How about this

First thought is to take some tissue paper, like you get in a shirt or wrap Christmas presents in, use an Elmers glue stick and regular ink jet paper.  Put a small bead of the Elmers on the entire outside edge of the ink jet paper and carefully place the tissue paper over the ink jet paper.  This would be thin enough to feed through but strong enough to hold the tissue in place.  Use an exacto to cut out your banner.  It should be small enough to give a big enough banner without getting any of the Elmers glue stick on it.  If it is too flimsy in the middle you could always add a line of Elmers across the middle of the page.  This should still give you two fields of Elmers free area to get your banners.

Something like this should work.  I haven't tried it yet, but I was planning on doing just this with plastic grocery bags to make printed lumber wraps.

Steve

You can try tissue paper

but I'd be careful about running it through a laser printer.  I'm assuming you are using an inkjet, but I think a laser would be too hot for the tissue paper and I'd be worried what the glue would do going through a hot laser printer, too, if it were to seep out. 

Edit: I see you are using an inkjet, so never mind.

I wouldn't use Elmers.

Elmer's doesn't work well with paper.  I would use rubber cement.  It should hold the tissue paper to the other paper without soaking through the tissue paper.

Printing on Tissue Paper

An ink-jet will work but you may need to print in draft quality to avoid the ink bleeding or saturating the paper.

Here is a tutorial that may give you some ideas.

Printing On Tissue

+ +

I can not see what the difference would be unless you have scale breeze blowing thru your layout.  Print it on paper and  mount it over your street, who will see the difference. Give it a slight curve so it looks as if the wind is blowing.  I would say the minute you streach the tissue or strike by accident,  it will tear. 

How about drafting paper or onion paper.

Marc Fournier, Quebec

How about using foil or thing

How about using foil or thing thin metal?  You can mold it to the shape of the banner as it's warped by the breeze [use pictures] and it holds it's shape long term.  You can start by priming it and then painting it with a good oilbase paint, such as spray paint, white.  Then apply your decals [you know how to use decal paper in your printer, I ssume] and go form there!  You might have to experiment with getting the warp in there, but it sounds like it's more difficult to write about than to do!

Good luck!!!

You need to stop trying to

You need to stop trying to make a model come completely to life it will never happen !! The reason it's called a model is because it is just a rendition of the actual thing.

Measure the string and run it across the street or where ever you are planning to hang the banner and allow it to bow slightly and hang down1/2 inch lower in the middle than where you tie it off on the ends.

You say you have the banner designed ! So PRINT it and allow it to dry then cut it out with a slight bow 1/16 inch higher on each end from the middle.

Now take Krylon Crystal clear Acrylic Coating #1303a Spray on two coats on each side allowing each side to dry before applying the next coats.

The krylon will protect the ink and also give a slight transparency to the print paper.

Attach  lines to the lower or bottom two corners about 6-8 inches long or about 2 inches longer than is actually needed to allow ease in tying them off. Now attach the banner to the main hanging line and center it. If you can make three small wire loops attach one at both corners and loop them over the upper line and then add the center loop. Then attach the two lower lines to where ever your going to hang it to keep the banner stable yet with enough flex in the lines to allow it to slightly flow with any breeze. After it's hung and the bottom lines are tied off allow the ends to hang down 1/4 inch or more and cut them off.

As far as using tissue paper I wouldn't waist my time as it will tear too easily and any breeze will cause the paper to tear or pull loose from the strings.

There is another way to make a banner and that is to get some very thin white silk and print  the Banner lettering on paper then cut them out one at a time and glue them in place on the silk this will give you a strong yet flimsy banner that has strength. If you cant find silk try using the material used inside pants pockets. It's very thin light weight and strong you'll just need to stretch it out glue the letters to it and then cut it to shape.

Dan

Thanks for the suggestions; tissue paper seems to work

Here's a quick test that I made by attaching department store tissue wrapping paper to a piece of regular printer paper with double-stick tape. I made sure to leave about an inch at the top for the printer to "grab" the paper. A test with the tissue paper at the extreme top was not successful.

The banner art is just a rough idea but you can see that this process will probably work. After I do final art and install the banner I'll post a photo. The tissue paper works well. At first I thought that it would be too transparent but I think it will be OK. The white is slightly mottled and helps the banner look more like cloth.

Great!

It looks pretty good to me.  Better than plain paper for sure!

That worked great

That worked great and your process has become immortalized here at MRH web Forums for others to use in their small town banners.

Dan

Finished banner

Here is the banner strung on the side of a tank car.

This will be part of a Halloween train. For the fictional background of the semi-realistic train, see http://steamblog.wordpress.com/2008/10/13/halloween-train/   To see the cars in the train, see http://steamblog.wordpress.com/2010/09/12/halloween-train-for-2010/

The train will be operating on the '20s & '30s Modular Model Railroad to be displayed at the L.A. Division/NMRA meet in Palos Verdes, California on Oct. 23-24, 2010.

Here's how I made the banner:

1. Art created using Adobe Illustrator CS3. Instead of a rectangle, the outline and the type was distorted to simulate bowing inward between the ropes securing it to the car.

2. The banners were made on an inkjet printer using a piece of department store tissue paper attached about an inch from the edge of a piece of plain printer paper.

3. After printing, a light coat of flat white was sprayed on the back of the tissue paper to make it less transparent.

4. After cutting out the banner with a new hobby knife, pieces of 32 gauge copper wire (armature winding wire) were cut and glued to the back side, as shown above, with Aleene's Tacky Glue. It's a thick water-base glue. I was afraid if I used CA it would soak through and stiffen the tissue paper.

5. When the glue was dry, two wires at the top center were bent over and the banner was slid onto the tank car's railing on either side of the ladder. The remaining two wires at the top were bent around the railing then the bottom ones were done. You might need to add more Tacky Glue to the wires on undersides of the running boards. When finished, Polly Scale Dirt was painted onto the wires to simulate rope.

Paper banners

I would say that you design and print your banner with some down curvature instead of arrow straight. Most graphic programs allow you to do so.

Hanging banner help

Hi,  I have had very good results with banners and signs printed on onionskin paper.

As someone mentioned, do not use high quality printing option on your inkjet or

you may get problems with ink bleeding.

You can see one of my banners and quite a few of my buildings at http://picasaweb.google.com/gnatshop .

These are all in HO scale. The banner is on Ms. Monica's Gentlemens Emporium.  Last picture in the set.

Actually, it's an example of using too high a quality print level and I got a little bleeding on

one end.  Either that or I touched it too soon and smeared it.  Live and learn!

I've only been back in model railroading for about about 15 months.

If you need some onionskin paper, I've got quite a bit.  Couldn't find it locally, so I ended

up ordering a ream (500 sheets) over the internet.  I'll let you have 10 sheets for $1.00 or

25 sheets for $2.00.  You can contact me at gnatshop@gmail.com .

Good luck getting the effect you want!

   David Workman