How to create a tarmac for a jet plane

I don't make my base the same way as this guy, but i use the same aproach for painting.

http://bowemodels.blogspot.com/2013/05/technique-building-basic-wwii-era.html

Hello!

Most surfaces on an airfield are concrete. This is easy to paint - first you paint the surface white, then brush it with thin black wash a few times. Pencil in the partitions and cracks before that. For tarmac it's even easier - glue some fine dark coloured sandpaper to the base, makes a really nice tarmac.

Good luck with your build and have a nice day

Paweł

I found a coumpany out of the U.K. that sells printed bases that look quite good.

https://www.coastalkits.co.uk/newstore/airfields.html

Sprue brothers sells them in the U.S.

I used 320 grit 3M wet sandpaper and glued it to a 3/4 inch plywood. I used white glue with a roller to spead in on the board. It turned out ok. The texture of the sandpaper simulated concrete nicely for 1/48 scale. 

Here is the finished base:

I admit the the concrete joints did not turn out that well. They were drawn on with a regular number 2 pencil.

Hope this helps.

German Armour

I found a coumpany out of the U.K. that sells printed bases that look quite good.

https://www.coastalkits.co.uk/newstore/airfields.html

Sprue brothers sells them in the U.S.

 

The Carrier ones are nice, i recently used one myself. But IMHO the otehr ones, both by Coastal and others, look awful. They are just to flat, even for the concrete parts. There is no texture.

Scale matters, and rather more than a little.

Smaller than 1/100, probably painted paper card might be best.  At a 10" viewing distance is better than 80', not a lot of detailgoing to be visible.

At 1/48 it gets dicey.  That 10" viewing distance is 40', some texture and detail will be visible in paved surfaces, but not a huge amount.

Even 1/32, which is a large scale a/c is a long way off to see "broom finish" in concrete.  Those broom marks are under 1/16" in actual size (maybe 1mm), or a teeny 0.0020± (0.05mm) to scale.  Tar macadam, aka "tarmac" is a fine asphault paving of bitumenous "tar" into which fine aggregate gravel & sand) is impressed (alternately, the aggregate is pre-mixed and applied hot to the subgrade). 

Personally, I like Crescent board--a compressed paper product using in framing.  It has a fine texture with some pores, which can replicate both concrete and tarmac.  But, that's just my 2¢

Here is a link for making an asphalt tarmac. 

http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/17438

When I made mine I glued a piece of plywood to the backside of the foam board to keep it from warping. I scribed lines into the foam to simulate the joints between the pavement. I also painted some areas a darker color to simulate patched areas in the pavement.

I think this looks fantastic and I dont think the joints looks bad at all. I am going to try this method for sure thank you for sharing Bruce!

This is an overall photo of my tarmac. It is 20"x30". I should have used the next size larger foam core board.