Would using the Learning Kit road system from Woodland Scenics produce a road too thick for N scale?
The road learning kit is designed to practice using their smooth it. It is said to make 3" x 10" of road so reducing that to a 20’ N scale road you could make 20"
https://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/item/lk952
https://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/instructions/LK952inst.pdf
The height of the tape and the scenicking next to the road will determine if it’s too thick. Medical foam tape is only 5mm thick. Somebody here should have experience in how thick their road tape is.
Joseph,
I use mini Highways from Leisuretime Products. leisuretimeprdts@aol.com
They make a really nice product and it’s made for N scale.
Ralph
I happen to have the W-S paving tape out. It is about 0.07" (1.8mm) thick. If the Smooth-It is applied about that height (you can press down on your putty knife a bit) it will have a square edge about that height. You could simply use some adjacent material as a road shoulder, sloping up to the road top edge.
I would suggest getting a quart of the Smooth-It plus the tape. With N scale, probably a lifetime supply. A foam brush is helpful. I like the W-S asphalt topping for black roads. Basically just acrylic paint, it is perfect consistency and a nice near-black color. BTW, I read the Learning Kit description to indicate that it will make 3" x 48" of roadway.
The lumber yard entry and parking lot below is Smooth-It. On applying the Smooth-It using a putty knife, I did not get the surface as smooth as I wanted After drying overnight, I sanded it with some 60 grit, then applied a thin (thin consistency & very thin height) additional amount. Then sanded that, after a day. Those very easy steps worked nicely for me, much easier than trying to get the first layer perfect. After that, I added some dirt as a slope on the sides.
Road by Paul Ahrens, on Flickr
Road2 by Paul Ahrens, on Flickr
An alternate is to try Durham’s Rock Hard Water Putty. That’s what I used on the main road above. A small can at Home Depot is inexpensive. I did use the W-S paving tape to outline the main roads. You could just put down some blue tape, apply to the t
I use heavy cardstock for my street in N scale
When I’m happy with the design, I cut out the road.
The cardboard surface is covered with full strenght white glue.
The glue when dry show some irregularities a good point.
I paint the surface in the adequate colors with acrilycs paint; generally I spray paint the surface with a generic gray primer; when dry I come back with different wash to kill any uniformity in the colors; I use a hobby knife to make joint here and there.
I brush quickly on the surface a wash of india ink and isopropilyc alcohol
when dry, I brush charcoal dust to simulate grease, I also use some black, brown pigments
When finished, I spray a dull Golden artist UV resistant varnish to the surface; the road is finished.
I am an N-scale modeler and saw the WS road system which is quite costly so I decided to go on line to find the foam tape of the correct thicknes and did, which was way less expensive than the WS.
I used drywall joint compound that I dyed to achive the color of either asphalt, dirt or concrete depending on what I wanted for the road.