Hello Model rairoader experts. I need to know what roads I should add to my layout. should paint it with gray paint or should buy the road mats to my layout. What do you experts recomend.[:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:)][:)][:)][:)][:)][:)][:)][:)]
Sincerely
Ryan LaPlaca
For me, outside of building the railroad, the towns, scenery, trees, etc. roads are a great challenge. It is one of the most enjoyable things for me. There are the scenery masters, and Kalmbach and other publications have great articles on road building. Model Railroader, Railroad Model Craftsman and others have articles at least every few months on the subject, and video tapes, such as Great Model Railroads, Greenfrog and others have demonstration tapes. Micromark has a set of tapes with Dave Frary and he demonstrates, dirt roads, gravel roads, concrete roads.
Materials used vary, from masonite, sheet rock mud, scale crete, foam trays like the ones steaks and chicken come in, and ground goop. Also, ground foam such as N scale or HO can be spread, glued with white diluted glue, sanded then chalked with different ground colors. Remember when using foam products get the compatible liquid nails so you don’t eat the foam away.
Roads are fun to build, don’t just paint a strip of grey. Build a road, then make a concrete color, or asphalt, and don’t forget just plain old dirt or gravel roads, they add character. Put road equipment on the roads when you are building, great dioramas.
When using sheet rock mud or scalecrete spread it about an 1/8 inch thick. Smooth it with a wet trowel and keep wetting it. When it dries, then add color. Sheet rock mud sometimes even gives you natural cracks. You can even draw cracks with a sharpie pen. Use whole punched card stock, or 3 x 5 cards, take the round punched out pieces, glue them to the road, and voila, man whole covers. Paint them correct colors.
Just modeling a road provides visual interest. Next time you take a drive look at all of the roads you see, take pictures, then go back to your empire and build a road. Remember, it may lead to somewhere or nowhere, but it’s fun to travel.
WTRR
Yard Office
For paved roads I use duct tape. It’s about the right width for HO scale.
I use matte board for roads but also, sheet styrene makes nice roads …paint them with floquil cement then go over them with grimy black for tire marks and oil and grease stains…i usually dip an old rag wrapped around my finger in the paint and lightly drag it across the surface of the road until i’m satisfied with the results…finally, i add a very dilute wash of india ink over the entire thing as the last step…i also mask it off and paint stripes or you can use decals for the stripes…painting the lines is hard to get right but they look nice once you’re done…here’s a picture of my roads i just finished a few weeks ago…chuck
Nice roads! [:D][:D][:D]
A personal favorite of mine is using styrene to model concrete streets in towns. Either the Walthers street system or plain .030 styrene, with seams scored in with the backside of an exacto knife and a straight edge. I usually start with a base spray of aged concrete, followed by a light overspray of a few lighter shades, then use an alcohol/ink wa***o accentuate the seams, followed by chalks to make wear marks and stains. Ditto for curbing and sidewalks.
The really cool thing about using the Walthers system is that it includes storm drain grates and manhole covers to add even more detail![:D]
Sorry the pic is a little fuzzy, but I think you get the idea.
Dont forget when modeling streets without curbs, use a little fine grade ballast to give the pavement a little shoulder area. Its a little detail that goes a long way!
cwclark:
Ditto, great pictures. I am trying to have some pictures of our new layout, WTRR, photographed so we can share them on the forum. Like all of the pictures, even use some on our desk tops, great to look at.
WTRR
Yard Office
cwclark, dude, nice roads. Probably some of the best I’ve seen. I liked Pelle Soeborg’s article in one of last years Model Railroader, they looked great. I’m thinking about doing my that way. Now Joe Fugate used styrene for his roads, so you can see that there are different ways to make a road. Use whatever you like, that is the best part about this hobby.
I have use spackling compound. They are the best looking roads I’ve made, but years ago I used the inside of cereal boxes (a nice gray color) with some paint to show patching and wear.
cwclark - Great job man.
I’m just lazy, for the most part I use mini-roads, available through Walthers, LHS etc. They have pre-painted yellow lines, they have straights and curve packages. Most of my roads are asphalt in the Southwest and their roads do a good job of representing them. I could do better but I like expedience sometimes.[:I]
It sounds like most replys feature paved roads, but what about rural areas? What is used for dirt and gravel on an HO layout?
BB
For the hexgon layout I’m working on scenicking, I used plaster smoothed in between foam tape guides, and let it dry. For gravel, I sprinkled on some dry plaster on the wet roads so it had a texture, and colored it differently.
I got the foam tape from Woodland Scenics, but didn’t get the Smooth-It road stuff; next time, I’ll try it. You can read about it in the various posts in the thread linked below.
I thought this was a pretty slick way of doing paved roads;
http://home.cablerocket.com/~crowley/ashphalt_roads.htm
For a dirt road, one of our own members, hminky, has an excellent tutorial at;
What a great site. Those roads look so real. Thanks for the link.
I forgot to mention roofing felt, the stuff you put under the shingles, and tar paper, make great roads. Just use rubber cement or wood glu or liquid nails to hold down the roofing paper or compound. For country roads just go outside, as I wrote somewhere else, sift real dirt, sand, pulverized dirt and rocks on the roads and swimming pool filter powder and mix with tempra powder (for paints). Make any color you want.
WTRR
Yard Office
I usually use plaster but you can also use rubber track roadbed, especially on HO. It feels and looks real, and is about the right size for HO. I would agree that the styrene works well, and I would almost give the spackling a try. Good luck!