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 kitbashing and how-to articles
 general how-to (scenery, buildings, trackwork)
 Realistic asphalt road
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CNCPVIA
Brakeman

Canada
272 Posts

Posted - 04/19/2011 :  22:41:19  Show Profile  Visit CNCPVIA's Homepage  Reply with Quote
Alright now, I am in a city project and here is the time to built asphalt roads.

Not any asphalt roads, I wish to built real looking asphalt cracked streets as we would see in any major Northern city... especially in Montreal, for those who experienced it!

I do not want to draw them on the pavement, I want them to BE REAL NATURALLY FORMED CRACKS!

Here is how I will do it, so, keep looking as I will post pictures in the following days with explanations on "HOW TO" perform this as I go on with the project.

DO NOT HESITATE TO STOP ME FOR QUESTIONS as I go in the progress... I will try to anwser them as fast as possible with pictures.

CNCPVIA
Brakeman

Canada
272 Posts

Posted - 04/20/2011 :  09:04:33  Show Profile  Visit CNCPVIA's Homepage  Reply with Quote
First thing first, my "old" set-up of the city.

Basically, streets or asphalt was paint directly over the plywood.
Nothing to fancy, some lines were added with a sharp ink pen...



I removed all the buildings keeping only the "lines" of the streets in place.
I would strongly suggest that you draw your street plans before you start anything.
Lay down your buildings in place, draw some lines to simulate your streets.

Once you are done and ready to built your "pavement", here is how I do it.

The first thing I did was to glue all the city lamp posts. I wired them all from over the layout. You could perform the same thing from under, if you like to duck under your layout... I don't!

Test you light bulbs just to make sure that everything works fine before you go any further.
Try to isolate any wire connections to prevent any short between two lamps.
You will have plenty of loose wires on your table, nothing to worry about for the moment.

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sschaer
Moderator

911 Posts

Posted - 04/20/2011 :  12:36:48  Show Profile  Visit sschaer's Homepage  Reply with Quote
you mean something like this ?



i use real concrete poured as a 5mm layer. over the time some real cracks show up....
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CNCPVIA
Brakeman

Canada
272 Posts

Posted - 04/20/2011 :  17:44:29  Show Profile  Visit CNCPVIA's Homepage  Reply with Quote
YES, that would be a good exemple!

Since we are almost there, here is the list of material you will need:

1- Pieces of foam 1/4 of an inch thick used for sub-flooring when putting FLOATING FLOOR.

2- Dark gray latex paint.

3- Drywall plaster, the ready to apply one, the pre-mixed!

4- White glue, carpenter's glue... the regularly used glue you feel confortable with!...
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CNCPVIA
Brakeman

Canada
272 Posts

Posted - 04/21/2011 :  21:11:56  Show Profile  Visit CNCPVIA's Homepage  Reply with Quote
OK... here is today's improvement in pictures!

I glueded down the sub-flooring material in small sections.

1- Cut them in small pieces to be able to work with them more easily.

2- Try them on the layout and cut off small sections to be able to fit in the lamp posts.



Here is a picture with the letter "A" just to show you how I cut the needed space for the lamp posts.
I keep the small pieces cut off to fill in the holes once I gluded the section on the layout.

Picture #2 and #3 are the from the piece "A" before I applied glue and after, when it was put in place.





Now that you are doing some progress, you will maybe notice the formation of air bubbles under your material.
Try to pour them out as much possible.
If you still have air bubbles after noticing that everything is dry, this is not a "to big" problem...

Picture #4 is the work I have done so far on my layout.

It is maybe 4 scare feet, but I used 10 different sections of sub-flooring material. It was much more easier for me to insert them all in place with the lamp posts to avoid.

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CNCPVIA
Brakeman

Canada
272 Posts

Posted - 04/21/2011 :  21:17:21  Show Profile  Visit CNCPVIA's Homepage  Reply with Quote
2 THINGS I FORGOT TO MENTION !!

1- Since all the wires are loose on the table, I used some tape just to hold them down on the table.
It is much more easier to glue the section of sub-flooring when the wires are tied down on the layout.

2- Once you are done gluewing your sub-floor sections, you can draw your streets back and look if your buildings fit properly. This is only temporary, you don't have to be fancy with your lines at all.
Everything will be covered with plaster later...
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SD9043N
Passenger

165 Posts

Posted - 04/22/2011 :  17:18:55  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
lookin good

nice progress

trains let us dream big ina small space
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CNCPVIA
Brakeman

Canada
272 Posts

Posted - 04/28/2011 :  18:43:06  Show Profile  Visit CNCPVIA's Homepage  Reply with Quote
Here comes the messy part of the asphalt roads...

