Say you have a small town (not a big city) on your layout,
how wide, in inches, did you make it's main street?
Did you try to be prototypical or fudge a little to make things fit the space?
Room for parking on both sides or only one? Or, none at all?
Did you install/paint center lines, traffic lanes, parking spots etc and how?
Since all towns and villages are a little different, I don't think there is an exact answer for you.
I plan to start by taking two vehicles placing them side by side with a reasonable space between them as they meet on the road. Parallel parking takes up less layout space, so will pull one up to the curb and leave space between the parked car and those traveling past. If I want parking both sides, same on other side of road. Roads and parking can eat up a lot of layout space. Most comments I have seen when this has been discussed before seem to tend toward narrower scale streets than they actually are in the 1:1 world.
More modern cities tend to have had better traffic planning thus streets tend to be wider. But, I have seen old villages where houses are set back 100' each side of the road, leaving plenty of room for road expansion, beautiful front lawns and keeping the noise of the traffic away from the house.. (Those were the days.)
Someone may chime in with some of the technical data to give you a better idea, but most seem to end up with a "what looks good" width.
Good luck,
Richard
I just went with something that looked right to my eye. The white stripes are rattle can paint. On of these days I'll get the ballast down.
David Starr www.newsnorthwoods.blogspot.com
You asked for a dimension in inches - but never mentioned scale. Two inches is a footpath in O scale, a driveway in S, an alley in HO, Wall Street in N and a boulevard in Z.
Street width is a regional thing. In the Northeast, Main Street could be quite narrow. In recently-developed towns in the wide open spaces Main Street may have four traffic lanes and diagonal parking.
Your best bet is to get a photo (or several) of an appropriate prototype, then eyeball it from there.
One thing is sure. You're almost guaranteed to find that the real thing is wider than you would like it to be.
So, how wide is MY main street? Sorry, but I don't know. Most of it is virtual, in my operating aisle.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with roads that are two ruts in the mud)
Pardon the not mentioning the scale, please... it's HO.
I decided to cut out a template from white paper 3 1/2 inches wide and try it. This gives me two traffic lanes and parking on one side. I photographed it, brought it into Photoshop, colored the paper a concrete-ish color and painted some white lines. Looks about right to me and leaves me much needed space for the park on the opposite side of the street and for the structures on the ends of same street.
Jarrell,
I know you know the answer to that...
It is what you make it-------- > and there is always a prototype somewhere.
Some streets only allow parking on one side and they tend to be narrower.
A number of years back, I pulled a load into Worcester, Mass. Many of you will be familiar with that area.
I was surprised to find that the streets were so narrow that on one side they allowed cars to park half way on the sidewalk so that there would be clearance for traffic to meet each other on the street.
Also there was a Fire Hall that had it's overhead doors right at the sidewalk, so they would have to completely block the street when leaving or backing in.
Different places > > > different faces............
And by the way, what you have there looks great as everything you do does.....
Johnboy out.....................
from Saskatchewan, in the Great White North..
We have met the enemy, and he is us............ (Pogo)
I am currently working to recreate an urban scene where three major roadways meet to create a triangular city block between the three roads. I created my roads using lanes around 9 to 9 1/2 scale feet wide so as not to use up too much real estate. The main road through town (along the edge of the layout aisle) is a four lane divided road with a single railroad track running along a center median. Even with the compressed lane width and no curbside parking, this one roadway is 7 inches wide curb to curb! A second four lane road meets the first at about a 30 degree angle and runs between the aisle and the backdrop along this same shallow 30 degree angle. This road does not include a center median or curbside parking and is still 5 inches wide curb to curb. I wanted curbside parking along the third roadway so I gave it only two traffic lanes and further compressed the parallel parking lane width. This road worked out to about 4 3/4 inches wide curb to curb with parking on both sides. It crosses the other two roads at angles of about 75 degrees. This means that this third road runs nearly perpendicular to the aisle and backdrop.
I am building multiple structures along the far side of the first roadway (the near curb of this roadway is defined by the edge of the layout) and multiple structures on both sides of the other two roads. Where I don't have enough room for curbside parking, I have included small driveways between a few structures and added "Parking In Rear" to my building signs. Although my scene will include a combination of both street and rear of building parking, I only need to model two parking lot areas while other rear of building parking will simply be implied. A tougher problem has been how to terminate such large roadways at the backdrop. I realize that I can use forced perspective to aid in the illusion but even this will leave fairly wide gaps in the background scenery toward the centers of the roadways.
