Woodland Scenics Road Topcoats (and Alternatives)

[peahrens]

I recently added a road on my layout, using Durhams Rock Hard Water Putty.  I finished it off with Woodland Scenics Asphalt topcoat and liked it.  I diluted it slightly (about 10 drops water for the bottle), and may yet weather it slightly (dry brushing or "wash"??).  

Anyway, I've added an adjacent area to the road at a business (a small fuel oil distributor) with what I want to be a concrete paved area.  Again, Durhams Water Putty (done today).  I see that W-S also has a concrete topcoat, but wonder whether the asphalt (almost black) and concrete topcoats can just (or nearly) as well be substituted with acrylic craft paints.  I'd like to avoid the ordering, shipping, waiting if I can reasonably mix some craft paints for a similar effect.  I'm fairly confident I can mix to a satisfactory color, so it's more a matter of thickness, gloss, etc.

Comments, suggestions?? Thanks!

[RR_Mel]

Hi Paul

 

As your post said (and Alternatives) here’s my Alternative.

 

I have not used Woodland Scenics road materials or Durhams Water Putty.  I used a Paper Mache mix for my road base when I first started my scenery over 25 years ago.  A simple slightly wet mix and 2½”  & 4¼” wide taping knives made a nice roadbed.  My LHS stocked Arizona Rock & Mineral Paving Powders, once I tried them I stuck with them because I liked the way they go on.  They are fine ground rock powders that you mix into a paste using White Glue mixed with water (1 glue to 8 water).  The mix goes on just like Drywall Joint Compound, easy to feather.

 

Their powder mix goes on easily and their #1230 Tan Granite works great for dirt roads.  Their #1030 Asphalt turns out the same color as Asphalt roads here in Bakersfield.  I use their #1382 CSX/Southern Pacific/Wabash ballast for gravel roads and parking lots.  My layout is rural with no concrete roads.

 

I had a terrible time with Paper Mache shrinkage over the years and a fellow here on this forum put me on to Sculptamold last month.  I’m just finishing up a redo of a 25 year old section of scenery that had faded under Fluorescent lighting.  The Woodland Scenics flocking and rock stains had faded over 25 years, the Arizona Rock & Mineral powers didn’t fade.  The Arizona Rock & Mineral powers went on the new Sculptamold better than it did on the Paper Mache as did the Woodland Scenics flocking.

 

After the paste mix has set up to the point where it isn’t sticky on top I run a vehicle with rubber tires back and fourth on the dirt roads to make ruts.   When it dries it looks very good.

 

 Just my Alternative.

 

Mel

[peahrens]

Thanks for the ideas, Mel.  It's great to learn about alternate products and techniques..  I knew Az Rock & Minerals sold ballast but not the other items.   

I've ordered the concrete paving powder, the tan granite sand/gravel (for dirt roads) and the 1381 (N scale) CSX/SP ballast for gravel roads / parking lots.  This will give me the various options I need.  I'll use the water putty for a base where needed. 

[Steven S]

peahrens

I finished it off with Woodland Scenics Asphalt topcoat

I hate to say it but you paid a lot of money for some paint that you could have gotten at Walmart or Michael's for $1.   There are almost always cheaper alternatives to specialized products.

For asphalt, black craft foam (EVA foam) with gray paint sponged on works well. 

 

For concrete, you can make slabs out of a lot of different materials: depron foam, pvc foamboard, styrene, or plaster.   To paint it I use a technique I call speckle painting. The base color should be off white (bone or eggshell.)   Then I cover the floor of the workshop or garage with newspaper, and set the concrete slabs on the paper.  I use a couple of spray cans of light and medium brown and hold them about four feet above the ground.  Give a few short bursts of each color and the paint particles will settle onto the concrete slabs giving them a speckled look.  Then dip each slap in a wash of alcohol and India ink.

Here's some depron foam...

 

To make plaster slabs, you can make simple molds using waterproof sandpaper as the base and depron foam for the walls.  After pouring the plaster in, set a pane of glass over it to flatten the bottom and force the plaster into the sandpaper texture.

 

Here's some unpainted PVC foamboard.  It has a slight texture to it.

 

Steve S

 

 

[chutton01]

I'm bouncing this thread because I was wondering what Woodland Scenics top-coat really is. I saw some bottles (Asphalt and Concrete flavors) at a LHS this past weekend, and since I will need to finish some parking lots in concrete color, I was tempted to buy a bottle. However, I suspected it was just a form of acrylic craft paint, so I held off. On-line reviews place these top-coats somewhere between sliced bread and the germ theory of disease in importance for human civilization, so that's a bit suspect.
Has anyone (who's NOT a representative from woodland scenics, BTW) used them? Do they product a finish smoother and more consistant than, say, a mix of light grey and tan craft acrylic paint?  Smoother is better for a parking lot base coat finish, I can always add chalks and powders to provide texture later.

[peahrens]

Since my first post, where I had used some of the W-S asphalt topcoat, I've proceeded to add two parking lots that I've painted for concrete, but with craft acrylics.

The W-S are water based, but I don't know if acrylic, latex, etc, or why that would matter except maybe sheen differences.  I liked the W-S asphalt when squirted on the road, then spread with a damp 1" foam brush.  Extra coats or touchups blended well.  I like the slightly off-black color.  I added a bit of water to thin just slightly. The sheen is almost flat, just about right for starters (before any weathering).

I can't comment on the W-S concrete as I didn't bother to order it.  I went ahead and mixed $1 acrylics, about half "slate" and half "desert sand" colors.  I added a touch of water and just painted it on with a regular brush.  It looks fine to me, for starters.  I will try the Az Rock & Minerals powder atop that when it arrives.  Plus weather a bit and add some tire marks and divider lines.

So, if I were doing again, I'd likely try mixing some acrylic off-black (add a bit of gray) for asphalt top coat.  The W-S is nice, but costs more, about two $1 craft bottles worth in their bottle.

 

For  

 

[chutton01]

i am reviving this thread as since my post in 2015, I purchased some WS top-coat concrete during the summer. Didn't use it till now, where I have several small plastic pads which I wish to model as concrete pads, so...

The instruction on the bottle are beyond lame - "Brush full strength onto dried Smooth-It or prepared road area". That's about it. OK, since I have the plastic pads ready and have no desire to use "Smooth-It", this tells me nothing about whether the plastic surface needs to be primed or not. Also, brush full strength? Is this product self-leveling? Won't it show brush strokes when dried?

Next, I view the offical WS video "Model Realistic Roads & Paved Areas", where "Matt" demonstrates how to apply Top-Coat (for Asphalt, but I hoped it applied to Concrete as well). Matt uses a foam brush, and then sands a bit at the end to age the road. Fine, I'll use a foam brush, but still won't it show brush strokes when dried.

So, I apply the concrete Top-Coat to a test piece of clean plastic. Man, does it show brush strokes (well, streaks since it was applied using a foam brush after all), completely unusable results.

How do you guys using this Concretet get a smooth finish? Someone must be doing it, I see images.  I see peahens in his last post  used the Asphalt top-coat, so I also tried damping the foam brush and got the same ugly brush strokes results.

Do you have to sand the brush strokes out? That sounds rather ugly. What am I missing here?
Thanks