I am getting ready to put some roads on my layout, just plain city streets. HO scale. What is the preferred material to use. If using styrene, what thickness is best. Also how do you attach the roadways, Caulk, hot melt glue, liquid nails, what is the best adhesive to use for this?I heard some mention that they use, " For Sale " signs from Home Depot, as their styrene source, would that work for roadways.
These are made with Durham's Water Putty:
It's a hardware store item, and it comes as a powder you mix with water. I add a bit of vinegar to slow the setting time. I mix it fairly thin, so I can pour it. As it sets, I smooth it with a wet foam brush, which I keep clean by constantly dipping it in water. The putty dries hard in about an hour. It's a light tan at that point. I use a wash of gray acrylic craft paint to color it after it sets.
The sidewalks are styrene sheet, painted with a slightly lighter shade of gray. The sidewalk lines are drawn on with a ruler and a #2 pencil.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I use 30 thousands styrene for concrete roads and sidewalks. The signs that I found that work best is the Handicap parking signs. They are thicker than most of the For Sale signs and are printed on one side only.
I glue them down with clear caulk and weight them over night.
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.
This wont help you much, but I was wondering if anyone else has tried this. I found a box of "Midnight Black" sanded tile grout, made some forms out of card board and used a tile float to spread out the grout about an 1/8" thick. The color is right but I am not sure about the texture yet, the main problem is that if you run your hand across it the sand comes loose and is a little messy. I am going to try again and add some elmers white glue to the mix.
Like I said I am still experimenting here and will be watching to see if anyone else has done or tried this.
Ron
I refuse to grow up!!!
Ron, why not try using grout sealer over it?
When I do my roads I am going to look into roofing felt paper.
EDIT: I'm unable to remove this post, but have discovered that the pictures in the links posted below are not viewable by non-members of that Forum. This is due to the fact that those photos are stored within that Forum's "Gallery". My apologies for the oversight.
There are some good-looking roads HERE, HERE, and HERE
Don't be put off by the fact that these somewhat-lengthy threads are about building bridges: the roads beneath them could qualify as stand-alone models, in my opinion.
And, if you like those bridges, check out this one and this one - no roads in sight, though, but worth a look.
And, if you're making roads, perhaps you need a parking lot, too.
Wayne
doctorwayne There are some good-looking roads HERE, HERE, and HERE Don't be put off by the fact that these somewhat-lengthy threads are about building bridges: the roads beneath them could qualify as stand-alone models, in my opinion. And, if you like those bridges, check out this one and this one - no roads in sight, though, but worth a look. And, if you're making roads, perhaps you need a parking lot, too. Wayne
Wayne--How depressing. After clicking on your links, I find I'm "Not Authorised" to view them. I'm authorised to do so little in life, I was hoping I would at least be able to view images in these forums! Sigh....
Rick Krall
It's not nice to tease people. It's like when the dog brings you her ball but won't let go of it.
Dave
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow
I have no trouble viewing the links. Maybe because I have been a member and am currently logged in. It's a model railroad forum, and Wayne has provided links to a number of highly, and well, illustrated threads showing the work of a person who goes by the name of Shay Getz. He is on several forums himself.
Wayne, if you are looking on, could it be that these people are not registered and therefore cannot open the threads?
Crandell
Crandell--That's exactly it; I was just having some fun with Dr. Wayne (whose work, BTW, I admire and who's been very generous with his help). I've seen some great work north of the border, even though they spell funny.
We spell funny the same way north of the border as you guys below it.
BTW, I have left a PM for Wayne over on his site, but no response. He must be out of the house. That's hews up here.
You mean he's ewt of the hews?
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit." -Aristotle
This road is posterboard.
It's black posterboard with a coat of dark gray auto primer. I masked off the road and spray painted the white stripe. The road is glued down with a spray adhesive from a rattle can.
The road patches are brush painted with an craft store acrylic. Joints are more visible than I would like. Not sure what to do about that. As you can see the track still needs ballasting and the grade crossing needs crossbucks and flashers.
David Starr www.newsnorthwoods.blogspot.com
For sale signs:
Terry
Terry in NW Wisconsin
Queenbogey715 is my Youtube channel
My apologies to all for the "missing" links. I hadn't realised (with an "s" ) that the images were stored in that Forum's Gallery, making them viewable by Members only.
Anyone curious to see some really well-done roads may, of course, join that Forum: membership is free (donations gladly accepted, though) and there are no ads.