By the way, I like to construct my roads using a combination of .040" styrene sheet and "Fun Foam" colored art foam sheets I purchase from Michael's craft stores. I use the styrene sheet to create a smooth road base and the "Fun Foam" for the paved road surface. I use styrene strips under the styrene sheet to create crowns and smooth realistic looking grade changes. I glue the styrene pieces to the layout deck using latex caulking. I cut matching pieces from the "Fun Foam" sheets using the styrene sheet pieces as patterns (prior to gluing them to the layout). I glue the foam pieces to the styrene using Elmer's spray adhesive. A little Woodland Scenics Foam Putty hides the joints between foam pieces. I next cut "cracks" in the foam sheet using a hobby knife, then paint the road surfaces an appropriate asphalt color. I then go back with a fine point sharpie to "seal" the cracks with tar and use fine point paint pens and a long straight edge to apply the striping. Finally, I airbrush thinned whites and tans over everything to fade and blend the colors, then airbrush thinned flat black along the lane centers to simulate oil and grease stains. Most layout visitors seem to like to look of these roads.
Hornblower
I believe 3-1/2" is what I have for the main drag through my small town. There is no parking, per say - except at the diner, gas station, and freight depot, which is more than a parking space length from the road.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
I was going to use Blair Line wood grade crossings. Their 2 lane crossings measure 3.56 inches (for HO), so my roads will probably a little over 3 inches. Don't know what I am going to do about parking yet.
Ken
I went with 5" wide for the main street. The 5" allows for two lanes of traffic along with parallel parking on both sides.
I went with 3 1/2" for other roads.
The roads are cut from .010 Evergreen styrene sheets. I air brush them Floquil grimy black.
Road stripes are 3M pin striping. I use 1/16" thick stripes. 71001 for double stripes, and 70101 for all other striping. It's nice that they offer double white for my late 1950s era layout. Unfortunately they do not offer double yellow for modern era layouts.
Can't tell you if these are prototypical road dimensions, but the sizes looked good to my eye without overpowering the layout with streets.
One detail I think that really adds to a street scene are Hi-Tech Details parking meters.
Here's the most recent photo of my developing city streets, this shows the 5" streets:
An older photo. This shows parallel parking and the 5" main street transitioning to 3 1/2":
Here are 3 1/2" roads through a residential section:
Matt from Anaheim, CA and Bayfield, COClick Here for my model train photo website
I saw your post this morning, but had to get my notebook from ther layout in the cellar, also trip to the dump and post office, lunch and a couple hours of work on the layout - so here it is 5PM with my answer for you, or at least how I do it. I model in HO scale
For city streets I plan 24 foot wide for the 2 way travel lanes; but could reduce to 20 feet on side streets. Parallel parking spaces are 8 ft wide and 20 feet long; perpendicular spaces (like in the depot parking lot) are 9 ft wide and 16 ft long. I model the 50s, so on a modern layout the spaces could be 1 to 2 feet larger to acommodate those big SUVs and pickups. Sidewalks are 10 ft wide for big sidewalks or 5 ft for smaller. This would be 2 concrete squares wide for a busy city shopping street and 1 square wide for side streets, residential, and town sidewalks. They could be reduced to 8 ft and 4 ft, if space is a problem.
A couple of examples:
Greenvale Junction, a town with a depot. Depot St., parallel to the edge of the layout, is modeled half width with the rest imagined off the edge. Main St, perpenducular to the edge, is modeled full width with parking on one side up to the tracks. The sidewalks are 5 ft wide.
Central St in Sheepscott is a city street with both travel lanes and one side of parking modeled. The other side parking and buildings are imagined. The sidewalks are 10 ft wide. This is an in progress photo with some buildings as cardboard mockups or added using Photoshop as a planning tool and to give me an idea of what it may look like when finished. Still in progress with 4 or 5 more buildings to go. The street is colored using Photoshop, it and the sidewalks were tan Durhams Water Putty color when the picture was taken. I have since painted and added parking spaces
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
This was something I was working on yesterday. I immediately abandoned inches and worked in scale feet.
My town section consists of one major street, three slightly smaller parallel streets (retail and service area) connected to the main street by a third road size, and then a residential area. Blocks are bisected by alleys.
Main St: 40 feet with 10 foot sidewalks on either side.
