beginner roads

[Anonymous]

I am building my first small town. I started using a cork base then putting on a layer of plaster that I hace attempted to sand and paint. This idea is not working out all that well. Any suggestions I'd like to have curbs and sidewals and blend into a rural road outside of town. I'd like it to be ashphalt. Any toughts or suggestions ? Thanks

[Anonymous]

There are many materials you can use to make roads. There are now several commercially available road making systems, but I've never tried any of these. I've always gone with the homemade variety. I've come to believe that the key to realistic roads is not so much the material used as it is effective painting & weathering.
A technique I've used recently for situations like you've spoken of is to use cardboard for streets, roads, parking lots, etc... & tp use sheet styrene for building bases & side walks. You can take this a step further by adding strip styrene for curbs.
For street color, I start with a light gray, & then begin weathering with various washes, & powdered chalks. For sidewalk color, I start with Polly Scale Concrete, & weather in the same manner. The sidewalks will also look better if you lightly scribe expansion joints in them with a hobby knife.

[Anonymous]

Many thanks I appreciate your thoughts. My issue was with elevation but you got me thinking that foan core board would work great then styrene for the sidewalks. Thanks for your insight and getting me thinking in the right direction. Bob - Toledo Ohio