Wayne, once again I apologize for my remarks, they were uncalled for. I did register for that site that you you listed and was able to view what you had posted links to. Very interesting photos and lots of info also. Once again, please accept my apology.
Apology accepted, and very glad to hear that you enjoyed the links. I usually check when I post a link to ensure that it works, but since I'm a member there, the photos were present when I checked.
Doctor, Thank You for the post, now I have another message board to get my MRR,ing fix.
My little experiment with black sanded tile grout had a couple of problems, I think I will be able to work out the issues though. As for looks I dont think you could get anything more realistic looking, the problem is that after a week if you rub your hand on it, it is still releasing sand. I may have added a little to much water and I have had this box for about 4byears(I dont know if it goes bad over time or not), I sprayed it with grout sealer and this helped some.
I am going to mix up another test batch this week and try it again, this time I am going to add a little "Elmers" white glue to the water and see if this helps stablize it better. I will post the results as soon as its cured.
Beforeyou do anything drastic, try waiting until it is entirely dry, and then spray it with a fixative like "dullcoat", or something similar.
Ron.
I agree with Rich, try spraying with scenic cement .
MisterBeasley These are made with Durham's Water Putty: It's a hardware store item, and it comes as a powder you mix with water. I add a bit of vinegar to slow the setting time. I mix it fairly thin, so I can pour it. As it sets, I smooth it with a wet foam brush, which I keep clean by constantly dipping it in water. The putty dries hard in about an hour. It's a light tan at that point. I use a wash of gray acrylic craft paint to color it after it sets. The sidewalks are styrene sheet, painted with a slightly lighter shade of gray. The sidewalk lines are drawn on with a ruler and a #2 pencil.
Great look, Mr. Beasley. How do you get the darker contrasts, or are those shadows from photography?
Other materials such as plaster or paris, hydrocal and Durham's water putty work excellent.
I notice that Bob Grech is showing his absolutely fantastic work on that new layout. I have noted that he has done excetional work on roads using the Durham's water putty. Bob if viewing, maybe you can jump in here.
Link to thread Bob's layout
http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/forums/t/188007.aspx
Modeling B&O- Chessie Bob K. www.ssmrc.org
To get back to the orignal question about styrene "for sale" signs...
One poster commented about using handicap signs, as they are thicker and only printed on one side. Not sure exactly what he's talking about or where he buys his signs, so I'll share my experience.
I've bought the signs from Wal Mart, and they are readily available there. There are a couple different sizes I get. One is a thinner plastic (about 0.015") and the sign is only about 8-1/2 x 11. The others are larger (something like 18x24? I think?) and a thicker plastic, about 0.030". Both types come in a variety of messages (For Sale, For Rent, No Smoking, etc), generally printed in black and fluorescent orange, and only on one side. I have used the thicker ones for roads and have used both types for various other modeling uses. I usually try to find whichever ones have the least amount of printing on the face - less paint to scrape/remove if you need to bond it to another piece of styrene. Here is a blog I stumbled upon the other day that describes how to do it:
http://csxdixieline.blogspot.com/2010/03/howto-build-modern-highway.html
If I recall correctly, there are also larger, much thicker signs available, but I have never bought one of those because they're pretty expensive (something like $10 per sign).
Dan Stokes
My other car is a tunnel motor
Dont worry I wont be doing anything too drastic, I have a lot to do yet before I am ready to put roads on my layout but had found the box of grout in my work shop and had some time so I was just playing with it to see how it looked. Then this post came up and I just thought I would share what I was doing.
I will say that the appearance is great, I made a tile coffee table using this same grout and after time the color fades a little and grays just like real pavement. I still want to experiment more but as for my layout, this is what I plan to use. I will continue to share my results and will try and get some photos posted soon.
Thanks
fkrall Great look, Mr. Beasley. How do you get the darker contrasts, or are those shadows from photography? Rick Krall
It's all shadows. I didn't do anything special to add contrasts, other than to use a slightly different shade of gray paint for the sidewalks versus the streets.
I try to do all of my layout photography without flash, using room lighting, window light and the lights on the layout. I have a lamp with a compact flourrescent bulb that I'll bring in to give me more lighting, if necessary. I make sure the camera is resting on something, and use the timer to avoid jiggling the camera as I push the shutter button.
woodman, what did you end up using? Any photos?