Okay, sorry to pester folks with another roofing question. The kit I’m working on provides the standard laser-cut “slate” roofing material that Builders in Scale, Rusty Stumps, Bar Mills, and other provide. Photo below.
.
I’m skeptical of the potential to get this stuff to lay flat. All the slate roofs near me are as smooth as can be; I’m worried that this laser-cut paper has a bit too much texture and will not lay flat enough to resemble slate. On all the pictures I see of it on structures, the stuff ends up looking more like wood/cedar shingles rather than slate.
So two questions: is there a better product, preferably in sheet form, that will present a more uniform and smooth look to the roof? Historically, slate roofs were expensive and durable, if you spent $ on a slate roof in 1880, the thing was pretty much darn near perfect.
The N Scale Architect does sell 10"14" styrene sheets that might work (see http://thenarch.com/products/slate-roofing-ho ), but in the photo on his website the exposed shingle surface looks ‘off’ to me. Where we live there’s almost always a sort of 6"x9" exposed area, in this photo it looks more like a 3"x8" shingle profile. Hard to tell without having the product in hand.
Second question: is there simply a better technique or set of tricks for installing the provided shingle material to make it look more like a slate roof? I’m open to suggestions. But I guess if someone could suggest a sheet product that looks like the real thing, that might be my preference.
I agree, the picture of slate roofing on the N Scale Arcitect site doesn’t look like the roof on your prototype. However, the picture appears to be of a real slate roof so the actual styrene sheet may or may not match the pattern in the picture.
I’d suggest contacting them to see if they have any pictures of the actual styrene sheet. Unfortunately I couldn’t see a gallery on their site.
I also agree that most strip style model roofing is way too rough to match the real thing. Having been in the roofing business it bugs me when I see a roof that is ‘weathered’ way beyond reason.
Dave, that’s a good idea, although I may just go ahead and buy a package to see what it looks like–it won’t go to waste. They have free shipping (!) so 2 10x14 sheets is 20 bucks. That’s a good amount of product compared to other brands.
Still open for options if anyone else has any ideas. Is there an embossed styrene asphalt shingle out there that would like right if painted a dark slatey-blue color? I’m also wondering about that as a possibility.
Since the roof wasn’t intended to be the main subject, this isn’t the best photo to illustrate it. This is Plastruct’s Asphalt Shingle sheet. As you can see, the relief is probably better suited to slate than asphalt, although I used it to represent asphalt shingles. I dunno if the shape is right for your particular structure, as I’ve seen quite a variety in slate shingles.
A click on the photo should take you to photobucket, where a click (or two) on the magnifying glass thingy should give you a pretty good enlarged view.
I can also shoot a roof photo if it would better illustrate it for you.
Wayne, thanks for that photo, zooming it worked fine. I think that might work, especially if painted a real dark slate color. The Plastruct material is also cheap enough to just buy a sample to paint up and see what it looks like. Worse comes to worse I’ll use it somewhere else, it won’t go to waste. But still looking for as many options as people can suggest!
If I can make a small suggestion: If you have to have a seam in the middle of a slope, cut the Plastruct sheets roughly to size and then glue two sheets of roofing material together on your workbench instead of trying to do it on the model. It will be much easier to hide the seam where you can weight it down and adjust things on a flat surface. I’d use a piece of waxed paper underneath to stop the glue from sticking to your work surface.
Dave, really good point. Good news is that on this particular model the longest roof surface is 74’ scale, or 10" actual size. Both the N Scale Architect sheets (10"x14") and the Plastruct sheets (7"x12" wide) are large enough to cover that roof surface with a single piece of plastic. That has definitely been a main concern for trying to get that surface to look right.
that’s a great suggestion, I had no idea those existed. And they’re easily available online. So that’s another serious option, although my reservation here is the same with the other strips, can I keep them straight enough and uniform enough across the whole roof surface? and will they lay flat enough? I will probably also order these to give them a try.
