Could I say anymore, everything on my layout is within 2' so no 3' rule stuff please!!!!!!!!
Been there, done that, got the pictures to proof it.
The roatway is ordinary roofing shingles. Given the wind here in North Dakota, surplus roofing singles are a gimmie.
OK, *my* workmanship is not the best, the grain is far too corse, but it does crown nicely, fallis into place nicely, splits and seems look ok. All this creation needed was to take some fine sand or N scale ballast and fill in around the grains that are already on the shingle. (Or turn the shingle over and use the other side, all that needs is paint!)
Anyway, look around you, there are plenty of free materials all over the place.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
There was just an article in MRR on making a level grade crossing, which also featured making a concrete road (August issue I believe). Just use a styrene sheet and paint it.
BroadwayLion Been there, done that, got the pictures to proof it. The roatway is ordinary roofing shingles. Given the wind here in North Dakota, surplus roofing singles are a gimmie. OK, *my* workmanship is not the best, the grain is far too corse, but it does crown nicely, fallis into place nicely, splits and seems look ok. All this creation needed was to take some fine sand or N scale ballast and fill in around the grains that are already on the shingle. (Or turn the shingle over and use the other side, all that needs is paint!) Anyway, look around you, there are plenty of free materials all over the place. ROAR
Hi Rrebell,
Like Br. Elias stated, "or use the other (back) side."
On shingles and rolled roofing the back side makes great roads It is smooth and yet workable, for carving groves and drain points etc.
Johnboy out...........................
from Saskatchewan, in the Great White North..
We have met the enemy, and he is us............ (Pogo)
The best looking concrete road surface I have ever seen was made from - concrete!
Actually, it was made using regular powder cement, laid about 1/8 inch thick over EXT plywood with window screen stapled to it. The thickness was dictated by the total depth of Code 100 Shinohara flex track - there was track in the 'street' which segued into a concrete-surfaced quay with a wide-tracked straddle crane on it. (There were also a couple of single-point turnouts in the street, but that's another story.)
[EDIT] The edge of the quay was the fascia, and the ship(s) were virtual, in the aisleway. Three inch rule, anyone?
The expansion joint groves were made with a fine-point pencil before the cement set up. Of course, the whole thing had been carefully figured out before the pour - the young Marine responsible was a combat engineer.
What little of National Highway 19 will show up on my layout will be surfaced that way - the prototype was concrete.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with one concrete road and goat trails)
Why not make them the way real concrete roads are made, one slab at a time? You can make simple molds using waterproof sandpaper and Depron foam for the walls. Pour plaster into them and lay a pane of glass over them to get them nice and flat. The plaster will pick up the texture of the sandpaper.
Instead of sandpaper you can also use a plastic folder like this. It's got a texture similar to the sandpaper and is probably more durable if you have a lot to do....
http://www.target.com/p/up-up-2-pocket-poly-portfolio-folder-green-1-count/-/A-14046090#prodSlot=_1_2
For painting, you can use a technique I call speckle painting that I describe in this thread...
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/11/t/228726.aspx
Steve S
Couple of standard methods:
Styrene plastic that has been painted - google lance mindheim for a tutorial at his site.
Plaster or durabond that hsd been sanded and painted.
Guy
see stuff at: the Willoughby Line Site
Tile grout.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."