god bless the field liners?

[Pizazzman]

When I marched, I was either on scaffolding or bus loading crew, we had that down to a science and had some pretty sweet races. Anyway, sadly, I never learned how to line a field, so could someone point me in the direction of a good, fast, step-by-step set of instructions that I could print out?

[84BDsop]

When I marched, I was either on scaffolding or bus loading crew, we had that down to a science and had some pretty sweet races. Anyway, sadly, I never learned how to line a field, so could someone point me in the direction of a good, fast, step-by-step set of instructions that I could print out?

PM Charlie Groh....that guy could line a field in his sleep!

[Kasspa]

Ok.. Australian here. I know NOTHING about football fields...But, I was talking to one of the guys at work who plays american football and he started telling me about is sunburn he got from marking out a field on the weekend.. it took 5 of them about 4 hours!.. he wants to know how on EARTH you guys can do it in 20 minutes? he doesnt believe it can be done... I myself am quite interested too I guess, as I remember my old soccer days marking out fields for that..

Edited December 29, 2007 by Kasspa

[Ranger Rick]

Ok.. Australian here. I know NOTHING about football fields...But, I was talking to one of the guys at work who plays american football and he started telling me about is sunburn he got from marking out a field on the weekend.. it took 5 of them about 4 hours!.. he wants to know how on EARTH you guys can do it in 20 minutes? he doesnt believe it can be done... I myself am quite interested too I guess, as I remember my old soccer days marking out fields for that..

Funny.

The way I do it is:

Measure one 300 ft line, mark it every 5 yards. This is the front sideline.

From the 50 on that line, use a 219.3 ft (i think) measuring tool to make the diagonal, and from the 0 on that line, use a 160 ft measuring tool to make the side, and find where the two lines meet. This point is the corner of the back sideline. While this line is down, mark the hashes.

Repeat above on the other side of the field to find the other back corner.

Use that 300 ft line from before to connect the back corners (this is the moment of truth, if you screwed up it won't fit) and mark it every 5 yards. This is the back sideline.

Run lines down every 5 yards.

Run the hashes across.

Don't forget a logo/center x thingy!

If there's a better way to do it I'd REEEEALLY like to know, because I just know I'm heading up paint crew again. I don't think I ever did it in 20 minutes... maaaybe half an hour on a good day.

[liebot]

I was going to type an explanation of the method that I used in 05/06 but there's a better explanation courtesy of one Kristen Richard here: http://www.drumcorpsplanet.com/forums/inde...p;#entry1540318

It's easier than the diagonal method and can be done pretty quickly (within 15-20 minutes) if you have enough people.

[Clarimellonet]

We only ever had one tape (on a good day) so we couldn't do it that way, but over my three years, we had a couple different methods

In 2004, we had the "contraption" which was a spool of rope that was the perimeter of the field. We stretched it out, had four people at corners to make sure they were right angles, and then staked it and painted. The rope was yellow with red marks on yardlines, ticks, and hashes, and after we sprayed that, we took the yardline rope (from another spool) and did the lines. Then hashes and ticks. We could do a field in less than 15 minutes. The problem was that rope stretches over time, so more than a few were more like parallelograms towards the endzones.

In 2005, we started using triangulation. One of our crew *Ahem LARVA* lost the tape measure in Belding, MI, so we had to improvise for a while with the 300 foot piece from the old contraption and a 60 foot tape we got at a hardware store. It was a slow year for us, I think our fastest time was 17 minutes if I remember correctly.

In 2006, we had it down, we had 2 ropes and one tape measure. The tape measure would be used for the sideline, triangulation from the 40's, and the 50 and back sideline. After that, the three people (2 with tape, one to paint) would do both the endzones with ticks and hashes and then start on yardlines at one end, while the other 6 people would take the 2 ropes and start on yardlines. If we did it right, we'd end up with an almost perfect rectangle, and then use the two 150 foot ropes for ticks and hashes across the field. On a good day we could do a field in 15-17 minutes. The problem was that our paint orders never came in on time, so more than once, we were stuck with furniture paint. Water soluble furniture paint to spray on the dew soaked grass.

And then there was the field with the cows fifty feet away in Luling, TX...

[keymodf]

Front side line

Yard lines and yard marks

triangulate from the 40yd lines to make the 50

make 50yd line

complete the two "boxes" of the football field made by the FSL and 50

yard lines

ticks and hashes on sidelines and yard lines

yard marks across hashes

repeat one or two more times as needed.

I think that's pretty accurate.

[Bevinator]

Food truck crew is pretty bad . When you get off the bus you just want to get you junk and pass out on the floor , but then you have to set up the truck , you feel like your just going to fall over. we got good. out field lining crew got pretty good by the end. i know our tech said there was a few ways to line a field.

This past summer members didn't unload food truck when we rolled in. The admin staff and volunteers would do that. Members only loaded it as we left a housing or show site. I learned real quick be ready for them cause once they came it was done real quick. Thank you food truck loadiing crew!

[BLOONATE]

Front side line

Yard lines and yard marks

triangulate from the 40yd lines to make the 50

make 50yd line

complete the two "boxes" of the football field made by the FSL and 50

yard lines

ticks and hashes on sidelines and yard lines

yard marks across hashes

repeat one or two more times as needed.

I think that's pretty accurate.

After the front sideline is put down, I'd just like to add that if you triangulate from the 40 AND the 35 you will find that there is a discrepancy horizontally in the marks you make at your point of the trangle meaning that if you use just the 40, you probably won't get a true right triangle for the 50. Split the difference with your rope between the two marks you've made from the trangulation.

As for the back sideline, I'll try to remember. Have someone hold the 0 on the back sideline at the 50. grab the 135 foot mark (don't know the numbers off the top of my head) follow the back sideline. Someone else takes the 295 foot mark (again, i think this was right) goes on the 50 at the front sideline. Make the triangle, then tick every 5 yards from the 50 for the back sideline. Flip the triangle for the other half of the field. Now you have front and back sidelines ticked every 5 yards so all you have to do is "PAINT IT!!"

Edited December 31, 2007 by BLOONATE

[Dave]

Ok.. Australian here. I know NOTHING about football fields...But, I was talking to one of the guys at work who plays american football and he started telling me about is sunburn he got from marking out a field on the weekend.. it took 5 of them about 4 hours!.. he wants to know how on EARTH you guys can do it in 20 minutes? he doesnt believe it can be done... I myself am quite interested too I guess, as I remember my old soccer days marking out fields for that..

Well, the guy you were talking to might have been putting together a full-size, fully-lined field. I can't speak for every corps but generally, when we lined fields for rehearsal, we only lined out to five yards past the last yard line used, usually the 20s or so, we didn't go all the way to the back sideline but only a little farther than we needed to, and we put down dashed lines rather than solid. We also only lined in one direction, from the rear of the field to the front. Generally in painting a field for competition you paint the lines both directions because otherwise, they're not as visible from the other direction, and most of our show would generally be front-field. In comparison, lining practice fields usually took a can and a half of paint, while lining a show field could easily use at least eight or nine cans if you do it right, and that's probably a low estimate.