building asphalt roads

Dunno about any article, but I make mine from joint compound (sheetrock mud).. It'll crack naturally as it dries if you put it on thick enough too... Or you can scribe cracks into it with the backside of your knife or sawblade...

I basically just nail down (with counter-sunk straight pins) a couple strips of basswood to make the formers, then pour the mud into the form and, using another piece of basswood planking (or a popsicle stick) that's longer then the width of the form, pull it back keeping both ends on the formers and smooth the "asphalt" that way, much the same way you do concrete... I sometimes mix some black tempera paint into the mud beforehand to color it, but usually just paint it after the fact...  I use thick acrylic paint, black or very dark gray, to simulate patches...  Texture can be an issue in larger scales, I use baking soda mixed with the tempera paint in 1/48th, aquarium sand for 1/32nd-1/35th, and for 1/25th and larger regular sand...

I've seen a few people use sand paper glued to a board.

Some of the black wet/dry stuff should work for smaller scales. 

Eric... 

Hans von Hammer wrote:

Go for it... I just go the cheap route, lol...

no really i appreciate it hans alot. i also try to go the cheaper route if i can help it so i do thank you. i went this morning to look at what the model railroads have to offer...i dont think its realistic enough for what im doing...so i will try your idea and play around with my own and division 6 may go that route as well. thanks guys...and i still welcome other input!

Division 6 wrote:

I've seen a few people use sand paper glued to a board. Some of the black wet/dry stuff should work for smaller scales.    Eric...

Problem with that is is that folks know what sandpaper looks like, so they don't get fooled easily by it... It'll work, viewers will know what it's supposed to be, but I figure that the terrain and everything else on a diorama is the same as the models on it... You've got a model tank you're trying to make look real, structures that you're trying to make look real, so you should treat the ground the same way... You're building a model road that you want to look real... So you need to put just as much thought and effort into that road as the duece you got rolling on it, right?

Everything on the base is part of one great big model... Skimping on one part is the same as doing say, a super-detailing and beautifly painted and weathered tank, and leaving the tracks unpainted and in the "realistic color" they're molded in... 'Course, that's just me... It's also one of the reasons (ah hell, it's the MAIN reason... Who'm I kiddin'..) I have only two finished dioramas in 7 months, lol...

yeah hans, but ya know you have to make those details. its the details that give it life and character...well, we had this conversation once b4...LOL. trust me i want to skip out on some of the details on my current dio build...modelchasm just keeps adding more details to put in it! ultimately i understand...even though i want to quit, cut corners and smash it every time i look at it...LOL, i know that if i make the effort it should pay off. but you know all this and now i feel like im just wasting breath! guess i took the scenic route in agreeing with you!!!

Aquarium sand is found at pet stores and is super-fine... The silica sand would be the same thing, I guess...  There's also the sand used for sand paintings available at arts & craft stores

camo junkie wrote:

yeah but im confused. what does the sand do? i mean isnt asphalt thick black muck? wouldnt sand acomplish the same results if i just used the drywall mud? for instance i heard someone once mention to use kitty litter...how does that compare to sand? again, im not being a jerk hans...just really confused!

I used the sand for texture because it gives a "roundness" to the asphalt "grains" that I like, that I think looks like the hot mix I spent a long, hot summer working with doing road construction way back when... Strictly a personal taste issue...

Sheetrock Mud by itself is too smooth in larger scales, looks more like concrete to me...  Dunno about kitty litter. The clay-type (Tidy Cat, I think) I use is for rubble...

I seem to get a finer grit from dirt...it can be broken down more than sand...almost a powder. I feel it is just the right scale. Silica would probably be fine!

You betcha...  Nothin' wrong with dirt, either... You gotta hunt for the right stuff, but I rob the local high-school field here of a pound or two now and again, once sifted, is really fine stuff... It gets used on top of celluclay for dirt roads on my stuff, and color is perect.. Nothin' like the real thing, baby!

Vespa boy does some of the mos realistic asphalt and concrete roads/runways that I have seen. You can ask him for some tips as well.

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Regards, Dan

Took me a long time to come up with a way to make roads that looked like roads.

Here's how I do it:  http://journals.fotki.com/DaveInTheHat/how-i-make-roads/

ok...while i appreciate emmensely everyone's help. please dont think i didnt try or want to use your ideas. as hans von hammer said (as do i) "i like to make it as cheap as possible". well, i believe this to be a really good idea (not claiming im the first to think of it...dont really care if i did or not). anyway, your help means alot to me!

anyway, i was sitting in bed last night and it hit me like a tone of bricks....i have in my garage a bunch of left over roof shingles...these can be cut to size and painted and of course realistically "cracked". they have the right texture and i think will look great at 1/35 scale. here are a couple of pics...

this pic is the "back" side of the shingle...believe it or not its actually "black".

this is of course the "good" side of the shingle!! which again can be painted and weathered...although i am liking the black back side too. (btw, do not insert joke here guys!! ) let me know what ya think!!

I use silicon carbide in various grits glued in place with Elmers white glue. And then I weather it with washes and dry brushing. Pretty much all the asphalt I modle is a variation of that technique. If you don't want to hunt out the carbide, you can also use wet and dry paper. For kerbs, I use plaster and scrape it to shape. There are a couple of points to remember: 1. nothing is flat, roads all have slopes and curves on them in one or more directions (from the centre to the gutter,  deformation from movement of the underlying packing etc etc)and 2. Texture can make up for almost anything. Get the texture right and the colour can be as whacky as you like.

thanks vespa i appreciate that. i went ahead a tried it my way with the roofing shingle...i actually like the way it came out. all i need to do is give it a weather a little more and i think im good to go. i like it even if no one else does...and i didnt have to use the kitchen sink in order to get the final product!

just my .