Interactive Scenery Clinic Week 2: Paved and Gravel Roads

[shark_jj]

Last weeks mini clinic on trees, ground cover and the transition area seemed to get a very good response so here we go with Week 2.  Over the years I have done a lot of scenery, but have never tackled roads, there was always someone else who stepped up to the plate.  What that means is that I will be one of those looking to learn from your successes and failures.  Here are some questions.

What material works best?  Some suggest the plaster route, and Woodlands Scenics markets a system, other suggest styrene and paint.  What are your thoughts.

How do you get effective lines on the road in N scale.  I happened to take a boo at the Atlas HO Sunday Photo Fun this week and a fellow by the name of Tom Johnson, "Inrail", has posted some HO photos that include paved roads that are among the best I have ever seen.  Can we duplicate this in N scale?

Other roads, concrete, gravel, mud, if you've tried it, share the results and the techniques. 

[3rdrail]

The road in this photo is mostly sheet plastic as it is on a bridge and includes a siding with Holgate & Reynolds brick between the rails. The striping is 1/64" Chartpak tape and it has been there for about 30 years.


The roads here are mostly plaster, except where it is between the rails, where sheet plastic is again used:

[Sokramiketes]

Here's styrene with some paint, a thin black Sharpie, and some chalk weathering.  It's sort of a hybrid street as I was trying to mimic a road already in place on the next module over.



My thoughts on roads...

1) Don't use black paint, ever.  Sure it's called blacktop, but even when fresh it's not pitch black because there's a huge blue sky above it.  Our models usually don't have that benefit.  And, within a year, blacktop goes gray.
2) Put some roll into your streets.  And if you're really clever, put a crown in them for drainage also.  It makes a nice contrast to flat track and roadbed.  It's hard to see from the angle above, but that road follows the land contours with dip and rises.
3)When weathering older roads, I've kind of noticed that concrete roads seem to show two darker streaks for tire/rubber wear on the rough tooth that is present on concrete roads.  Asphalt however, seems to show a single dark streak centered on the lane, like oil splatter from the engine and less on the tire marks.

[DKS]

Most of the time for asphalt roads I use a roughly 50-50 mixture of Sculptamold and Hydrocal, tinted with black concrete dye until it is a dark grey. If the roads have curbs, I make these first before paving. I'll apply the mixture and work it with a plastic spatula until it is smooth. After it's set, I'll add cracks with a knife and chip out chunks for potholes. Sometimes I'll remove portions and re-apply fresh material to make the road appear to have been patched. I'll weather it with grey and tan chalks, and add tar lines and skid marks with a Sharpie.













I use sanded styrene for concrete roads, usually cut into individual sections, and distressed with cracks. I'll spray it with concrete spray and then weather it with chalks. I detailed my line-making techniques in this thread: http://therailwire.net/smf/index.php/topic,15591.0.html

[Zox]

My roads are DullCoted paper, spray-tacked to styrene:





I printed out the roads from my computer, including the pavement markings. The extra-heavy DullCote layer protects the inkjet ink from running, and provides a somewhat dusty and mottled appearance. (In the second picture, I didn't overdo the DullCote on the section to the right of the tracks quite so much, which is why it looks "newer" than the section on the left.)

[Dave V]

I use 0.020" sheet styrene scribed & painted w/ PolyScale and weathered with chalks:

[shark_jj]

These are great posts guys, a ton of ideas, and different ways to proceed.  All of them came out very well.

[asciibaron]

nice model of Ops2B and the credit union...

-Steve

[davefoxx]

Here's my attempt at paved roads and a gravel parking lot.  The gravel parking lot is scale material purchased at the LHS that was installed over a layer of wet gray paint.  (Lesson: When I tried installing the gravel over an earth color paint, the gravel was tinted with the earth color and looked bad.)  Any thin spots and the area over the track were glued with Woodland Scenics' Scenic Cement.  I also spread a little dirt and ground foam over the gravel, so that the parking lot wouldn't look so pristine.  In both the gravel parking lot and the blacktop, I used an NMRA gauge to scrape the flangeways clear.

The road is paved with Woodland Scenic's Smooth-It over a layer of cork roadbed.  I have not put the final coat of paint (or weathered) the pavement, as I want to finish much of the adjacent scenery first.  The effect and traffic lines that David K. Smith has shown in his posts is the look that I hope to achieve.


Dave Foxx
Rising Sun, Maryland

[wm3798]

Depends on the situation.  For urban areas, I like to use sheet styrene cut to shape and contoured.  To get lines, I use 1 pt. graphic line tape (it's hard to find anything narrower, I used to use 1/2 pt. which was good for masking double yellow lines.) First I mask the white plastic, then shoot a coat of yellow. 


Once that's dry, I mask off the centerlines the same way, then start misting a blend of black, primer grey and oxide red primer, and perhaps some flat white.



When I'm satisfied with the blend there, I pull off the masks, and let it dry thoroughly.  Finally, I mask off the blacktop areas, and shoot some concrete grey on the walkways and curbs.  I use Evergreen tile sheets to make my sidewalks.


In the process of touching up I'll add some crack lines, pot hole patches and man hole covers.


Not a very good shot, but I used the same technique to build a concrete overpass.  The key to concrete is to do the expansion joint lines nice and straight, and lots of winding tar lines showing repairs over the years.

Lee

[chuck geiger]

There has been many materials discussed for roads and I have tried them all, Durhams putty, WS road system, styrene i.e. In the new MR a guy is using roofing shingles for HO and they look great. I am using real dirt for roads, sifted over paint, dry and then vac. Mix in some Bragdon colors and the dirt roads look pretty decent. One area we need to work on. We don't leave enough room for the sides of the roads and the actual size of the roads. Look at some of the pic on this thread and you'll wonder how a 50' trailer and cab could have made that turn. I understand selective compression, but realism is also obtainable in a small area. I have been working on ideas to end the sheet of "something" over scenery look. I will stay with styrene for main roads and dirt for gravel roads. Hit up the Lou Sassi scenery book for still the best roads.

[Puddington]

I use fine grit sandpaper for some roads, especially older asphalt roads in my mill and town...









The sidewalks are card stock.

[asciibaron]

in the past i have used sand paper, putty, styrene, and even cardboard for concrete or paved roads.  for dirt or gravel roads i typically will put down a thick layer of matte medium and then dump on some fine gravel from one of the scenery makers.  once that's good and dry, i'll come back with sand paper and wear down the surface to reduce the coarseness of the gravel.  for areas i want to have tire tracks that are well worn, i'll sand a bit more where the tracks would be.  i do not remove the sanded material - it fills in the gaps nicely.  i just hit it with some diluted white glue.

-Steve

[railbuilderdave]

Most of the time for asphalt roads I use a roughly 50-50 mixture of Sculptamold and Hydrocal, tinted with black concrete dye until it is a dark grey. If the roads have curbs, I make these first before paving. I'll apply the mixture and work it with a plastic spatula until it is smooth. After it's set, I'll add cracks with a knife and chip out chunks for potholes. Sometimes I'll remove portions and re-apply fresh material to make the road appear to have been patched. I'll weather it with grey and tan chalks, and add tar lines and skid marks with a Sharpie.

...

I use sanded styrene for concrete roads, usually cut into individual sections, and distressed with cracks. I'll spray it with concrete spray and then weather it with chalks. I detailed my line-making techniques in this thread: http://therailwire.net/smf/index.php/topic,15591.0.html

Do you use the same mix for the curbs as well? why not use just 100% of sculpamold or hydrocal and not mixed 50/50?

[Puddington]

I tried using sculptimold for roads.....