Street pavement using printer paper

Model Railroader Layouts and layout building
1

Hi All,

I recently created a diorama (36" x 11").One of the scenic features was a paved country road crossing the tracks. For the pavement I used 22 lb bond printer paper. I first fited the pieces to fit the roadway area, carefully cutting them with an Xacto knife. I then painted these pieces yellow using liquid acrylic paint ( painted the areas white where the stop lines are for the RR crossing). Then I cut .15" wide by 5 scale ft long strips of masking tape for the center line (.2" wide lines for the stop lines) and applied these to the appropriate places. I then painted the pieces a dark gray. then stippled on some black here and there to assimilate patching. After removing the masking tape I then toned down the “new” look by applying a black acrylic paint wash (approx. 8 parts Isopropyl alcohol : 1 part black acrylic paint). This gave me a paved but a country road look, which was good for this application.

Anybody else ever used this method? If so how can I improve it?

2

Thin sheets of foam or cork would last longer. I’d be worried about the paper being affected by humidity. I’ve heard of people using heavy construction paper before, but never copy paper.
Got any pictures?

3

I’m in an area that has fairly low humidity. However, the two coats of acrylic paint on the paper I would think would protect it from the humidity. The white glue would protect the back or non-painted side. This is a “new” diorama so I’ll see how it goes. As for the pictures, I have had some “technical” problems with my camera, which I have recently ironed out. I need to learn now, how I can post the pictures on the internet. I’d like to show everyone the diorama and my scratchbuild work on the grain elevator, which is the focal point of the diorama.