I am making paved roads for an HO layout. I was planning on having a 1950's setting and was going to run some smaller steam engines....I was thinking a smaller town in the South...maybe North Georgia....I am assuming they would of had paved roads back then....What do you think? I tried to do some research on the net, but really couldn't find anything to confirm....
At this point, I have created the roads using a joint compound mixture and have painted a dark gray.....I am thinking my next steps are to sand the roads to give a nice weathered look and then add yellow lines...I have attached pictures of my roads thus far.
Do you have any tips on how to weather the roads and adding the yellow lines?
Lastly, I have attached a picture of my entire layout thus far...any ideas on the types of industry I should include in the layout, also what type of buildings, scenery, etc I should include. I am just looking for additional ideas at this point.....I plan on adding a train station at the spur near the road and some type of industry near the mountain spur....maybe coal or lumber...Any thoughts or ideas would be appreciated!
Thanks!
[View:http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/themes/trc/utility/
One thought is to check on what color the highway markings would have been in your locale and era. In many places dashed lines between opposing traffic lanes were white into the early 70s when uniform standards were established.
Rob Spangler
This will help a little http://s145079212.onlinehome.us/rr/howto/roads/index.shtml
I would check the rest of this site too for more ideas as it is also in the 50s
ratled
Modeling the Klamath River area in HO on a proto-lanced sub of the SP “The State of Jefferson Line”
I use Durham's Water Putty for my roads. It's harder and more durable than joint compound. It's something to consider for future work. Instead of just painting the roads, I like to thin the paint with water, so it's more of a "wash" than a paint. It requires a few coats, but I use cheap acrylic craft paint and it dries very quickly between coats. By using a wash, the color goes on unevenly and I avoid the uniform, flat look that you get from straight paint.
I use a gel pen for the lines on the road. For the 1950s, white would be a more appropriate color than yellow. Yellow is the right color for 50s STOP signs, though, not red.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
This guy's got a tutorial for making asphalt roads...
http://www.telusplanet.net/public/crowley/ashphalt_roads.htm
Steve S
Steven S This guy's got a tutorial for making asphalt roads... http://www.telusplanet.net/public/crowley/ashphalt_roads.htm Steve S
Here is a clickable link:
Alton Junction
I use any smooth type of material for concrete or asphalt.
Lately I have been using styrene from plastic signs. I make a template out of cardboard, file folder material, or just paper. Once I have the width and curves right, I cut them out of plastic. Then paint and install. I have also used foam core and gator board.
If the material is plastic, I paint it with plastic paint. If I use foam core or gator board, I use acrylic paint.
Elmer.
The above is my opinion, from an active and experienced Model Railroader in N scale and HO since 1961.
(Modeling Freelance, Eastern US, HO scale, in 1962, with NCE DCC for locomotive control and a stand alone LocoNet for block detection and signals.) http://waynes-trains.com/ at home, and N scale at the Club.
I have made asphalt roads many ways in the past. One way is to use a really fine black sand paper and cut it to fit. Another way is to use a real thin board and paint it with washes of different kinds of ink. I have also bought a kit from woodland Scenics but have not played with it yet.
RMax
"I was thinking a smaller town in the South...maybe North Georgia....I am assuming they would of had paved roads back then....What do you think?"
Yeh, us hicks here in Georgia didn't get paved roads until a couple of years ago.
Ray
I have never understood the gain of using a wet method of constructing roads. Other than it being more realistic to spread a substance like asphalt in real life what is the advantage of the mess, setting forms, cleaning it all up, etc. over just using any of the varieties of sheet material cut to fit and painted and weathered to look like real pavement? I have been using the reversed side of asphalt shingles which I paint and use some of the forum methods to add cracks, potholes and weathering. I don't think you can get any more real than actual asphalt.
eaglescout I have never understood the gain of using a wet method of constructing roads. Other than it being more realistic to spread a substance like asphalt in real life what is the advantage of the mess, setting forms, cleaning it all up, etc. over just using any of the varieties of sheet material cut to fit and painted and weathered to look like real pavement? I have been using the reversed side of asphalt shingles which I paint and use some of the forum methods to add cracks, potholes and weathering. I don't think you can get any more real than actual asphalt.
The problem with using sheet styrene or cardstock is that it tends to be too perfect. It's a lot easier to simulate the uneven, undulating, cracked, pothole-ridden surface using a method like the one I linked to above.
I haven't seen roads made from a shingle. It's seems to be somewhere between the two methods, soft enough to form irregularities, but without the mess of mixing plaster. Do you have any photos?
concrete backer board (wondreboard) has the texture, all it needs is painting
model in O. the Western NY and Ontario Railroad
This is drywall mud painted a dark gray. I scraped white chalk with a knife and brushed it on with a large hobby brush. I then used black chalk down the middle of each lane to simulate road grime. It's not perfect but at least it has a little of that faded look.
LOOKS good Cory , very nice ,maybe a caution sign (slow down)on the curve ,but the surface and color is as real as it gets...Jerry
Thanks Jerry, I hope to add signs later. There is a guard rail on the corners now, just in case the scale people don't realize how sharp the curve is!
Different states had different standards. In Minnesota in the 40's and 50's, guard rails were wooden 8" posts with cables strung through them. Metal guard rail didn't come about until the 60's. Also you are correct with no white fog line along the edge of the road. This was a much later development.
With a little searching, you may find an old copy of the state highway department specifications for roads built in the era you are interested in. These go into extreme detail on everything from how to grub the stumps out of the roadway to what color to paint the guard rail posts.
On the surface, it looks very, very good.
I was wondering about the timing of guardrails. I just saw the Rix guardrails and bought them. Oh well, I'm modeling the early fifties so it's not too far off.
Edit:
Not to hijack the thread, but here are the guardrails installed.
I have a couple of shingles put aside to made roads on my Piedmont South Carolina roads (not too far from North Georgia). I plan to use these instructions:
http://coffeevalleyrr.blogspot.com/2010/02/how-i-made-my-asphalt-roads.html
By the way, Ray, my college roommate (late 1960's) said that Georgia had the best roads in the nation in 1946 and they still have them today!!
Great idea. I didn't even think about that! That is why I am on here.
hahaha well actually, I was in North, North Georgia a couple of weeks ago and they didnt have them yet ha
I agree, it was messy the way I did it with setting the form, pouring, etc....When I do roads in the future, I think I will try the shingles...
Were the lines in the roads just one line and not dashed like they are now?
rayw46 "I was thinking a smaller town in the South...maybe North Georgia....I am assuming they would of had paved roads back then....What do you think?" Yeh, us hicks here in Georgia didn't get paved roads until a couple of years ago. Ray
In the back then days? Maybe. My family's farm in rural Pennsylvania just 20 miles from downtown Pittsburgh didn't get a paved road until 1986.
we still live on a dirt road, in fact all the county roads in our county are dirt.