Modelling road surfaces

[rynd2it]

Hi again,

Part of the layout involves a roadway leading up to a station building. The area has a lot of 'railway yard' type scenery with tracks in ballast and black cinder-like surfaces so a plain black tarmac may get a bit overpowering. I'm thinking of creating what our local council calls 'top dressing' (gravel on tar) by painting it black and while wet sprinkling very fine grey slate ballast. If it works I'll the effect of some tar visible through the gravel, the downside might be that road markings such as junction lines, parking spaces etc may get a bit lost.

Anyone done anything like this?

Thanks

[Walkingthedog]

Tarmac is really only black for a very short period. Grey looks good.

[rynd2it]

Tarmac is really only black for a very short period. Grey looks good.

I think so too, but has anyone tried this method or dealt with the road marking issues?

[Walkingthedog]

I haven’t tried it but why not just put up a sign 'No road markings' and have some workmen standing around?

[RogerB]

Like it WTD - lateral and my sort of solution. R-

[rynd2it]

I haven’t tried it but why not just put up a sign 'No road markings' and have some workmen standing around?

I'll never get away with it, it's a club layout

[Walkingthedog]

It’s just the sort of thing that attracts attention at shows, doing something different. Road works can make an interesting scene. On my last layout I had a trench across half the road with a couple of blokes holding Stop/Go signs. It meant the traffic was stationary.

[rynd2it]

It’s just the sort of thing that attracts attention at shows, doing something different. Road works can make an interesting scene. On my last layout I had a trench across half the road with a couple of blokes holding Stop/Go signs. It meant the traffic was stationary.

You know, you are right. It could just work, I can put up blue badge signs on the fences, the rest can just be omitted. Now for the details

[Malcolm 0-6-0]

For asphalt (tarmac) surfaced roads I use thin strip balsa which I paint with one coat of an acrylic dark grey. The paint soaks into the wood and dies with uneven colour - any road markings then can be just painted on in the appropriate colour. The surface texture is much finer than you would get with a sprinkle of crushed ballast material or very fine sand etc.

I use ordinary carpentry or painting type polly filler to fill the gaps and find that this provides a realistic depiction of those sort of cracks, grooves etc. that you see on real roads which are usually subject to road works. I just fill the appropriate spots then lightly sand it.

[Maz066]

I use the old fashion emery paper for tarmac and for dusty roads, the dust from the dust collector on my orbital sander, glued with PVA