Side Sts: 36 feet with 10 foot sidewalks on either side
Connection St: 32 feet with 10 foot sidewalk on one side and five foot on the other (this side faces the tracks)
Residential Sts: 28 feet sidewalks TBD probably 5 feet
Alley: 15 feet
These streets are rather broad for a model but look right for what I'm trying to accomplish. My town has a 19" x 7 1/2' area so I can spread out a bit and not run out of space.
well, if it's of any concern. I live near {and was raised in} a small town that happens to also be the county seat, and of Victorian 1800s in nature.
The Main and Front street {along the river's edge} BOTH have 2 lanes and parallel parking on either side. On some houses, the old granite 'carriage step' is still there, along with a horse tie-up ring on a granite post next to the old {and getting replaced} slate sidewalks. All of which were in place at the Victorian carriage days!.
~So take two cars and place side by side and allow for two cars parked on either side too. that will determine your width. IF you have the room for 4 lanes in your town. That will give you the inches you need for the cars of your era.
~In my little town on my little {3.5' x 5.1' HO } layout, I had no room for 4 lanes, so i settled for two. So I guess you could say I fudged. I allowed for a "municipal parking lot' {small also}, such as our little county seat also has between buildings or behind the stores in 1:1.
~ already answered the parking on both sides issue. GO with one if you only have room for one sided parking.
~ Hadn't gotten to painting any lines or such yet. But, if I did, I would make faded lines when I get the chance...though in the "residential districts" near town center, on Front and Main streets, there ARE NO lines at all. Just plain street. Not sure why, but I'd bet no lines were painted on the brick road substructure {the once "paved" roads once} either.
That's my town and I'm sticking to it!
-G .
Just my thoughts, ideas, opinions and experiences. Others may vary.
HO and N Scale.
After long and careful thought, they have convinced me. I have come to the conclusion that they are right. The aliens did it.
This sounds great. I think I've seen the fun foam you're talking about, I believe the ones I saw were black in color. What do you use to paint your center lines etc.? Are you building sidewalks also and if so what thickness are they? I'm not familiar with the foam putty, is it easy to use and do you have to sand it a little to smooth it?
Good luck with the problem of the roads meeting the backdrops, that's always a challenge.
hornblower I am currently working to recreate an urban scene where three major roadways meet to create a triangular city block between the three roads. I created my roads using lanes around 9 to 9 1/2 scale feet wide so as not to use up too much real estate. The main road through town (along the edge of the layout aisle) is a four lane divided road with a single railroad track running along a center median. Even with the compressed lane width and no curbside parking, this one roadway is 7 inches wide curb to curb! A second four lane road meets the first at about a 30 degree angle and runs between the aisle and the backdrop along this same shallow 30 degree angle. This road does not include a center median or curbside parking and is still 5 inches wide curb to curb. I wanted curbside parking along the third roadway so I gave it only two traffic lanes and further compressed the parallel parking lane width. This road worked out to about 4 3/4 inches wide curb to curb with parking on both sides. It crosses the other two roads at angles of about 75 degrees. This means that this third road runs nearly perpendicular to the aisle and backdrop. I am building multiple structures along the far side of the first roadway (the near curb of this roadway is defined by the edge of the layout) and multiple structures on both sides of the other two roads. Where I don't have enough room for curbside parking, I have included small driveways between a few structures and added "Parking In Rear" to my building signs. Although my scene will include a combination of both street and rear of building parking, I only need to model two parking lot areas while other rear of building parking will simply be implied. A tougher problem has been how to terminate such large roadways at the backdrop. I realize that I can use forced perspective to aid in the illusion but even this will leave fairly wide gaps in the background scenery toward the centers of the roadways. By the way, I like to construct my roads using a combination of .040" styrene sheet and "Fun Foam" colored art foam sheets I purchase from Michael's craft stores. I use the styrene sheet to create a smooth road base and the "Fun Foam" for the paved road surface. I use styrene strips under the styrene sheet to create crowns and smooth realistic looking grade changes. I glue the styrene pieces to the layout deck using latex caulking. I cut matching pieces from the "Fun Foam" sheets using the styrene sheet pieces as patterns (prior to gluing them to the layout). I glue the foam pieces to the styrene using Elmer's spray adhesive. A little Woodland Scenics Foam Putty hides the joints between foam pieces. I next cut "cracks" in the foam sheet using a hobby knife, then paint the road surfaces an appropriate asphalt color. I then go back with a fine point sharpie to "seal" the cracks with tar and use fine point paint pens and a long straight edge to apply the striping. Finally, I airbrush thinned whites and tans over everything to fade and blend the colors, then airbrush thinned flat black along the lane centers to simulate oil and grease stains. Most layout visitors seem to like to look of these roads.
