Hello everybody. I have finally got around to building my roads (plastruct sheets cut to size). I am ready to paint them, but I don’t know what color to paint to choose. I would like to use an acrylic/water based (Badger ModelFlex, Model Master, Floquil/Polly Scale). I am trying to represent a fairly new asphalt road. Not too black but not too faded grey. I would love to hear your opinions.
-Alex
I have used Rustoleum Automobile Primer upc 20066 20898 # 2089 Dark Gray Primer with some success.
This stuff is just what you describe, not black but a very dark gray and it is a bit thicker than the usual sandable primer.
Once it is dry I use the PanPastel shades of gray to lighten up some areas where the tire tracks would be.
Ed
Ok. I’ll check that out. I’ve also heard a flat black or a grimy black would be decent, but I’ll look into it.
-Alex
Also think of the color of the aggregate used in the asphault. This color becomes more prevelant as the tar (full black) wears down. In Maine, grey granite is used, so, after use, roads become light grey. In Acadia National Park in the 1950s, they used pink granite aggregate, so the roads actually became a rosie grey color after some use.
Out here some roads use scoria for the agragate in the mix, it gives you a red colored road. We had a new black top put in our parking lot and road, and it was nice and black when laid, and the first car that drove over it left tire tracks that the abbot did not like. Well now it is a light road colored gray and looks like any other road. You do not want to select a color. You want to put a pallate of colors on a piect of scrap plastic or cardboard, and using the same brus just dabble them onto the road almost at random. Cleare, darker where the tire tracks would be, perhaps some oil spots between the tracks, lighter and dirtier colored out toward the edges. Go and take some pictures of the road that you like, and keep that in front of you while you paint.
ROAR
I use Durham’s Water Putty to make my roads. It’s naturally a light tan. I color it with a water wash of craft store acrylic gray paint.
Because it’s a wash and the material is porous, I naturally get a bit of color variation along the road. I think that’s a lot better than a nice, clean monochromatic paint job.
Also, I use a bottle that says “Gray.” Not Rainy Day Gray, or Gray Flannel, or Hippo Gray, just plain Gray. This lets me go back years later and get a pretty good match for touchups or continuations of the road, even if the original paint is no longer available. Gray is gray.
Thank you for the responses. I will probably buy a jar of SP Dark Lark Gray and CSX Gray; and a jar of Grimy Black to test. -Alex
Somebody said the magic word “asphalt”, so it’s time for me to chime in. The pic below was done using black craft foam with gray paint sponged on.
Steve S
Steve S, WOW, that’s a good looking road!
I use Floquil or Polly Scale Grimy Black. Looks like fresh asphalt when first painted, and then after some room dust settles on the roads they look even better.
Floquil/Polly Scale is gone, but Micromark says this is comparable to the old Polly Scale Grimy Black color:
Be aware that this new MicroLux paint must be airbrushed onto plastic surfaces. The roads in my pictures below were airbrushed with Floquil Grimy Black. And I would recommend airbrushing or spraying when painting roads for a nice smooth finish.
Here’s a layout overview showing some of the roads:
And here are two closer up pics (I have not glued down the road sections yet in these two close up photos):
Steve S, how do you handle seams where you have two pieces of foam come together?
You can disguise it as a crack. Flip both pieces over so that they’re face down. Near the end of one, scribe an irregular line with an X-Acto about halfway through the foam. Then tear along the line. Set this edge on top of the next piece and scribe the bottom piece along the “crack.” Then tear that piece. The two should match up. Once they’re in place you can paint a tar line along the crack if you want, or just leave it as a crack.
To make patches in the road, cut or tear a piece out (after you’ve painted it) and run the piece under a faucet to remove some paint. (I used water-based craft paint Michaels or WalMart.) Leave a little paint on the patch so that it looks like it’s undergone some fading.
For large cracks you can tear the foam. I tried a bunch of methods for smaller cracks. The one I like best is to chuck a straight pin into a Dremel and use that to etch small cracks into the pavement.
Michael’s and Hobby Lobby sell pieces in 12"x18" sizes. There’s an Ebay seller called Wandy-Foam who sells this stuff. Send him an email and see if he can cut you some longer lengths so that you’ll have fewer seams.
If you want to have track running through the road, you’ll need to use 1mm foam on code 100 rail to avoid interference with the wheel flanges. Michaels and Hobby Lobby only sell 2mm or thicker. The guy at Wandy-Foam sells 1mm thick foam. It’s called EVA craft foam.
http://www.ebay.com/usr/wandy-foam
Steve S
Another way to hide the seam is to do something like the pic below. Make it look like a sewer line was added. You could cut all the way through the foam with the X-Acto knife, rather than tearing, since these cuts in the road are usually done with a giant circular saw.
Steve S
Thank you Matt and Steve. Matt thats the color I want. Thank you for the photos. -Alex