Im building an intermodal yard and was wondering what the best substance and or paint would be to use to simulate the pavement of the ramp area of the yard. This is for HO scale.
For paved areas, be they concrete or asphalt, I use Woodland Scenics “Road System”. I use plaster of Paris in place of WS “Smooth It” plaster (it’s the same stuff). For concrete, I would make a large paved area using the Road System and then paint it Testors “Flat Light Aircraft gray” which makes a nice concrete color. When the plaster is completely dry, use a ruler and an exacto knife to scribe expansion joints in the concrete.
Hope this helps.
I use styrene. I make paper patterns by cutting a large sheet of paper to the size of the concrete area that I want. Then I lay it in place on the layout and use a pencil on its side and rub on the paper to imprint the track and rail areas. Then I use that as a pattern, cut the sections out, and transfer those to the plastic. Next I cut out the pieces and put them in place. Some shimming is usually required to get things level. The final step is paint and weathering to look like concrete.
For the actual material, I use the plastic handicap signs that I get at Lowes. They are only printed on one side and are about 0.030 thick.
Is this work? Yes. It is also called modeling, and is a lot less messy than pouring some plaster or other soupy material on my layout and track.
Gandydancer’s styrene suggestion is better if you are going to be embedding track in the pavement, as it is easier to get at the track if there is an issue in the future (electrical dead spot, kink, out-of-gauge, etc) - just pry the styrene (or brick or block sheets up, depending on era/location) and work on the track.
Either styrene or poured plaster equivalent is fine for regular roads/streets/alleys/lots etc where you are unlikely to need to access anything underneath (I have used Durham Putty w/ some grey or black tinting in the mix - this way if you inadvertantly chip it, no ugly “yellow-tan” raw spot staring you in the face - you can paint/weather further as needed)
Try the reverse side of asphalt shingles–easy to cut, paint and weather. You can create chuck holes by digging out some of the backing. Also, make cracks in pavement by bending it a bit after painting. Build up the shoulders with Sculptamold.
I’ve had pretty good success with 1/16" basswood and 1/32" plywood. This is not cheap in quantity, but worked well for my limited needs.There is some texture on its surface that represents the roughness of concrete better than styrene does for me (although I have used styrene, too, just find the wood easier to use for this purpose in most cases.)
I usually cut a cardboard template, then cut the wood if there are any complex shapes. You can spray paint both, then weather, and the basswood is good if you need to taper or thin the edges to get clearance near the rail. I’ve used Aleene’s and CA to hold it in certain spots, but in some places it just sits in place nicely.
Here’s a pic of what passes for an intermodal facility on my layout when I had things pulled off to paint track. It’s more of a NG-to-SG transfer in my case, plus the road that serves it and the area around the station.
On the station platform with passengers awaiting a train and - a burger.
At the CSX Fairburn Intermodal Terminal the ramp is asphalt but the tracks were ballasted except where the crossings were. A yellow line on the asphalt let you know if the equipment was too close to the rail. This line was just before the ballast. On an HO scale intermodal layout you can either attach the tracks direct to your sub roadbed or do what I prefer, lay your track on cork roadbed strips without cutting them in half. This will give you a nice edge and you can use a two pieces of 1/4" hardboard that will be just slightly higher than the the cork roadbed. When ballasted they should be about level which is pretty much how they are in Fairburn.
Here is a sample that is yet to be ballasted.
I have used cardstock, various plasters and styrene. It just depended on what was handy and what I wanted to work with at the time. Although cardstock was for pavement, hard to add lines in so better for short or narrow areas. I like the plasters for it’s ease in working on changing grades, bridging different areas, etc. The styrene is nice for being clean, but doesn’t work well on unlevel/rolling surfaces.
Richard
Plaster or Durham’s Water Putty, But for large areas of concrete, styrene may be the better choice. I like the control, contouring an the effects that can be done to plater. Large areas are not usually that easy to trowel out plaster.
LION has used card stock. Lay a sheet down and use a roller of some sort across the rail heads to give you your cutting template. Him pasted bookbinder’s paper to the card stock to achieve proper color and texture.
LION also likes the idea of the roofing shingles. HIM used them right side up and then spread N scale ballast (or some other pixie dust) to break up the pattern of the over sized stones.
LION has also tried corrugated cardboard for this task, but that did not work since after it was painted, the dimensions shifted and caused trains to derail.
ROAR
I have been using a combination of 0.040" styrene sheet and “Fun Foam” sheets (available at craft stores) to create the many roads, ramps and parking lots on my current layout. I use the styrene sheets as roadbed and the 2 mm thick Fun Foam as the paved surface.
I first use cardstock to create cutting patterns for the styrene sheet. Each edge of the cardstock pattern can be cut individually to fit whatever shape is necessary and then the various pieces of cardstock are taped together into a single pattern. I trace the pattern onto the sheet styrene and carefully cut out the desired shape. I then use the piece of styrene as a pattern to mark and cut the Fun Foam. I then glue down the styrene using latex caulking and Elmers spray adhesive to glue the Fun Foam to the styrene roadbed. Joints between pieces of Fun Foam can be filled using Woodland Scenics Foam Putty. I then paint the Fun Foam using acrylic craft paints to simulate concrete or asphalt surfaces as needed.
The biggest advantage to using the styrene sheet roadbed is that it allows you to create flat, uniform surfaces and/or gently flowing grade transitions without much effort (as opposed to the fairly high effort and care needed to sand plaster pours). Because it is a resilient foam material, the Fun Foam makes it easy to simulate paving that was poured along the rails by gently pressing the edge of the Fun Foam against the rails (or other paving border) when gluing it down to the styrene roadbed.
Paving joints are easy to simulate in the Fun Foam material by simply embossing the joints into the paving surface with a pencil point. I often create cracks in the paving by making shallow, randomly shaped and spaced cuts in the Fun Foam surface using a hobby knife. Some amount of self healing occurs so plan accordingly when embossing joints or cutting cracks.
Depending on the look you’re after, tile grout can be effective. Use a spatula or paint scraper to smooth it as it sets, just as you would with concrete. Then paint and weather.
Since HGTV[:(!] hit the airways, who doesn’t have left over grout sitting on the shelves.
Brent[C):-)]