The "other" industrial layout...

[Chris333]

Started on another grade crossing:


And that lead to striping everything off the layout and painting the track:

[Dave Schneider]

Chris,

What did you use for painting your track? I like the color and tone.

Best wishes, Dave

[Chris333]

The color...  railroad tie brown 

I started to brush paint it on, but it doesn't cover as well that way. The PC ties really don't cover well so I airbrushed it.

I have since drybrushed the ties with a light tan/grey color.

[Chris333]

Cut this pieces of road twice:


And started this sidewalk:



Drains and manholes (not shown) are from Great Lakes Models

[timwatson]

Just got caught up ... funny thing I just received my order of monster model works cobblestone as well. Looks great keep up the good work and its good to see a nice foundation for the Flagstop Inn.

For the cobble stone. Seal the wood with a dullcoat or a semigloss spray. Then rub tempura paint over it dark brown or black. Let it dry. Take a damp towel and wipe the face off. It will have a nice dusty look.

[nscalemike]

Looking very good!  What is the sidewalk?  Just styrene you scribed?  Looks like some very clean lines.  I also like the cobblestone road too with a bit of dirt on it.

Mike

[Chris333]

Yep just scribed styrene. Where the road meets the crossings the road dips up and the sidewalk stays level so they both end up the same height. Might be easier to see once it's all painted.

[nscalemike]

You can see it a bit in the last pic but looking forward to the painted version.  Those sewer grates/man hole covers are very nice too, I have a few packages of each waiting if I ever get to that point.

[sizemore]

What are you using for roads? Woodland Scenics Foam?

The S.

[Chris333]

The roads are .060" black styrene. Sidewalks are .030" white styrene.

I was going to make the roads out of .100" styrene that I have, but when you add sidewalks on top of that you have to lift up all the buildings like 1/8" to reach. I want to keep that lift as minimal as possible.

[Alaska Railroader]

How's it going Chris?

[Chris333]

Once I hit the streets (roads) I took a few days off 

Seriously roads are an important thing to me and I don't want to rush it.

[davefoxx]

Seriously roads are an important thing to me and I don't want to rush it.

Which is why I'm beginning to make my third attempt to get the roads correct on my layout.  They're important to me, too.

DFF

[DKS]

Seriously roads are an important thing to me and I don't want to rush it.

+1

I learned a long time ago that when one pays attention to roads, the realism of a layout increases significantly. Even people who know nothing about trains or modeling seem to notice when they're done right. I learned that it's important not only to make them realistic-looking (with all of the proper details such as curbs, drains, markings, etc.), but also to arrange them logically, in such a way that, if one was a model person, one could get around the layout in a model car in sensible ways.

[pwnj]

+11

Totally.  It's amazing what a road that has navigable curves and ramps can do for realism, too.  Just a single way-too-tight curve makes the difference between a train set and a model scene.