Cardstock Modeling Guide that came with your plans for other printer settings and tips.

For HO scale and smaller, Kodak photo paper works quite well. For larger scales you can use light cardstock, or photo paper with reinforcements.  Again, refer to the Cardstock Modeling Guide from SMP.

You may have to add in some folding-tabs of your own, as explained in the guide.  Always think ahead as you're cutting out the individual pieces.

Next - Adding textures & windows to Gimp