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What do you use for streets?


nik_n_dad

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What have you used for streets on your layouts?  I'm not going to use the kato street plates for a number of reasons, but I was wondering what all of you have settled on. 

 

I've thought about the Busch flexible roadway over a thin piece of styrene (the styrene would ensure a smooth surface).  We're also planning on using the Tomix wide tram track, and want to match up with that.

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I've used plain dark gray and dark brown cardboard for streets and scratched them with sandpaper, but I don't recommend it. For future projects I've been thinking about using painted fine sandpaper itself instead for roads. The only problem then is how to put transfers on for road signs...

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I've seen a technique using foam sheets and it was pretty impressive. I don't remember if it was on this forum or somewhere else...

 

Pu-Foam-Sheet.jpg

 

The guy was cutting and painting the sheet (of course, not bright yellow ^_^,) and once it was dry, he pushed softly on some sections to make cracks appear.

This was making a really really realistic rendering. Plus it's really cheap raw materials.

 

If I find it I'll share it, but I honestly don't remember where I saw that...

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I've thought about the Busch flexible roadway over a thin piece of styrene (the styrene would ensure a smooth surface).  We're also planning on using the Tomix wide tram track, and want to match up with that.

 

I find Busch roadways too wide for Japanese roads.  Most Japanese vehicles are narrower than their export cousins.

 

In the past I've used colored art paper which can often be seen in Japanese layouts, but fades with time and pops up at the seems.  I've thought of using Styrene painted gray but have never actually tried it.

 

With Tomix tram tracks I have also used WS 1/4" thick Styrofoam with WS Top Coat Ashpalt coloring.  It works pretty good, but the Styrofoam has a tendency to crumble.  But Styrofoam can be sanded and molded to shape.  

 

My current plan is to go back to black foamboard.  I like how the gray track and viaducts contrast with the black foamboard.  I live up high and the streets I see are often dark colored.

 

This link shows how to use Michaels "Creative Hands Flexfoam" to create roads that you can easily add cracks and pot holes.

 

http://www.telusplanet.net/public/crowley/ashphalt_roads.htm

 

Here's an example of his work:

 

http://www.telusplanet.net/public/crowley/Edmonton/downtown.jpg

 

http://www.telusplanet.net/public/crowley/Edmonton/CNstationPA120524.jpg

 

http://www.telusplanet.net/public/crowley/Edmonton/street.jpg

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Wow....this topic still has me experimenting with making roads! I have tried the method Bill has posted and have gotten mixed results. Getting the texture right with the mixture as explained in the blog isn't easy. And moving the Creative foam once it's coated can easily crack and flake off.

http://www.jnsforum.com/index.php/topic,243.0.html

 

I've used just plain Creative foam and the results aren't bad plus you can cut the  foam into any type of road you want.

 

I've also used lite spackle with using insulation tape to design the roads and filling in with spackle and once dry removing the tape. (see photo with tram line)

 

I'm still having problems putting the traffic lines on the roads once made...tape hasn't worked for me with in a few weeks it comes off....now I'm just drawing the lines with a white artist's pencil.

Can't wait to see what other member use.

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I find Busch roadways too wide for Japanese roads.  Most Japanese vehicles are narrower than their export cousins.

 

My current plan is to go back to black foamboard.  I like how the gray track and viaducts contrast with the black foamboard.  I live up high and the streets are often dark colored.

 

This link shows how to use Michaels "Creative Hands Flexfoam" to create roads that you can easily add cracks and pot holes.

 

 

Thanks.  Some thoughts and answers:

 

1) Our layout is a "Japanese-American-European-Contemporary-1950's"  layout, so no one will notice wide roads  :grin

 

2) I've used the Busch stuff before, but found you have to have a 100% smooth surface under it, since it transfers any and all texturs and bumps through it (hence my thought about putting styrene under it).  of course, if I'm going to cut styrene, I might as well just paint it

 

3) The Creative Hands flexfoam looks ineresting; but I may try the black foamcore first. (thanks)

 

4) One reason I'd like to use something like Busch roads is that the lines are already painted

 

5) As a note, I've found that the sooper-dooper fine grit sandpaper makes for excellent dirt roads in n-scale.  I've thought about experimenting with something like emory paper for paved roads.

 

Thanks for all the ideas!

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I'd used Woodland Scenics Smooth-it (a fine-grained plaster; part of their Road System) on my old HO layout, but I didn't really like the results. It was hard to make curves, and the material was a bit too thick if you used their Paving Tape (1/4 inch, which is a bit much for plaster roads).  And I didn't like the colors they provided for painting it, although you could clearly use/mix other paints to suit.

