Hi,
I have used WS smooth-it along with the asphalt top coat to make my roads and parking lots. I am wondering how folks weather asphalt roads and parking lots to give themthe used look? I tried to google this topic without much luck. A search of the forums seems to cover more on weathering cars and buildings then other items.
Thanks,
Kevin Coyle
Kevin, do a search on this forum for roads. There is much to read.
It would help if you had an airbrush to simulate the differing colors. I would err on the lighter side for color with darker tracks, but I have no pictures to show.
John
I use Durhams Water Putty for my roads. This dries a light tan color, which is not what I'm looking for. I take cheap gray acrylic and water it down to make a wash. Then I brush that on the road. The putty takes the color pretty well, but since I'm using a hand-mixed wash and brushing it on, the color is not uniform, which is just the way I want it to look.
I'm planning to use some weathering powders to add some additional detail, but I haven't got to that yet. It works very well on the between-the-rails part of my grade crossings that I've done.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I was at pat catans last year and was in the scrap booking isle with my wife when I came across paper that looked like aged tar with cracks. I bought a bunch and used some in ny faller hotel scene I built and used it for the parking lot area. Looks real good, I then used a yellow paint marker to make the parking spots. Since the marker is opaque it comes out with a faded appearance. Just go over it as many times as you need to get the desired age of the stripe. Once we get moved(this week) I will try to get to it to take some pictures of it.
alco's forever!!!!! Majoring in HO scale Minorig in O scale:)
I used a cigarette-sized stick of artist's charcoal (from an art supply store) to draw the dark lines then softened them with rubbing (in the direction of travel) with an old toothbrush, then softened the edges still further with some vigorous brushing with a very soft brush intended to be used to apply ladies makeup. You'll probably want to "fix" this with Dullcoat but be warned that if you use Sharpies to draw in cracks sealed with tar, the Dullcoat makes the Sharplie lines run. Wiat until the Dullcoat has dried and then use the Sharpie.
Dave Nelson
If you haven,t tried this you should. Go to your local home improvement center. Go to the cement isle. Get a tube or bottle of crack repair. Shake it up and squeeze some out on wax paper for a test. It self levels, dries fast, and depending how thick you apply will determine how it cracks when it dries. If the cracks are to wide just refill the crack with more crackfiller. If you want you can paint with a wash or use weathering powders for oil stains, rust, dust, dirt, etc. After it dries on wax paper you can cut with scizors. Or you can apply directly to you layout. Makes great asphalt roof for dpm buildings. Quikrete or sakrete is what I use. You can also brush it around with a damp nylon brush. It does dry fast so if it starts to dry and have clumps in it stop. wait till it dries and sand the lump out, then repair with more. Your going to love this stuff. Try some on a piece of styrene on wax paper. The best part is it's CHEEP. "shake well"
Glenn
I love questions like this!
Any weathering is a chance to tell a story...
So you can use all of the different techniques listed and add a few.
As always I would start by looking at what part of the country your roads are in, what time of year and probably era as well... you won't get Ronald's plastic litter in the 40s.
As for location you may get blown sand in some places and mud in others... tractor may leave mud (or dust depending on time of year)... but in a city a building site may do the same...
I was watching "Smokie and the Bandit" again the other day... going backwards and forwards to look at the roads and scenery... those dirt roads leading off into the bushes leave marks on the blacktop... washes downhill and tyre tracks uphill. "Every Which Way etc." is good for this as well.
So that's another thing, where appropriate, tyres leave either "swept clean" trails or debris/stains. This shows especially at junctions.
You can also get oil patches at junctions where trucks drip a little as they wait for a gap in the traffic... same as we like to model in the ballast... watch out for diesel spills if you're on a motorcycle...
Road markings don't just fade... they get splattered, gouged, worn through... and renewed... sometimes just a Stop or Yield line will be repainted if there has been a crash.
I regulalry us a mall carpark in Manchester... just recently they completely altered the layout and replaced the surface and lights over several weekends. This meant a cordoned off work zone and storeage containers.
Every x years street lights get replaced. For a period both old and new poles can be in place... interesting things happen as they re-route the feed cables as well.
Last year they came round and put a "non-slip" coating on a lot of our older sidewalks. This year they first marked up all the potholes with orange marker paint and then enlarged the holes (back to good surrounding top surface) and then filled them in. As a result of doing it properly (enlarging first) they're still filled in.
Litter and junk... bits of lost load... I'm amazed at the stuff I see on the road let alone at the side or in the gutter.
You can do loads with the surface... there have been threads here before... but (just for starters) how about signs of what the asphalt is laid on? Is it on concrete panels? these tend to show through on less maintained roads as regular cracks... how big depends on just how little maintained the road is. You can scratch in cracks. If the road isn't heavily used you might get clear pathways for regular wheel traffic and weeds eiher side and between them in the cracks.
Potholes!
Rainwater drains.
Utility pit and sewer covers.
Road Patches.
Utility Trench backfill-cover... raised or depressed.
Skid marks... gouges even...
Then there's puddles, leaves in season, fast food litter - or not...
The best layouts are the best because everywhere you look the scenery is telling a story.
Dave-the-Train wrote: The best layouts are the best because everywhere you look the scenery is telling a story.
Very good Dave, I,m printing out your suggestions and hanging them in the trainroom.