Day one - the beginning

This is the area where the road will go. This is the end of the Barnesville peninsula and there will be a small station, unnamed so far. I glued a 10mm thick piece of posterboard where the station building will be built, kind of a slab for the building. The road I want to extend is visible at the right edge of the picture.

Here is another shot of the scene:

The road will pass the station to the left and also branch off and cross the track between the station and the mainline on the upper level.

I start with a piece of 3mm thick posterboard that's big enough for the area I'm working on.

I draw my road and cut it out, making sure the road extends over the existing road as well as over the track.

I press down on the posterboard and cut off where the rail has made a mark. It's easy to see that the posterboard is too thick for the code 55 n scale track so the next step is peeling off a strip of the cover paper...

... and then cut off a slice with a new blade so the remaining edge is about 1 mm thick.

Where the road will cross I've glued an inverted  piece of roadbed as support.

Now I'm pulling off the upper layer of paper - carefully!

As you can see I wasn't careful enough but that doesn't matter too much, gives me a chance to demonstrate later how to fix small irregularities in the surface. I've glued the edge to the track using CA gel.

I've glued down the rest of the road using yellow glue.

Tomorrow I will continue across the track to the other side of the station.

Yeah, Michael!

I'm glued to the set

for the  next episode of this one.  Looks good. so far.

Day two - more roads, a platform and a first coat of paint

To cross the track next to the (future) station I need to fill the space between the rails. I have previous tried to cut down the posterboard thin enough but it always looks bad. For that reason I'm using a cardboard strip for this purpose. When all the paint has been applied the difference will not be visible. I use 1 mm thick cardboard that is being sold in art supply stores. It is normally used as canvas for water colors and takes paint well.

A piece of posterboard has been cut to fill the space between the two tracks. You can see how thick it is compared to N scale C55 track.

After thinning the edges it fits perfectly.

At least I managed not to damage this piece of road !

I decided that the road needs to be a little higher and added another 5 mm strip of posterboard to rise the road.

I added more road on the other side of the track. To give it more stability I glued a strip of 5 mm posterboard underneath.

There will be some kind of industry here later. The track has been embedded in concrete.

This is a good time to add the passenger platform for the station.

Here comes the paint! I've put on a first coat of Polly Scale Undercoat Light Gray. I always try to make my brush strokes in the direction of traffic flow so that any streaking looks logical. This coat of paint acts as a grey undercoat for the concrete color that will go on top. It also fills the little bubbles in the foam core and makes the material a lot stiffer so it can hold engravings later.

Looks like I didn't even wait until the paint dried completely!

Posterboard? or Foamcore??

Is that material foam, or paper?    Posterboard (to my experience) is multiple ply paper - and Mat Board is commonly used in photographic presentation mats, or custom picture framing, often with core and surface plies of different color.

I ask, because the thickness of your material and its appearance in the photos has me confused.  If you can specify a manufacturer, you'll probably set me straight!

[ I'd like to offer, also, to try craft foam as a base for Asphalt roads.  I start with various shades of gray. ]

Thanks for the how-to... looking good!

Material used

The material used is called posterboard at Hobby Lobby where I buy it. It's a foam core laminated with paper on both sides. Comes in 3, 5 and 10 mm thickness. Elmer's also makes this and calls it project board I believe. The Elmer's material is not  as easy to use, it's difficult to pull off the cover paper (they must be using Elmer's glue to attach it ).

I was wondering that too

Re: foamboard vs posterboard.  Now that I see what you are using, it is in fact foamcore and not posterboard. (Foamcor, if I recall, is a brand name?). BTW Michael, you can get the stuff for $1 a sheet at Dollar Tree. The thickness is about 1/4", which just also happens to be the thickness of HO scale cork roadbed, if anyone is modeling in HO.

My Mrs works for an ad agency and I get their scraps, so I get mine for free (lucky me).

One other thing...Elmers makes their 'project board' in black also, just in case anyone might want to use it. It's pricier than the white stuff though.

Materials used

There seem to be questions about the materials used for this project. Maybe I'm using the wrong names, if so I'm sorry. To make sure everybody knows what I'm using here comes the list:

This is the material that I buy at Hobby Lobby. Like I've said before the stuff Elmers makes looks good but doesn't peel off as well.

This is the grey paint used:

...and this the concrete paint:

...and this is the spackle used:

Day three - finished roads

To get it all finished in one day I started early before I went to work and painted the road with the concrete color (see my previous post). That looks like this:

I let everything dry until after lunch and put on the thinnest possible coat of spackle. This coat is meant to fill the remaining holes in the foam, not to cover it all up. It doesn't even matter if there is a spot here and there that doesn't get any spackle, these spots will look like damaged concrete later.

