Im looking to paint roads made out of compound using flat grey paint purchased from hardware store.. My question is should i water down the paint or just use the paint that came within the can.
It seems that if i use the paint from the can, it looks to thick and it takes out the realism , if i dilute it with water , i may need 2 coats but i think it will have that smoother finish .
Hello JMK what kind of surface are you painting? Wood or plastic or other material? That would help. But generally house paint is way too thick. It goes a very long way and you cn thin it at least 50%. You might want to try a small batch at 50% and then thin or thicken as you like. Tip: Just grey paint is too "navy" like and will not look like concrete, which I suspect you are looking to do. Mix a bit of yellow and brownish or beige paint into it to warm up the grey and make it look more like concrete. If you are using latex, any latex based colors you have can be mixed in a jar. Try 10% yellow and 15% brown/beige. Play with it.
hi,
Painting over joint compound ( used for sheet rock) ..im painting asphault roads not concrete
Look up a guy named. Luke Towan on youtube. From his youtube page go to his webpage. He has an asphalt road painting techinque using rattle can paint that gives impressive results. He doesnt have a video up yet on youtube to do it. But the webpage has a written article on it. And it is a quick.process. most realistic results i have seen out of any technique
Shane
A pessimist sees a dark tunnel
An optimist sees the light at the end of the tunnel
A realist sees a frieght train
An engineer sees three idiots standing on the tracks stairing blankly in space
I found a video of the road-making technique by Luke.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxhZ7uE7glY The road bits start around the 8:00 mark. The rest is pretty darn useful, too.
jmk3438It seems that if i use the paint from the can, it looks to thick and it takes out the realism , if i dilute it with water , i may need 2 coats but i think it will have that smoother finish
Did you just answer your own question? I can't see the project so won't say witch looks better
jmk3438
The best paint to use is cheap craft paint such as Apple Barrel or Americana readily available at Wal-Mart or other craft stores.
Mix black and white and you can get any shade of grey you wish. I haven't heard of adding other colors but no harm in trying.
Post some pictures after you finish. That is the cost for the free advice
Good luck
Bob
Don't Ever Give Up
I get craft paint from Michaels or A.C. Moore, too. I'm happy with plain "gray" and find it's pretty consistent not only from container to container but even across manufacturers. Since I don't mix paint colors, it's much easier to extend my roads or make repairs without having to match paint.
I do thin my craft paint before using it on roads. Since I need multiple coats, using thinner paint makes the surface less uniform, which I see as a plus. I use Durham's Water Putty from the hardware store for my roads. It's harder and more durable than drywall compound.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I assume, but don't know, that you are trying to model asphalt roads (versus concrete). Your goal of a smooth finish is I think right on target.
We think of roads as having rough surfaces - maybe because remember what it felt like to fall off our bikes or skateboards as kids when we learned that the surface of a road was extremely abrasive when our knees or elbows or hands or noses scraped against it. As a consequence of this "yeah, it's rough, got to make it rough" idea, I think far too many modeled streets and roads have an excessively rough modeled surface because we think of that as the prototype texture. But even at our height when standing up, so 5 or 6 feet up, the impression we have of these road surfaces is that they are rather smooth. Now think in terms of the distance we view our models from -- 90 feet or more -- and they would look very very smooth. Maybe not shiny smooth, but smooth. This is why photos of really convincing modeled streets are not as common as they could be.
So if diluting the paint captures that look (and I'd use a foam brush to avoid brush strokes) -- do it.
Similarly, by the way, most models of rutted dirt or gravel roads have ruts that are far too deep. It would be almost unimaginable actually driving a model car over them. But because we think of the ruts we see in "real life" as deep, we tend to over do the deepness in our modeling. There are other examples of this: mortar lines between bricks that are too deep; gaps between boards on wood freight cars that are too deep and too widely spaced, and so on. Shingled roofs are another example of excessive texture because we are thinking in terms of the texture of the prototype when we see if from 12 inches away, instead of trying to capture what that texture would look like when we are 87 (or 160) feet away.
Dave Nelson
Thats what i thought. I used to paint straight out of the bottle ( walmart) without diluting it and it looked like a thin layer of grey gel was covered over the road. didnt look that real
I'm confused since in your original post you mentioned buying paint from a hardware store and now mentioning Wal-Mart.
Maybe something from here will help.
Basicaly any paint from a jar or can, will result in a thick layer of paint; therefore resulting in a unrealsitic appearance. By thinning it down, it adhers to the compound much better. On styrene, i always like to spray paint instead and do an airbrush of india ink for that weathered look. The problem with styrene is that it looks to uniform. Also in addition to that, i keep hearing about durhams water putty...Yes i agree, it is more durable compared to joint compund , but i find it to be more challeging to obtain that smooth surface.
i go through a multi-step process.
After I use smooth-it (Woodland scenics pavement compound) I use a wood block jig I created which simulates the small natural crown in the road and the ruts. I then run it back and forth multiple times to simulate the real road surface.
I then paint a light grey as a base and then spackle spray a darker grey on top. to create a texture. I then use a second jig designed just for ruts in the road. I then sand with this jig which will take off the darker paint and make the rutts slightly lighter in color (just like the real road.)I then use a special mask, and spackle spray again for road lines. and sand one last time. Tar patch lines using a sharpie or oily black acryllic are a bonus.
Don - Specializing in layout DC->DCC conversions
Modeling C&O transition era and steel industries There's Nothing Like Big Steam!
Ask the Great Steve Otte. He gave me a formula for roads when I read his article in MR back in 11. When you start out poor half a cup of plaster into one cup of water and add a drop of gray and black to the mix. Poor the road down and let it dry for 24 hours before you stripe or sand. Don't paint it black it will look unrealistic. also you can add ballest on the top when it is still wet to represent graval topcoat.
jmk3438 Im looking to paint roads made out of compound using flat grey paint purchased from hardware store.. My question is should i water down the paint or just use the paint that came within the can. It seems that if i use the paint from the can, it looks to thick and it takes out the realism , if i dilute it with water , i may need 2 coats but i think it will have that smoother finish .