Roads

[Anonymous]

How should I make a road that 1) is on a layout with no roadbed
2)Crosses the track
3)bends and turns

[wp8thsub]

Where I don't already have a plaster scenery base, I use 1/8" or 1/4" foam core board (from an art store) cut to the general shape of the road. Any joints are covered with fiberglass drywall tape to guard against cracking, then the road gets a few coats of joint compound. I sand the whole thing smooth then paint with spray paints and/or an airbrush. Curbs and gutters can be represented with styrene or stripwood. For roads in small areas I've also made the entire road from styrene sheet.

Where the road crosses the track I use several different crossing techniques. Some crossings are plastered in place with the joint compound then have the flangeways cut out with a jeweler's screwdriver. Others get stripwood glued on top of the ties (notched where necessary to clear spike heads), and bolt holes represented with indentations impressed with the tip of a mechanical pencil. Walthers makes modern rubber crossing kits and Bar Mills Models (? or another laser kit manufacturer) has laser cut wood crossings.

[msprater]

I created decent grade crossings by using plaster of paris, from grade level to railhead and back to grade on the other side. It's easily worked to proper grade shape, and flangeways can be cut with an old freight truck with deep-flange wheels before the plaster fully cures. Culverts can easily be placed between tracks in the plaster when forming the crossing, if desired, where the crossing transitions more than one track and edges and details can be carved in the soft, hard stuff once cured. An alternative was to use 1mm sheet styrene. I place a piece of paper over the track and trace the rails onto paper, then, with the tracing placed on the styrene, run over the rail tracings with a seamstress's pattern wheel. I then cut the styrene on the indentations and lightly file and sand the plastic to fit to the web of the rails. This is cleaner than the plaster work, though more form-fitting, particular on curves, is needed. Between the rails, another piece of styrene, just wide enough to fit between the spikes rail-to-rail, is glued to the overpiece, to hold it up to railhead level. Also, the edges of the plastic at the bottom of the grades has to be filed to a knife-edge to conform to the mating road surface.

For city streets, we cut city blocks out of the same 1mm styrene. Modeling in N scale, this thickness approximates 6", which is fine for curb height. Then we painted the layout board lapping over the street curb lines (no need to be neat here). When the paint dried, we glued down the city blocks, and viola -- nearly instant streets with curbs.

The city blocks, before installation, were painted concrete color and scribed for sidwalk cracks for the business district. Residential areas had the styrene city blocks masked off for sidewalks, then sprayed with spray adhesive, and then dusted heavily with scenicking grass powder. Masking tape removed, we had sidewalks and lawns, and that little strip of grass between the street and the sidewalk. Driveways, at predetermined places, were formed into the edge of the styrene with a flat crosscut file.

The biggest problem encoutered was that the styrene city blocks, cut from a large roll, wanted to curl slightly, lifting the curbs away from the "pavement" beneath. Numerous points had to be retreated by applying a bead of Duco cement adjacent to the edge of a piece of paper, sliding the paper in under the styrene, pressing lightly down on the styrene and pulling the paper back out, and then putting weight on the styrene to hold it into place until the cement dried. This method was far easier and less messy than trying to inject glue under the styrene sheet, or pulling the styrene up more than a small fraction of an inch where needed -- just enough to allow the insertion of the glue-treated paper, glue-side-up.

[michaelstevens]

Don't ignore good old 1/8" hard-board (or masonite) -- its cheap, comes in 4' x 8' sheets and
(a) is close to the height of a code100 HO rail,
(b) is flexible, has resilience and bridging capabilities,
(c) can be easily cut with skilsaw, jigsaw or even a "box-cutter" and
(d) you can plaster, apply masking tape etc. to your hearts content !!

Enjoy and Happy Xmas !!

[Anonymous]

Try using 15 lb felt roofing paper. It can be cut with heavy scissors to any shape you need and it looks like ashphalt

[Anonymous]

I have used AMI roadbed for my roads, sidewalks and grade crossings. It is a bit costly, but the results are great...[8D]

[mls1621]

I agree with csxmu, the AMI Instant roadbed is great for roads and grade crossings.

It is easy to apply and form to curves. Leave the backing in place and use a wallpaper edge roller to press it in place.

The finished surface can be coarse, but i found, by accident, that masking tape can be used to smooth the surface. Once applied to the bare surface of the Instant Roadbed, the masking tape can't be removed. Painting the masking tape can give a good representation on concrete or asphalt.

I used scale strip wood on the outside of the rails and between the rails. This allows you to control the height of the crossing to provide easier track cleaning. The Instant Roadbed can be applied right up to the edge of the wood strips, giving an appearance very close to the prototype.