I am looking for ideas for making roads on my layout. I need to make an access road to my engine service facilities and paint factory. I know there are many ways to do this. Paved , unpaved, tar, asphalt, dirt. Also will need to cross 3 tracks. I am looking for suggestions and some pics and a how to. Thanks
Roads The layout here is HO but this might work for N scale. I used three tab roofing and used it with the back side for the road. I made a paper pattern and traced it out on the roofing. Then using a utility knife the road was cut out. I used cork roadbed under the roofing and contact cement to stick the road down. Black acrylic baint was used to pave the road. When this was dry the road was sprayed with a rattle can of Testors Gloss Cote to prep the road for the stripes. Decal stripe 4 scale inches wide and 10 scale feet long were applied. Decal set was used to get the stripes to stick to the road. After the decals were dry the road was sprayed with a rattle can of Testors Dull Cote to give a flat finish. Hope this helps.
Looking forward to hearing and seeing the different ideas as roads are something I'll have to deal with eventually. I've never done it before.
I have seen someone model roads with the foam material used in plates and meat trays. I've been taking a stab at it and think it may good for at least some types of roads - but I think it may be too thick for N scale.
I cut my roads from sheets of styrene plastic. To save oney, rather than use the expensive sheets that are available in hobby shops, I use those cheap plastic FOR SALE signs you can get for a few dollars at the local hardware/home improvement store: The back side is plain white, perfect for us modelers: Cut, paint and weather, add a few vehicles and you are good to go: Those two highways are just temporarily placed on the layout until the surrounding scenery is completed. Eventually they will be glued down with latex caulk and the shoulders will be blended in to the road height. Jamie
I use wallboard joint compound. I like it because I can build gradual grades leading up to railroad crossings and mold curbs and sidewalks along the side. It takes a lot of sanding to get it all smooth but once it is painted with Floquil concrete paint I can weather it with pencil. I lightly shade in the oil stains in the middle of the lanes and then smudge them with my finger to blend them in. I usually do my roads and streets first then add the ground cover, bringing it right up to the edge of the road.
I use sheet styrene (never thought of using the back of signs...good idea) to make my roads. I have Autocad on my computer so I draw my roads at full scale and print a template to cut the plastic. I usually do "old" concrete roads since they're easier, at least for me. I use artists charcoal pencils for weathering the exhaust stains in the lanes. For some reason, I could never get an asphalt road done to satisfy my artistic eye. BTW, Russ great roads.
For straight roads and highways, I like sheet styrene. It is easy to add curbs by layering the sheets. You can paint the details like asphault repair spots, tar sealing lines, etc. I built an elevated highway over a city on an N-Trak module with styrene and it held up to all the travel quite well. I have tried very thin tape from art stores for striping, but anything like Dull-cote dissolves the glue. I have had luck with white paint pens for parking lots and RR crossings, but the yellow pens do not give a good highway yellow stripe color. I have tried fine ballast and different types of plaster for gravel roads. The ballast is easy and will take paint. The plasters are finer textured and paint well, but are a bigger mess on the layout. I like the commercial grade crossings that are available from some of the detail companies to get across tracks. Dave G Cache Valley & Northern RR
I'm with Russell on the joint compound. It works great and sanding it helps give it a driven on look. I do one thing different though, I pre tint the joint compound to a brownish gray before I put it down. That way if you nick the road later, you don't get glaring white scratches showing. It also helps when sanding because you get different colors and textures as you sand it. Here is a shot before sanding on my son's 3'x3' layout. Here is some of the same technique on an HO layout I am working on.. I also use styrene to do concrete driveways because it is easier to create the expansion joints and it makes a smoother/level panel for each section.
I also use sheetrock mud. You can dome the road as well if you want to get that technical. I make a trall out of styrene, with a slight dome curve to form the road. I use popsickle stick, or even cardboard, or anything I have handy as forms . I also make my sidewalks, and some building foundations out of sheetrock mud.
Tony very nice work on the roads. After seeing some of the fantastic work and great ideas. I'll be going with a gravel road and possibly a wood grade crossing. Any suggestions on doing a gravel road?
For my two long/straight roads which are "lift off" (to get to the subway track), I used sheet styrene. Here's a shot of the "long" road and here's a shot of the sloped road leading to overpass (under construction, and finished) For roads where I'm not needing to lift them out, I'm using joint compound.
Here is a nice site about making different type of roads http://s145079212.onlinehome.us/rr/howto/roads/index.shtml
*S N A P * I finally figured out what didnt look right! Most guys are making the center of the lane darker (oil etc I suppose)...whereas on any roads I see...the darker area is where the tires roll ! "Where the rubber meets the road" Am I wrong ? .
