Simulating asphalt?

I went to the local craft store and picked up a texture medium called "Black Lava Texture Gel". It's in the art section, used to texture acrylic paint. It's made by Liquitex, and it's a little pricey, but it made a suitably lumpy asphalt texture when mixed with the right shade of dark gray...



Back when I was car modeling, I used sandpaper to simulate a gravel driveway...it should do for asphalt, too.

Thanks Dru,

around about how much did you pay, and would that quantity you purchased cover, say an area of 12"x6"?

You could indeed use sandpaper. To ad a little depth to the uniform colour, try dry brushing with grey/dark brown/black. Don't use an ordinary paint brush, the sandpaper will eat right trough it, use a old/cheap toothbrush.

For 1/25, I would suggest 480 to 600 grit sandpaper, depending on availibility.

Remco, thanks for the advice, I'll see if I have any 480 grit paper around the house.

If you are familiar with stippling with an airbrush, that may be the way to go. I use it alot for architectural models.

You need very low pressure and paint slightly thicker than normal. It will make a textured surface and you don't have to worry about splicing sheets. Pressure has to be so low that you barely see any paint coming from the airbrush, but you will see specks of paint hitting the surface.

Sandpaper is too perfect for modeling scales IMO.

Woodland Scenics so a Asphalt scatter?

The price tag has been peeled off my texture gel (figures) but I think it was around 6 bucks, unless my mind is completely gone (which it is).

I think 6 bucks.

I use sandpaper alot

Dru, you think a single container would be enough for a 12"x6" area?

Absolutely...it's a pretty good sized container, maybe a pint or so, maybe a little more. It would cover a foot-by-foot-and-a-half block no problem. In fact, the total area of the "asphalt" in the dio in the pic is probably about that size, and I didn't use even 1/3 of the container.

Well, looks like I have quite a few options. I may have to try making small sections of each technique and compare them. Thanks!