I know I have seen images of some superb modeled concrete roads on TB, but search has not found any. Can anyone point me to a model railroad which has concrete roads or to pictures of full size roads? I want to lay a concrete road on my layout and wonder what are the easiest methods to achieve this. I would rather not use plaster, or similar and thought of using card or styrene sheet. Any advice appreciated.
Grey concrete or black asphalt ? there is this thread in the "How To" section. http://www.trainboard.com/highball/index.php?threads/modeling-asphalt.76293/
The problems I always had with card stock and styrene sheet was contouring them to bring roads up to rail crossings and obtaining other features like the road crown. I could never get it to lay right on hills and such. Wall board joint compound (drywall mud) comes pre mixed but it is messy and cracks when it dries. But it is easy to sand and fill the cracks with a wet finger. The dust also loads up vacuum cleaner filters real fast. Floquil used to sell a color called "Concrete" that I used to paint over the dried and sanded joint compound. After painting I weather the roads with pencil lead that I lightly shade and smudge with my finger to blend it in. Then I bring the scenic material right up to and overlap the edge. A truck cresting a hill coming out of an underpass. I give my roads a slight crown that you can make out in this image.
These are just styrene sheets To get the effect, I first prime the styrene with grey primer, then a layer of Testor Light Aircraft Grey (which, to me, has a tan-ish look). I then do a light wash of Grimy Black in windshield washer solution, using a fan brush to make the wash "pool".
My vote is for Durham's Water Putty, which is what I used for the roadway under the ME city viaduct. It dries very hard, and you can sand it as much as you wish, and scribe casting lines and even cracks into it quite easily. For my tastes, styrene and similar materials look artificially flat - all roads acquire wear texture over time.
Agreed that roads do suffer wear and asphalt does need texture, bumps, holes, etc. But concrete roads are inherently flat so I will be using styrene for mine for speed and cleanliness of application. It will of course be suitably weathered and no doubt some cracks will have appeared! It will be on a quickie addition along part of the front of the layout, which will allow a few non-rail related structures to be included. Will keep you posted in my Andersley Western thread.
For my N-Scale concrete I use cardboard. For the Place I riled it and just paint it with powder colors. For the walls I used riled Cardboard with one layer tissue ( Kleenex) over it.
Hello Eugen - What do you mean by "riled" ? Also, since the subject is roads, I don't know what walls you're speaking of. Charles
Never thought of using a tissue layer for texture. Could be useful for various surfaces. I like the weeds in cracks in your concrete yard.
Hi Carles I use 1.5 -2 mm cardboard. Then I cut it with a cutter or scalpel half way true to simulate the sheathing. Then paint it gray and drybrush it after the color is set.
Alan next time I send some Pics wit your Spinechars. They are still very busy on my Layout. Do you still produce them?
Eugen, I have been retired for several years. I sold the company to Peter Harris who still produces all my cars under the name N Scale Kits. His website has all these plus new kits he has introduced. I would love to see some of my spine cars in action. For several years they were the only N scale spine cars available.
I managed to use sheet styrene with success... smooth, even and durable. I painted by hand then marked off the control joints every scale 15' plus additional cracks. I wish I got a decent picture before I tore out the old layout.
I will be using the walthers cornerstone street system. I most likely may need to cut them in half due to space requirement. I haven't gotten that far yet and will know soon hopefully. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free
I have the road laid in styrene and will roughen the surface by rubbing cross-ways with coarse sandpaper to simulate the tamping. Just to take away the too-smooth surface. My road needs to be robust as my grandson loves to drive his cars along it!