Thanks Tom, I guess I'll be about right if I go with 4 1/2 inches for two lanes and parking on one side.
tstage Jarrell, I believe 3-1/2" is what I have for the main drag through my small town. There is no parking, per say - except at the diner, gas station, and freight depot, which is more than a parking space length from the road. Tom
Matt, that looks great! I hope mine come out near this good. Thank you for the tip on the parking meters, they do add that realistic touch, don't they. Any tips on putting down the pin stripping and getting it to stay down?
I see you have a park across the street also. I want to do one of those and have been thinking about a statue on a pedestal in the park. Maybe an O scale figure (I'm HO) of a soldier or something of the sort.
I like the clock too!
^sigh^ so many ideas, so little time.
Southwest Chief I went with 5" wide for the main street. The 5" allows for two lanes of traffic along with parallel parking on both sides. I went with 3 1/2" for other roads. The roads are cut from .010 Evergreen styrene sheets. I air brush them Floquil grimy black. Road stripes are 3M pin striping. I use 1/16" thick stripes. 71001 for double stripes, and 70101 for all other striping. It's nice that they offer double white for my late 1950s era layout. Unfortunately they do not offer double yellow for modern era layouts. Can't tell you if these are prototypical road dimensions, but the sizes looked good to my eye without overpowering the layout with streets. One detail I think that really adds to a street scene are Hi-Tech Details parking meters. Here's the most recent photo of my developing city streets, this shows the 5" streets: An older photo. This shows parallel parking and the 5" main street transitioning to 3 1/2": Here are 3 1/2" roads through a residential section:
Ken, I hadn't thought of that, I have some of those grade crossing too!
Bis I was going to use Blair Line wood grade crossings. Their 2 lane crossings measure 3.56 inches (for HO), so my roads will probably a little over 3 inches. Don't know what I am going to do about parking yet. Ken
David, they look about right to me too. I guess you masked off everything and rattle canned the stripes?
dstarr I just went with something that looked right to my eye. The white stripes are rattle can paint. On of these days I'll get the ballast down.
Thanks John boy. My brother in law was a trucker, he told me some harrowing tales about delivering on narrow city streets!
last mountain & eastern hogger Jarrell, I know you know the answer to that... It is what you make it-------- > and there is always a prototype somewhere. Some streets only allow parking on one side and they tend to be narrower. A number of years back, I pulled a load into Worcester, Mass. Many of you will be familiar with that area. I was surprised to find that the streets were so narrow that on one side they allowed cars to park half way on the sidewalk so that there would be clearance for traffic to meet each other on the street. Also there was a Fire Hall that had it's overhead doors right at the sidewalk, so they would have to completely block the street when leaving or backing in. Different places > > > different faces............ And by the way, what you have there looks great as everything you do does..... Johnboy out.....................
Thanks Jarrell.
The striping is actually pretty easy to work with.
It comes on a carrier strip. I lay this down where I want the stripes. Then simply pull up on the carrier strip and the stripes are installed. So far it's worked great. And it's staying down nicely too.
Here's a photo of the park:
I'm not sure who made the clock, maybe Brawa? It came green and I painted it gloss black. It's lighted too.
Eek, I still have to ballast the track. So much left to do
I say the magic words "Selective Compression!" and my HO-scale streets all seem to end up 3 inches wide. I like a more cramped look, and I find that narrow roads tend to make my 2-4 story buildings look taller, and I get more of the "urban canyon" effect I'm looking for. Narrow sidewalks, too, help with that. I do pity those who can't find anyplace to park, but my layout has subways, taxis, trolleys and buses, so there's plenty of public transportation.
I draw the white lines with a gel pen and a ruler. This works very well, and if the edges get sloppy I can touch them up with a bit of acrylic craft paint. I always use a straight-from-the-container gray paint for stuff like this, rather than mixing my road surface color, so that I can go back and touch up spots without worrying about having to match the color again later.
I have parking meters from Hi-Tech Details. I got the silver ones, and painted red-over-white meter faces on them before installation. They're a great little detail, and they "suggest" on-street parking even if there isn't really room for it.
I added a small park with a statue, too.
I found the statue at the big Springfield train show, already mounted on its plinth. (Now, there's a word you don't hear very often.) I added the pigeons.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
You know, I regret not having included a movie theatre on my main street. Every small town had one back in the day. Hmmm.... maybe I can find room somewhere. Maybe if I cut main street down to 3 /2 inches, picking up another inch. I'd lose on-street parking.... well, something else to think about.
