Making sidewalks and foundations

[wcnut]

Hello!
I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for making sidewalks and building foundations. I have Smooth-it that I plan to use for my roads. I had thought of just doing a double thick layer for the sidewalks and styrene for the foundations. My city area is extremely small. This is for an N scale coffee table layout approx. 20"x40". Thanks for any tips anyone can offer!

Greg
"wcnut"

[Dayliner]

Hi Greg,

I've found Smooth-It (really just plaster dressed up in a fancy box) and styrene the way to go (I also model in N). Here's what I do.

For foundations, cut out a base of .040 sheet styrene that matches the footprint of your building, only a wee bit smaller since siding always overhangs the foundation. Glue some .040 x .040 strips to the base, leaving a space between the strip and the edge of your sheet that is equivalent to the width of the walls less your overhang. This will keep the structure from being knocked of the foundation, but able to be lifted off easily if required. If your building is on level ground, that's probably all you'll need. If it's going to be on any kind of slope, build a "box" of styrene to an appropriate height to let you "backfill" your slope. Paint the whole thing your favorite shade of new, aged, or in-between concrete, (or whatever to simulate your foundation material), secure it to the layout with your favorite adhesive, and build up the ground level around it.

So far I have used styrene for roads and sidewalks, but I have used Smooth-It for a station platform. Yes, you can double one layer on top of another and it works fine. I have even abutted styrene sidewalk up to Smooth-It sidewalk, and, in the immortal words of Beyond the Fringe, "you can hardly see the join."

Good luck, and let us know how it turns out.

[dano99a]

Black art board (formally called "Black Mount Board") You can see photos of it being used here:

http://www.crtraincrew.com/layouts/dan.html

no plaster needed, just a really sharp xacto knife, you can paint it too. Then score it to make the lines in the pavment for sidewalks.

[Jetrock]

One way to make sidewalks easier is to use styrene "tile" sheets--these are made in various sizes, so you can choose the sidewalk square size best suited to your layout. Cut a strip of the squares for the sidewalk itself, then use a piece of styrene strip of dimensions matching (or a little larger than) the thickness of the styrene--typically .040". Sand down one corner of the styrene strip to make a rounded curb and cement it to the edge of the sidewalk--you can use a bit more sandpaper (I prefer using emery boards) to make driveways. Corners can be square, or rounded corners can be fashioned by cutting the corner bit of sidewalk in the appropriate pattern and carefully gluing the styrene strip curb around the corner (pre-bending the strip to match the curve.) Paint the concrete an appropriate concretey color and apply an ink wa***o make the joints stand out--another thing I do is scratch up the sidewalk squares a bit to represent cracked bits of sidewalk.

For more run-down sidewalks you can place a couple little dabs of glue in the corners of cracks, then dust on a little scenic foam to represent grass and weeds growing through the sidewalk cracks.

[Junctionfan]

You can use plastercine and whether it for the concrete look with real road dust (powdery stuff). You can use a plastic knife to indent the groves of the sidewalk.

Make sure you use grey plastercine.

[jacon12]

Dano,
It looks like you used layers of foam on your tables in your layout photos, thus using a flat table top instead of the 'cookie cutter' method (among others). It seems as though that might be a good way to go for a beginner like me and stay away (for now) from the more complicated methods. Would that be correct?
Btw, this is a great picture :)
http://www.crtraincrew.com/images/layouts/dan/dan8.jpg

[dano99a]

Thanks for the compliment on the photo, unfortunatly MR judges didn't like it last year for the photo contest [:(]

As for the foam:
I don't think it's being correct as much as what are you comfertable with doing. I just thought that useing foam was far easier and less expensive than buying a ton of wood just to create a layout. It easier to sculpt and you don't need to use plaster or any of that Just a sanding block and some paint. (scenic materials etc etc).