 

More recently I've made a couple of "temporary" roads using a gray-colored 1/4-inch foamcore (see photos) with lines painted on using a fine-tipped paint marker I found in a local craft store.  This worked, but the big problem was that the paint marker was incredibly toxic (definitely not kid-safe) and leaked all over my fingers, although part of that was "operator error" (there's a technique to getting just the right amount of paint on the tip, and I clearly don't know it).  The results were nice, and suitable for my situation. But, like foam, it was thicker than I'd want (although probably a good thickness for using with tram track, although you'd need to shim it's 5mm thickness to something more like 6mm). And I didn't like the gray color that much, although it's darker than it appears in the photos.

 

I'm also not really a fan of the "gray" color use by both Kato and Tomix.  It's not horrible for pavement, but I think it's too light a color, even lighter than my foam-core.

 

My long-term plan is to use sheet styrene, following a method suggested on the How to Make Highway Bridges thread back in April. This involves painting the styrene white, masking the lines off, then painting it gray (or whatever "pavement" color you want) and removing the masking to show the white lines. This will allow me to make lower-profile roads (I don't need to deal with tram track height-matching) with sidewalks that fit the typical base thickness of ready-made Kato and Tomytec buildings.  But I haven't actually done that yet.

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Ken - Your results look fantastic! I'm going to try the WS making roads this next time. I ordered the supplies but I'm wondering if they give the instructions. I might PM you at a later time once I start working on the new streets.

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It's been around eight years since I made a road that way, but feel free to ask.  As I recall it was pretty well described and straightforward to use: just put down tape on each side, mix and pour plaster, then smooth by running a scraper along the top of the tape; let dry, peel the tape, and paint.

 

The results were quite good, but making the 1/4" thick road match the rest of my scenery was a nuisance, and you couldn't really make a curve, although I didn't really try hard to do that, as I just needed a couple of straight streets on my layout (I used another method for my one curve, which was on a steep slope, some kind of modeling plaster I think, and the result was nowhere near as good). I think it would be problematic on steep slopes, as I recall the plaster being pretty fluid when first poured.

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Mudkip Orange

These haven't been painted or striped yet.

 

I used spackle/joint compound and basic drywall finishing tools to sculp the roadway surface and the surrounding hillside.

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That flexfoam method looks really attractive. I think it has to be done in 2 layers, one quite pure black tarmac layer and then a lighter grey layer to show wear and dust over the road. Of course, depending on the landscape, weather and period you're modelling in.

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Claude_Dreyfus

We use a variety of road textures on Yamanouchi Oshika...

 

The main town is constructed on an MDF sheet, with the base level being the road surface. The road surfaces are painted with Woodland Scenics tarmac paint which gives a nice, even texture; albeit a little dark in colour. In addition, the finish is nicely matt which is an advantage with other paints such as acrylic; which can leave a plasticy skin. This can be seen clearly in picture 1, which also demonstrates the Kato road markings.

 

The issue with 'shiny roads' theough using acrylic is amply demonstrated in picture 2. This is the industrial estate, and again the roads are painted in the MDF base, which is attached to the main plywood baseboard. Work will continue here to tone this down.

 

A number of German manufacturers provide flexi-road, which has been mentioned earlier in this thread. We use the Faller road, which although a little coarser in than the Noch/Gaugemaster (which looks much better) it is actually flexible. We have a number of packets of the Noch stuff which is unusable due to it not flexing around corners of any radius. Picture 3 shows the dual carriageway on the flyover, and emphasises the size of the markings on the Faller product and the fact it is a little dark for N gauge. It is, however, still the best of the bunch in terms of flexi-road.

 

On a similar line to the flexi-road, Noch and Faller also supply a large sheet of tarmac surface which can be used for areas such as car parks etc. You can get strips especially lined for carparks, but they don't look particularly brilliant to me and can be difficult to blend - joining the flexi-road is always a tricky business. We have used the tarmac sheets in a number of locations on the layout, and this can be seen in the middle foreground in picture 4.

 

The yards use a technique similar to the industrial estate, however this time they are on a card base, which gives it a little more texture.

 

Finally, we also use a company called Scalescenes - http://www.scalescenes.com/ - who provide a number of useful road/ground surfaces that can be printed onto card. We have used their product in the high-level industrial estate for the concrete surface - the right-hand area in this picture. They also provided the concrete walling as well...

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