Anyone have a sure fire paint formula for simulating aged asphalt they would like to share? I've tried a few combinations but just can't seem to find one I like.
John
The Dames Point Industrial Railroad
http:\\dpirr.blogspot.com
Well
That's the rub. Aged asphalt isn't one color. The roads are patched, rutted, and wore in a couple places. I find asphalt to be lighter in color where the tires roll over the road, and darker towards the center and edges.
If you want to do it the way I do it, I layer paints. Lighter underneath, darker on top. I wait for the undercoat to dry, then lightly sand it (just a little). Then I paint a darker top coat and sand in rutts with really fine sand paper. When I start to see the lighter coat show through, I stop
I then use a mask to apply road lines.
Next, I grab a rough (60 grit->120 grit) paper and give it a REAL quick rough coat with an onmi directional sander to give it a rougher texture.
Finally I take weathering powders, or shaved chalks and spread them over the road before sealing it.
Don - Specializing in layout DC->DCC conversions
Modeling C&O transition era and steel industries There's Nothing Like Big Steam!
Thanks Don. What color paints do you use?
it depends how new you want it to look.
As bases I mix polyscale tarnished black and grey (Suit to taste based off photos or road sample)
The older the road, the more grey I use. You can also use grey primer in a can which is VERY flat and cheap.
I sprayed them on with an airbrush which yields much flatter looking results.
I forgot to mention, if I put a "patch" on the road, I use a combination of engine black and tarnished black. Then I put a very thin thin line of oily black along the edges of the patch. This is the "tar" that seals the old street to the new street. The oily black is the very last step because you want it to remain "shiney" as tar would be in the sun.
Thansk again Don. I am going to try that. But I also found a website called CG Textures that has thousands of jpeg textures, including a number of different asphalt road types. I am going to print out a couple samples and try them and see if they are to my liking as well.
Here's a video that may give you some ideas and tips:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MryNS6Jgsv8
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I use the CG Textures site for a lot of things, but I don't think I'd try it for a road texture. It might be good to use as a model, though.
I've also used road sheets from Noch and Faller, which are self-adhesive flexible rubber. They suck, both because the pavement markings aren't right for the US, and because they tend to come up at the edges and joints, requiring frequent gluing.
Don is basically correct. Asphalt can be any color ranging from almost black (newly laid) to very light gray (more than about 10 yrs old). Most places resurface roads every 10-15 years or so, but between major resurfacings, they just slop down a patch. If they're really good, they cut out the broken piece and fill a rectangular patch, but mostly they just have a truck full of hot mix and slap it down.
I have had success using an airbrush to paint asphalt. Make your road out of casting plaster, drywall compound, or even the WS stuff, which will give it a very slight grain. Decide what your base color will be (how faded the road is). Using an airbrush (with surrounding terrain masked off), paint the base color. Then add a couple of drops of black and paint patches of the road a different color. Use 3-4 different shades, and I think you will be pleased with the effect. I start with Modelmaster Acryl Dark Gull Gray, and gradually add flat black.
Connecticut Valley Railroad A Branch of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford
"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right." -- Henry Ford
What I did is actually make the asphalt rather dark -- not pure black but a dark charcoal gray. There is a spray can color that I see meant for outdoor grills that may look black but when you see it against a true black you can see how much gray there is in it. I like a slightly rough surface texture and that is actually an almost unintended benefit of using DullCoat at some stage either first coat or last coat -- due to the stuff that makes it dull (suspended talc powder, someone once told me)
Once that has dried I then use powdered products to lighten up the surface (and that is why you want a slightly rough texture - for the powders). This gives it the irregularity of real asphalt roads - with care you can work in the shadings you see that follow tires versus between the tires, and that sort of thing. I use a small tooth brush and a mascara brush that was discarded. When satisfied with the result I add more DullCoat, often having to revisit the effect but eventually it all holds.
A more frugal alternative, easier to do in winter I suppose, is to use fireplace ash (not ash from a grill -- that has grease and oil) as your weathering powder. Go to page 5 on the issue of the NMRA Midwest Region Waybill on the link below to see what I am talking about although that particular road is modeling concrete not asphalt.
http://www.mwr-nmra.org/region/waybill/waybill20102summer.pdf
If you get too light you can add a bit of charcoal stick such as you see at art supply stores to darken it back up.
Dave Nelson
Thanks everyone for the great suggestions. While I might try some of them on another section of highway, I went with some actual overhead photos of a section of road that appealed to me. I added my own manhole covers in several places along with my own railroad crossing pavement markings and some tar patch lines and pothole patches. Once its all dry I'll post a picture or two. I think it looks pretty good.
I have been using the method outlined by Lance Mindheim with good results. Check his website for instructions. Very simply, it is gray rattle can primer with India Ink wash down the middle surface of each lane. I have been painting in my road stripes. I believe it gives a better result.
Lance Mindheim's site is included below:
http://www.lancemindheim.com/roads.htm
Larry
Floquil grimy black is close for most and it can be lightened with a bit of concrete or darkened with some engine black..........
BUT........ consider this.......... what asphalt road have you ever seen that twenty minutes later there is some city worker digging it up?
The patches are always new and therefore very black. Also new buildings that need a water or sewer hook up will have a two foot wide stripe of new asphalt patch perpendicular to the curb and out into the street.
Then there is the city manager that decides that now that the road has been resurfaced a new high pressure water line needs to go down the middle of one lane of traffic......... So now there is a black stripe down the street for several blocks that is dark black compared to the older surface.
see ya
Bob