What methods do you use to make paved and dirt roads? Please include pictures if you can. I would love to see your ideas. Mike
I use spackling with masking tape along the edge. Flood the spackling and smooth it with your finger. Then remove the masking tape while still slightly wet and tamp down the edges. After it dries completely you cand sand it to make it smooth. Then paint or add fine sand for a dirt road. IMHO, it works better for pavement than for a dirt road. I use styrene for approaches to railroad tracks and for the crossing itself. There are many other good ways to do this. I would try a few and not settle on any one method as road and street variation is prototypical. Railroad tie crossing with dirt approaches (still under construction). Commercially, Fine N Scale makes "Easy Streets" and they really look nice for city streets with crosswalks, gutters, drains, etc. I have see styrene streets with a strip glued under the center to make a crown in the road. That's some real detail in N scale! [ February 23, 2006, 10:52 AM: Message edited by: Flash Blackman ]
I use styrene to make roads and then use a tar like paint to cover the styrene. Stay cool and run steam....
I don't remember which issue of Model Railroader it was from, but I make my roads from an article I saw in there from way back in the 1980s, using joint compound for drywall panels. The nice thing about joint compound is that it is smoothable with a wet sponge so it is easily contoured, and once dry it has a nice texture with tiny flecks that looks like scaled-down asphalt, especially after you paint it over with the right color paint. Cheap too... A bucket from Home Depot will be enough to pave your own scaled-down Interstate 95 from Maine to Florida.
For paved roads, I use poster bard and glue it to the layout with Elmer's, then paint with PollyS concrete. At grade crossings I use Durhams Water Putty. For unpaved roads, I use Woodland Scenics fine ballast and glue it to the layout with Elmers.
Like Big Snooze, I also used poster board, painted Grimy Black (spray can), Dullcoated, cut to shape, Elmer's glue to layout, white gel pen for lines, add chalks and real dirt rubbed in for effect. It looks pretty good and is very fast and cheap. It does look a little paper-like in closeup photography. That all being said, next time I'm going to use plaster or drywall compound to get away from that "papery" look.
Right now I'm using: "The Modeler's Asphalt" made by Creative Customcraft in Edgemont, PA. I must've bought this 1 lb tub in the mid to late 90's (right before my divorce, but that's another story). I cannot find a viable reference for it, or the company on the web. The road in the pics is about 18 scale feet wide. Previously discussed in this Thread: Asphalt
I use drywall mud too. I even ground a plastic putty knife into a concave shape to try to get a crown on my road. I've been trying to use 1/64" pinstriping tape to make lines, but I'm pretty thouroughly disgusted with that idea. I need to find one of those gel pens I think. Are they pretty easy to find?
Mike, Have you thought about getting the woodland scenics product. This is the one I am leaning to in the near future. Alan
Bumbazine, The gel pens are at art supply stores, maybe office supply stores. They "flood" easily, go real light on pressure. Practice a lot. I found they won't mark onto painted paper, but will mark onto dullcoated paper. Someone, I think Flash (?) suggested using masking tape at ends of lines to facilitate a clean ending. HTH.
I have used the woodland scenics smooth it system. Basically mix it, pour it and then smooth it with a piece of styrene. You can lay the companies road system tape to create straight flat edges...allow for a smooth flat surface. Then I sanded it with a sponge sander found at shucks auto supply. It was perfect in size for the highway and good for smaller roads if the sponge was turned on its side. Worked very well. After sanded I painted it using the woodland scenics black road topcoat. I liked it overall; you just need to make sure you fully get rid of air bubbles.
This the styrene, painted with a tar like substance method for creting a road: Stay cool and run steam.....
I printed my roads out on an inkjet printer, Dullcoted them like crazy to seal and weather them, glued them to styrene, cut them out, and glued the styrene to the module: Unfortunately, I don't have any good closeup shots right now, but they seem to have turned out okay.