While searching for the Tichy shingles on ebay, I ran across photos of actual roofing slates that people are selling. Most of the slate dimensions I saw are roughly 9"x12". Now look at this picture of three side by side: fully 2/3 of each slate is covered up, which means the exposed slate surface would thus be roughly 4"x9". Which also means those N Scale Architect shingles might not be far off. So who knows, at least I’m starting to get some different options. Really appreciate the heads up about the Tichy slate shingles though.
The Tichy slate shingles are closer in shape to the prototype. The challenge with them is that they come in individual strips which are only 6" long so application will take some time. Also, when I looked at the photograph on the Tichy website, the shingles weren’t sitting very flat which is one of the requirements that Jim outlined. Until you try them there is no way of telling if that was just a poor installation or if the strips have irregular backs.
If you are going to use the Tichy strips I would recommend gluing them to .040" or .060" styrene instead of trying to stick them directly to the wood sub roof. Doing that on your workbench will make alignment much easier and you will be able to weight them down to keep them flat.
The tichy shingles are fairly flat, whether flat enough, only the user can speak. I have some that I might use on a recent scratch build which is all styrene.
I am not a roofing expert BUT some of the older slate roofs were not that even. And not all slate installed today is slate. In the old days the roof sheathing was made out of 1x6 or rough sawn material and the slate was nailed on that not so even surface. Coupled with not perfect slate the slate roofs were some what uneven.
These day there is a variety of material that mimics slate. For instance tile and even concrete is used !
When looking at The N Scale Architect’s site, be sure to check other materials as well. For example, I used some N scale slate roofing as an HO scale cobblestone street surface. You may find a pattern you like better under another description.
You may want to take a look at what Laser-Art has to offer in shingle choices; none are specifically marked “slate” but some have that look at least on their website ( have only purchased their HO rolled tarpaper).
thanks guys, I appreciate the continued suggestions. Did not know about the Pikestuff roofing panels, Dave, those are a possibility but it is difficult to tell from the photos at Walthers and elsewhere online what they look like. And the Laser-Art shingles are what I’m trying to substitute for, I just don’t think I’d be able to get them to look right . . . although if I follow the other Dave’s suggestion and assemble them first on a sheet of styrene on the bench, maybe I could–that’s certainly worth a try.
So far I’ve got one package of the N Scale Arch shingles coming, and as soon as I measure the surface area of the combined roof surfaces, I think I’m going to order the Tichy shingles to see what they look like. None of it will go to waste as I will be able to use it all eventually on other projects. I will keep you all posted on how it goes. And I’m still open for more advice, this is really very helpful to me, so thank you all, I appreciate it.
Just an update, found a tremendous resource at, who would have thunk it? the NMRA webpage at http://www.nmra.org/system/files/edutrain/Modeling%20Slate%20Roofs.ppt . Tons of photos, good explanations, awesome presentation. I will be referring to these slides on this and future projects.
Have received the Tichy slate shingles already–these are really far thinner than they appear in the pictures, they may even be thinner than the paper shingles that came with the kit. I’m still waiting on the sheet material from the N Scale Architect, I’m eager to compare them.
Any color recommendations for a nice, dark, slatey blue? I know slate colors are all over the board, but if someone has a nice recommendation for a general base color, I’m all ears.
will do, I’m waiting on some transfer tape from amazon which I’m hoping will make it easier to get them lined up nice and straight. I also haven’t decided whether I’ll try to give them a base coat of paint on the sprues or wait until they’re glued down and paint them at that point (any opinions?). Either way, I will then plan to do the variations of slate colors by hand with a brush once they’re in place. Hopefully that will work.
I’m assuming that the Tichy shingles come in strips, correct?
If so, wouldn’t it be easier to do the colour variations on the sprue? That way you won’t have to worry about getting the same colour paint on the shingle above or below the one you are painting.
yes, they’re strips, but not sure what’s easier, here’s what they look like. 12 sprues per box, 3 strips of 6" on each sprue. varying the colors on the sprues could be a fairly tedious process, but I suppose it may get a bit tedious either way. One concern about painting (spray or brushing) on the sprue is how well the painted surfaces will stick to the adhesive? unless I’m careful just to spray one side of each sprue, that’s an option. just thinking out loud here really. I’ve got four or five slatey grey colors coming tomorrow, so I’ve got a bit of time to plan it out.
.
