Roofing Material Suggestions

[jjdamnit]

Hello All,

I am finally getting around to kitbashig two Walthers HO scale Northern Light & Power (933-3021) kits into one large structure.

The side-walls; with the 5 large windows, will now be the narrower, end-walls.

I have spliced two of the end-walls; the ones with 1 large, 4 smaller windows and the doors, to create the new wider side-walls.

The supporting roof trusses have also been spliced together and reinforced to span the interior of the new structure and provide support for the roof panels.

I do not like the finish of the roof panels, they are slick plastic with no texture.

Any suggestions on methods/materials to finish the roof?

Thank you for your advice.

[tstage]

Sandpaper makes good-looking asphalt and tar paper roofing and you can get it in black or brownish hues.  For HO, I would stick to the 220-320 grit range.  There's also commerical products from manufacturers like Campbell.

Tom

[MisterBeasley]

For a flat roof, I use thin foam board painted with Rust-Oleum speckled textured black rattle can spray paint.  Cheap and it looks great.  I add a few roof accessories like fans and vents.  You can weather it with powders and seal it with Dul-Coat or clear flat spray.

[jjdamnit]

Hello All,

tstage

Sandpaper makes good-looking asphalt and tar paper roofing...

Sandpaper is one option I have been considering, but I didn't know the grit range.

Thank you.

If I use sandpaper I believe I will cut it into strips approximately 4' wide (scale) and lay them horizontally.

That would be a cleaner look between the roof vents.

A building of this age, est. 1889, in a mining area might have had a slate roof.

I was also thinking about a slate roof texture.

Open to any suggestions.

Thank you for your advice.

Post Script:

MisterBeasely

...Rust-Oleum speckled textured black rattle can spray paint.

Great tip!
TYFYA

[mbinsewi]

According to the link you posted for the Walthers kit your using, this would all be a flat roof.

The suggestions about the paint and sandpaper would fit right in.  I don't think slate would be used on a flat roof, and through the years, this roof would have been redone with new materials used on built-up type roof systems.

Built-up, meaning layerd, roofing felt and tar.  Today a rubber membrane is put down, and covered with a ballast.  You wouldn't see any seams.

Mike.

[UNCLEBUTCH]

As stated above, Ive used sandpaper, 400grt wet/dry.

Black craft paper would work, has a bit of texure.

I also use masking tape, cut to scale,painted black. If painting with a brush swirl the brush. Looks as if the tar was spread out with a broom or mop. Slop a''little'' on the inside of the walls. Thouse guys were not always neat. Add a patch here and there. Don't forget about the flashing, where the roof meets wall

[wvg_ca]

for lightly sloped roofs i have used plain paper towel, or toilet paper ...

cut into scale 4 foot strips, and use black weathering slopped on

[wp8thsub]

I've treated some of these flat or low-sloping roofs as tarpaper.  I paint the roof parts with a suitable rolled roofing color, then use a small brush to tar the seams.

DSC02724

by wp8thsub, on Flickr

On this example, kitbashed from a Walthers power plant, the seams on most of the roof are perpendicular to the wall facing the track.

DG Log 5

by wp8thsub, on Flickr

This scratchbuilt warehouse used the same idea.  I used chalks to weather it after the seams were added.

DSC02859

by wp8thsub, on Flickr

On this one I treated the roof as tar and gravel.  Alternating sprays of black, gray, and tan created a gravel pattern.

[HO-Velo]

I used gaffers tape, per Miles Hale, has texture and plenty sticky, and a couple paint washes and some weathering powders.  Mars Black acrylic tube paint makes for nice tar.  Had to put a couple safety valves up there, better have double hearing protection on when those big fellas pop.

Regards, Peter

[jjdamnit]

Hello All,

mbinsewi

According to the link you posted for the Walthers kit your using, this would all be a flat roof.

Actually the roof is not flat, it has a very slight pitch to it. I just measured it with a protractor and the slope is approximately 8º.

The slopes of the roof are hidden behind the brick facade (the side with one large and four small windows).

As-bashed the roof will have two peaks and a valley in the middle that will need drainage.

I will be adding drainpipes. The drainpipes will also mask the seam from splicing the two panels.

The building was constructed in 1889 to electrify the nearby coal mine.

My thoughts on the slate roof were because of the age of the building and slate was a common roofing material in that era.

Yes, tar paper was available but a building of this stature might have been built with more traditional methods and materials.

I completely agree that the roof could have been upgraded over the years. Or it could have been maintained with the original materials. 

Another reason for slate is we just returned from a vacation in Germany. Many of the buildings are roofed with slate, some with very intricate patters. That got me thinking of this build.

The idea of using paper towel is also one to consider.

I never considered Gaffer tape- -strange because I was in the entertainment industry for 20-years. I think I have a partial roll somewhere.

Great tip! Thanks for the photos of your build.

Thank you for your continued advice.

[azrail]

In some parts of the country you roofs coated with foam or elastomeric coating, a dirty white colored paint would replicate these.

[gmpullman]

Hi,

On several structures on my layout I have printed sheets using matte photo paper and graphics downloaded from a site which has hundreds of photo-graphic elements that, when edited and combined in a vector-based editing program will yield many various photo realistic "textures"

IMG_4630_fix by Edmund, on Flickr

Here is an example of one of my early attempts.

IMG_9425_fix_web by Edmund, on Flickr

You may be able to find several varieties of slate or terracotta roofing. If you do the free signup you are granted credits for making several downloads a day depending on resolution desired. Some graphics are intended to be "tiled" so the patterns match.

Many power stations had glossy tile interiors. You can find these textures here, too. I use the carpeting, wood planking and many of the brick textures, too.

For instance, this brewery floor and wall tiles are Textures.com images printed and laminated to styrene using either double-stick tape or photo-mount spray adhesive:

IMG_4638_fix by Edmund, on Flickr

 https://www.textures.com/

I use CorelDRAW for my image editing sometimes tweaking the .jpg photo in Photoshop first. You would want a vector-based graphic editing software.

Here is their selection of slate:

https://www.textures.com/browse/slate/2130

 

Hope that helps, Ed

[jjdamnit]

Hello All,

gmpullman

Here is their selection of slate: https://www.textures.com/browse/slate/2130 Hope that helps, Ed

Great stuff!

The brewery interior looks amazing!!

Thanks for the link.

Thank you for your continued advice.