I let it dry for a few hours, then cleaned the gaps between the concrete and the rails.

For the next step the spackle has to be completely dry! I carve any lines and cracks I want carefully with the back of a Xacto knofi. Carving is probably the wrong word, barely using any pressure and being very careful not to cut too deep is more like it.

I then use a very thin mix of alcohol and india ink - maybe half a teaspoon of ink on a bottle of alcohol - to bring out the structure. The next two photos were taken immediately after brushing on the mixture.

Ten minutes later it looks like this:

What I like so much about this way of making roads is that you can build them on your workbench and then install them on the layout if you wish. There is almost no mess involved making them and you can control the color with your final wash. To completely finish a scene I will use weathering powders for rubber streaks, oil leaks and such later.

Have fun trying it and post your results! 

Quick questions Mike: How far

Quick questions Mike: How far apart do you make the joint lines? Would thinned acrylic paint work rather than alcohol and india ink?

Quick questions Mike: How far

My joint lines are about 40 mm apart (a little over 1.5"). I like the alcohol & india ink mix better because it's not final. You can go back with water and clean the surface if you don't like it. Because acrylic paint includes a binder your results will be final.

posterboard

I took a look in an art store in Sidney, BC today and found "foam core" to be just what you'd expect, and "posterboard" to be as close as I've seen to Strathmore in years.  Needless to say, they'd never heard of Strathmore board.

David

I'm sorry Mike , I should

I'm sorry Mike , I should have been more specific; I meant how many scale feet apart? I'm in HO, so I need to transpose the scale feet.

That's cool - I want to use

That's cool - I want to use that method on my layout.

Question: Obviously it works, but I'm confused as to how in this respect: I would have thought before an explanation of the order of the steps, that the spackle would have gone on first - then the paint. But you paint first then spackle. I guess I don't understand how it works, since I would have thought the spackle would cover up the nice color of the paint. How does it - or why does it - work so well the way you do it?

Thanks!

Question: Obviously it works,

• The gray paint makes the foam stiff and gives it a first shade of color. I don't even try to get it all soaked, just paint it with a small brush, different shades of grey  will be ok.
• The concrete paint adds more shades to it. It will look brighter where the gray was thin and darker where the gray was thicker.
• The spackle goes on last and so thin that the paint shows through. You can see that in the close up pictures I posted.
• The alcohol & india ink mix will turn the spackle into grey and make it a little bit transparent.

The end result looks like a nice imitation of a concrete surface, not at all boring and uniform.

Dollar Tree Foamcore sheets

Just a caveat... I've tried the Dollar Tree foamcore and it has a tendency to warp when painted. Not only that but the paper can curl right off the foam. Use with care.

The Hobby Lobby foamcore is more expensive but seems to withstand painting better.

I have not tried the Elmer's foamcore but have noted it is reasonably priced at my local Wal-Mart.

For what it's worth, I typically use cheapo rattlecan spray paint in primer red, primer gray, flat white and flat black for my base colors on models. I was using the foamcore as backing for a background building, not a concrete roadway.

BTW the painting method here sounds worth a try for simulating concrete foundations under buildings.

Virg

Surface prep

You mention, when talking about making it thinner near a grade crossing, that you peel off the top paper.  I'm not really clear on whether you ALWAYS peel the top paper off before you proceed with painting and finishing, or do you leave it alone if you don't need to change the thickness.

Joe Berger

Great Northern Railway

Cascade Division

I have tried an experimental

I have tried an experimental road using this technique and it turned very, very nice. I didn't use the WS topcoat because I didn't have any, I just used gray paint, spackle, and ink but it still looks fantastic. But, I have one minor issue. For my needs the thinnest foam posterboard still seems too thick for my N scale layout. But I think I found a solution.

I had some black foam sheets - the size of a sheet of paper. They have a sticky back and you can get them at any craft store in different colors. They are 1/16" thick. I just did the same procedure using a road cut from one of these foam sheets and it works. It's a little dark so I'm going to go get some gray sheets this morning. I like the lower profile. Just another option if you need one.

The poster board test is in the back and the foam sheet in the front -

Slab width/length

I think for HO scale, the spacing on slabs should be 10 feet, then an expansion joint. I might even make them 8 feet. is there anyone in the business who can say how much is poured at a time for roads?