You will need your drywall pre-mixed plaster and your latex paint.

Here is a picture of the ones I bought at the local hardware store.



1- You will need a good bucket to mix in all your ''ingredients''.
Since I keep all the buckets of material that I used, I had already another empty bucket of drywall plaster.

2- In that empty bucket, I put 3 parts of drywall plaster for 1 part of latex paint. MIX and MIX and MIX to make sure that you remove as much as possible every air bubbles and clots.
YOU DO NOT WANT ANY WHITE PLASTER IN YOUR MIXTURE!!
To help you with this, your final mixture should be as ''liquid'' as white glue.
If it is to thick, just ad a bit of water... MIX and MIX until you get a dark gray liquid mixture.

3- Pour it down directly over the foam sheets that will be your streets.
Since it is liquid as white glue, it will be easy to cover the foam.
The mixture is also thick enough to ''stick'' to everything.

4- To accelerate the drying, install a fan close by.
The mixture will slowly get in place and dry this way.

5- Let it dry over the night!

Picture of my own progress...

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CNCPVIA
Brakeman

Canada
272 Posts

Posted - 04/28/2011 :  22:04:51  Show Profile  Visit CNCPVIA's Homepage  Reply with Quote
After 2 hours of drying, I already see the cracks forming where the foam sheet's joints are.

The plaster is still wet and will be all night long, but the cracks are there already!

I will post pictures tomorrow to show you what is hapening.
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sschaer
Moderator

911 Posts

Posted - 04/29/2011 :  07:19:56  Show Profile  Visit sschaer's Homepage  Reply with Quote
nice work. some questions though.
- how do you replace a broken lamp ?
- why didn't you do your wiring under the layout ? would be easier for maintenance
- why don't you just pour the plaster on the plywood ?
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CNCPVIA
Brakeman

Canada
272 Posts

Posted - 04/29/2011 :  19:12:28  Show Profile  Visit CNCPVIA's Homepage  Reply with Quote
The anwsers to your 3 questions will be VERY SPECIFIC to MY LAYOUT!!

1- If I have a broken lamp, you are right, I am done with it. Anyway, everywhere in a city, you will find some dead bulbs in lamp posts...
I would have to re-do everything around the spot where the lamp is broken, that is for sure. NOT CONVENIENT AT ALL, I agree with you.

2- I did it this way because this section of my layout is a very old one. It is also elevated from the basic table that is main level of the layout. That is why I cannot reach it from under.

3- Your last question IS VERY IMPORTANT!! I was going to tell you with pictures in the last explanations of my work.
Having the foam sheets under the plaster, it gives a ''soft'' ground for your asphalt.
With your finger tips, just by pressing down your DRIED plaster, you will form cracks where you had none, because the plaster will crack.
Be carefull not to apply to much pressure and brake a piece of plaster.
If you do, glue it back in place.

YOU CAN CREATE YOUR OWN NATURALLY FORMED CRACKS JUST BY PRESSING THE PLASTER ON THE FOAM.
Since the plaster has been colored when mixing with paint, the cracks that you will create will also be dark, just like it would be in real life.
Since I try to recreate the streets of Montreal, I need both my hands to form cracks!!

To hold all you streets and joints-cracks-pieces of plaster together on the layout, I use SPRAYNET over the streets and I am done with my project.
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CNCPVIA
Brakeman

Canada
272 Posts

Posted - 04/29/2011 :  19:23:43  Show Profile  Visit CNCPVIA's Homepage  Reply with Quote
Here is a result of a previous asphalt operation that I did last year.
You can pay attention to the details of the scenery but the idea of this picture is to show you the cracks in the street...



I hope it helps get the idea of what it should look like once completed.
There are a lot of cracks because we have a lot of cracks in streets around here... all were made with my finger tips by pressing down the dry painted plaster on the foam sheet under it.
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SD9043N
Passenger

165 Posts

Posted - 05/13/2011 :  06:08:19  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
looks good

very realistic looking

keep up the good work

trains let us dream big ina small space
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CNCPVIA
Brakeman

Canada
272 Posts

Posted - 05/16/2011 :  04:39:25  Show Profile  Visit CNCPVIA's Homepage  Reply with Quote
I don't know how the streets of Edmonton are, but in Montreal, they are trully terrible!

The picture that I took of my layout is something very close to the real thing in the "belle province"...

You probably have seen this before: MISSING PERSON on your milk can?

We should start looking for them in the holes of some streets!
We would maybe solve some mysteries right there!
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