Thanks for the photo!
Jarrell
Southwest Chief Thanks Jarrell. The striping is actually pretty easy to work with. It comes on a carrier strip. I lay this down where I want the stripes. Then simply pull up on the carrier strip and the stripes are installed. So far it's worked great. And it's staying down nicely too. Here's a photo of the park: I'm not sure who made the clock, maybe Brawa? It came green and I painted it gloss black. It's lighted too. Eek, I still have to ballast the track. So much left to do
Thanks for the tip on the gel pen!
The statue reminds me a little of a War Between The States general.
MisterBeasley I say the magic words "Selective Compression!" and my HO-scale streets all seem to end up 3 inches wide. I like a more cramped look, and I find that narrow roads tend to make my 2-4 story buildings look taller, and I get more of the "urban canyon" effect I'm looking for. Narrow sidewalks, too, help with that. I do pity those who can't find anyplace to park, but my layout has subways, taxis, trolleys and buses, so there's plenty of public transportation. I draw the white lines with a gel pen and a ruler. This works very well, and if the edges get sloppy I can touch them up with a bit of acrylic craft paint. I always use a straight-from-the-container gray paint for stuff like this, rather than mixing my road surface color, so that I can go back and touch up spots without worrying about having to match the color again later. I have parking meters from Hi-Tech Details. I got the silver ones, and painted red-over-white meter faces on them before installation. They're a great little detail, and they "suggest" on-street parking even if there isn't really room for it. I added a small park with a statue, too. I found the statue at the big Springfield train show, already mounted on its plinth. (Now, there's a word you don't hear very often.) I added the pigeons.
jacon12The statue reminds me a little of a War Between The States general
In the Fictitious History of Moose Bay, he's John Buford Brad, a little-known businessman who retired as a Colonel from the Union Army. Earlier in his career, as a Major, he was ordered to Washington and court-martialed for profiteering, using his position to order haggis from the family sheep business back home. The court was so enraged that they busted him to private and ordered him to strip off his uniform right there in the courtroom. At that point, they looked at his long red underwear that his sisters had made for him, and realized that he had provided the solution to a serious problem - keeping the soldiers warm. Instead of the punishment they'd planned, he was promoted to Colonel and put in charge of "Union suits," or "Long Johns" as they came to be known.
Santa Fe all the way!Southwest chief,I really like your work. That long yellow mobile home reminds me of an old movie with Lucille Ball.
Thanks. The Long Long Trailer was my inspiration.
City Classics' trailer is pretty close to the real one (1953 New Moon). Just wish someone made an HO scale 1953 Mercury Monterey.
Ohhhh.. Union suits! That's a good one. But, now I have to go look up 'haggis'..
MisterBeasley jacon12The statue reminds me a little of a War Between The States general In the Fictitious History of Moose Bay, he's John Buford Brad, a little-known businessman who retired as a Colonel from the Union Army. Earlier in his career, as a Major, he was ordered to Washington and court-martialed for profiteering, using his position to order haggis from the family sheep business back home. The court was so enraged that they busted him to private and ordered him to strip off his uniform right there in the courtroom. At that point, they looked at his long red underwear that his sisters had made for him, and realized that he had provided the solution to a serious problem - keeping the soldiers warm. Instead of the punishment they'd planned, he was promoted to Colonel and put in charge of "Union suits," or "Long Johns" as they came to be known.
jacon12I think I've seen the fun foam you're talking about, I believe the ones I saw were black in color. What do you use to paint your center lines etc.? Are you building sidewalks also and if so what thickness are they? I'm not familiar with the foam putty, is it easy to use and do you have to sand it a little to smooth it?
The Creatology Fun Foam is about 2mm thick, comes in 12" by 18" sheets in several different colors (including blacks and browns) and is priced around $1 each at Michael's. I use Craftsmart Fine Line Paint Pens to create the roadway striping. I like the fact that painting the striping this way creates clean but not perfect stripes that reflect the "hand or stencil painted" look one would expect during the 1950's (as opposed to the machine applied look one sees today).
