Asphalt roads

I think I've tried just about every road building technique around although I haven't used the Arizona Rock and Mineral variety. I've come to the conclusion that anything I have to mix and spread is:

A. Way too messy

B. Goes all the places I don't want it to go

C. Never comes out as smooth as a real road

D. Takes way too long

I've settled on using .10 styrene sheet cut to width I need and butted together for the length I need. I glue it down with white glue and weight it bricks for a day until it's dry. I then use a mixture of weathered black and Union Pacific Harbor Mist grey until I get the color I want. More grey for older roads and more black for newer roads. I paint the styrene with this mixture and, when dry, stripe the road with Microscale decals and then use chalks to weather in traffic pattern oil and dirt in the center of each travel lane. I then use some ballast glued down with white glue on the edge of the roadway to simulate the edge of the base rock. I spray the whole thing with a coat of Dulcoat to take off any gloss. It's a lot quicker than any other method and comes out looking pretty good. You can use the same concepts (with different colors) for concrete roadway.    

Jeff - Either way please post some photos, I'd like to see your results.

Jim, could you also post some photos?

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Here's a few shots of the progress:

In this picture the lighter gray is dry and the darker gray is about an hour old.  It takes about 24 hours to dry.  One thing I have noticed is that it is really easy to patch and modify.  I will likely due the grade crossings in two passes.  A first pass to get a base down and a second pass to provide the exact grade I am looking for.

Here's a section that has dried 24 hours.

Here's a section I just poured and smoothed.  I haven't removed the forms yet in this picture.

I use "bondo" from the local auto parts store.

Stuff is realtively cheap (1 gallon + hardener at the local shop for 10 or 12 dollars) and you can lay it up pretty easily with a putty knife. To give it the right texture I let it almost completely set up and then run a paint roller over it that has been painted with the "texture" paints. The bondo is still a little impressionable, and the roller adds the "quirks" that are normally found within the pavement.

If you want to simulate concreate, you can lay it up and then sand it smooth and give it a nice coat of a flat gray... So many uses.

I actually want to attempt to make some castings with it, since it's so easy to work with. 

Like I wrote, anythng I have to mix, roll out or make forms to hold it in is too messy for me. My current layout is all brick or concrete roads. This is an overhead view of part of the concrete section:

This is the bridge leaving town. The roadway up the bridge grade is the same type of styrene. Imagine doing that with a puddle of goop :

This is a closer view. The expansion joints and tar lines were made with a fine point magic marker. This an older secion of roadway meeting a newer section:

The same type of thing can be done as I described to simulate asphalt. The nice thing about the formed roads is that they are more dimensional so, if it's out in the country, the roadway is above the grade of the surrounding countryside. The bad thing is that they are dimensional if you try to use the same stuff in a city scene. You'd better be prepared to raise all your buildings and sidewalks to the level of the road grade or provide stairs down to the stores.  

UP2CSX wrote:

Like I wrote, anythng I have to mix, roll out or make forms to hold it in is too messy for me. My current layout is all brick or concrete roads.

I've done the same for all of my concrete areas and will likely continue to use painted styrene.  I'll finish this one road with the mix and see how I like it.  It is kind of neat in that it is real stone and you put it down similar to how they build real roads.  I just went and looked at it and it all looks dry now.  I'll clean up a couple of edges and the grade crossings today.

I used that on a couple of parking lots.  They were plaster or foam board and then just used a brush coat for a top coat. I posted a couple of pictures earlier of different areas around the layout under dirt roads.  Here's a couple more.

I would use some more of his products around the layout.  

I have used asphalt roofing shingles now for twenty years. I find they have many advantages:

They are inexpensive for the amount of material you have to work with. Buy them by the bundle in different colors and texture. You can use both sides depending on the surface look you want. It is a flexible material so it can curve up to the edge of the track when using cork roadbed and can be cut to fit between the rails, in HO it is just the right height for roadway continuity. It can be painted any color with cheap latex paint. It can be cut to any shape or size for parking lots etc etc.It is reuseable as I attach it to the plywood with HO track nails. For large industrial areas, Icover the entire space with roofing shingles and you are ready for any large warehouses etc to be placed. For sidewalks I use Walthers sidewalks. I make everything "moveable" as change is constant. I have large "O" and "HO" layouts set in an industrial urban setting and I have found this to be a realistic cost-effective alternative. Also on a sidebar note, I have about 350' of "O" gauge Gargrave's track and 900' of "HO" track, all has been painted and weathered. For ballast I use kitty litter by the bucket. Nothing is glued down which makes any track changes easy. This has been in place for 15 years with no problems. Good Luck and have fun!!!

jbinkley60 wrote:

I've been looking at the various ways to make asphalt roads.  I decided to try the Arizona Rock & Mineral apshalt material 1030 which is real stone.   My first attempt is drying right now.  The instructions say to mix a batch of the material up with a 50/50 water and glue mixture then spread it between whatever forms you choose to use.  It is a little messy but it looks like it might turn out OK.  I wasn't able to smooth it quite as much as I'd like but it was also in one of the hard areas of the layout to reach.  I was wondering if abyone else has tried this method of build asphalt roads and if they have any tips or techniques ?  If it turns out Ok I'll post some pictures.   I tried the Arizona Rock and Mineral asphalt and was not pleased with the result.  It turns out to be too coarse for HO, at least to my eyes.  Over the years I have tried several techniques and always return to using drywall joint compound spread thinly over cork roadbed and painted with various brands of gray automotive primer.   John Timm