I am using more .040" sheet styrene for my sidewalks. Sidewalk width varies with distance from the aisle (wider in the foreground - narrower in the background). Since my roadways are about 3mm thick (Fun Foam atop .040" styrene), I raise my sidewalks above the road edges by stacking two layers of Fun Foam under the styrene sidewalks. This results in a curb height of about 8 scale inches. I scribe expansion joints into the stryrene surface spaced about 10 scale feet apart. I also scribe a curb line about 6 scale inches from the street edge of the sidewalks. I made a great scribing tool by sharpening one jaw of an old vernier caliper. I adjust the space between the jaws to the dimension I want between the scribe line and the edge of the styrene, then lock the jaws in place using the thumb-wheel lock. I then place the unsharpened caliper jaw against the edge of the styrene, then slide the caliper along the edge of the styrene while applying a little pressure against the surface of the styrene with the sharpened caliper jaw. The sharpened caliper jaw cuts cleanly and perfectly parallel to the edge of the styrene, even on curved pieces. I have found this scribing method to be so accurate that I am able to cut out complete storefront window systems with 3 scale inch frames from a single piece of styrene, although this takes time and patience.
One of the more realistic features of the Fun Foam on styrene sheet road construction is that, even though the roads are realistically smooth, the road thickness is not perfectly uniform. I originally wanted to use styrene strip a little thicker than the sidewalks to make the curbs. These thin strips would allow the curbs to follow any irregularities in the road edge thickness but would require rather tedious sanding to match the curb top to the sidewalk surface plus scribing the joint between the sidewalk and curbing. After a lot of head scratching, I finally decided to scribe curbs into the edges of my sidewalk pieces, then use Latex caulking to create the curb faces and fill the joint between the sidewalk and road edge. In the end, this approach was almost too easy. After cementing the scribed styrene sidewalk pieces to the layout atop two layers of Fun Foam, I position a length of masking tape atop the road surface about 1 scale foot from (and parallel to) the sidewalk edge. I next run a thin bead of Latex caulking along the joint between the sidewalk and road edge. I then use my fingertip to press the caulking into the joint as well as shape the caulking into a curb face and gutter (you could also use a piece of styrene to shape the caulking). Any excess is easily removed with my finger. When I am satisfied with the look of the curb and gutter, I let the caulking dry and then paint the curb and gutter to match the concrete sidewalks. Once the paint has dried, I carefully peel back the masking tape to reveal a very realistic looking curb and gutter along the edge of the roadway. I was going to skip the gutters had I used the styrene strip curbs but I got both at the same time with the caulking method.
The Woodlands Scenics Foam Putty comes in a small tub and is designed to match the consistency of their styrofoam terrain and riser products. It spreads on easily with a putty knife and can be sanded once dry. Once dry, it remains slightly resilient so it is a pretty good material match for the Fun Foam. The only downside is it being white in color. This means it requires a few more coats of paint to match the look of one coat of paint on the black Fun Foam. However, once satisfactorily painted it is difficult to find the joints again. Now that I've used it to make my curbs and gutters, I might just try Latex caulking to fill the Fun Foam joints as well.
One other advantage to the stacked styrene and Fun Foam approach is that is allows truly realistic transitions between roads and parking lot driveways. Where a parking lot is to occur, I sandwich a layer of .040" styrene between two pieces of Fun Foam. This means that my parking lot heights match my sidewalk heights and the top Fun Foam layer lets me create an asphalt surface similar to my roads. Where a driveway meets a road edge, I leave a gap about 1 inch wide between the road edge and the bottom layer of the parking lot/driveway Fun Foam. This allows the .040" styrene in the parking lot/driveway sandwich to taper down to match the height of the roadway styrene base. The top layer of parking lot/driveway Fun Foam follows this taper and automatically matches the height of the roadway edge. Apply masking tape either side of this joint, fill the joint with caulking, paint to match the sidewalks, then remove the masking tape and you have a prototypical looking concrete gutter running across the parking lot/driveway entrance.
The main drawback of this system is that it eats up a lot of styrene. Cheaper posterboard could be substituted (at least in the parking lot sandwiches) although it wouldn't be as strong and probably wouldn't create such nice tapers and grade transitions. Since I still have a lot of roads to build, I am looking into buying 4' by 8' sheets of .040" styrene to try to get a better price.
I guess I need to learn how to post a few pictures. Hopefully soon!
Hornblower, what a wealth of information. I will have to print it out so that I can study it at leisure.
Yes, maybe one day you can post a few photos of this. I know it must look super I hope you can locate the large sheets of styrene, buying it in the small packages gets a bit expensive. And, with the larger size you can cut out longer roadways and not have as many joints/seams.
...
-Ken in Maryland (B&O modeler, former CSX modeler)