Roadway

Post by **aferguson** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 7:51 pm

What do you guys use to simulate roads? I need a section about 4 1/2 to 5 feet long that looks like a typical French road, WWII era.

Jay · Post by **Jay** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 8:03 pm

I've used sandpaper for some of my models. Maybe choose a large grit paper and glue the sheets to a mdf board, or even a plank that has a slight curve (width ways) to it.

grunt1 · Post by **grunt1** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 8:36 pm

Have you heard of or tried anything from Plastruct? Use their search tool and use the words "sheet" and whatever material (stone, brick, wood, stucco)as your search words.

If you're considering any kind of roof, wall, ground texture other than grass/dirt then this is pattern city.

They have wood plank, cobblestone, tile, ribbed roof, corrugated siding, stucco, brick, asphault, cement, ......................

Sheets vary in size but are generally 20" x 7". Enough that you can slap a few together and create a very large surface pretty quickly.

http://www.plastruct.com

lsc1002 · Post by **lsc1002** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 7:54 am

grunt1 wrote:Have you heard of or tried anything from Plastruct? Use their search tool and use the words "sheet" and whatever material (stone, brick, wood, stucco)as your search words.

Grunt1 Cool site!

warhawker · Post by **warhawker** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 8:33 am

I would try the http://www.armorama.com/ under forums to get cheap ideas on how to create roadways, terrain and other ideas.

Morian Miner · Post by **Morian Miner** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 8:52 am

What do you want to recreate? Cobblestone - try the plastic mats they have at Michaels for the Christmas stuff and repaint or do a thing layer of plaster and carve. For dirt roads, lay down a layer of dirt/sand and smooth, they douse with a 10:1 mixture of water/white glue with a drop or two of liquid dish soap. Add until somewhat puddles. Dries up fairly durable. For a raised road, you can use the dirt coat method over either styrofoam or foam core.

On thing with this method is do it at the temperature it will be stored in. When I lived in Utah, I did this over a foamcore base during the winter, then took it inside a few days later to the nice toasty house. The entire dang display buckled and warped like you woundn't believe. Guess there is something to thermal expansion

mrkisskissbangbang · Post by **mrkisskissbangbang** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 8:37 pm

The Lemax Village Collection Cobblestone Mat from Michaels measures 45.7cm (18 inches) x 91.4cm (36 inches). It comes in a brown cobblestone colour. I purchased several and plan on possibly re-painting and weathering them in grey.
($14.99 US/$24.99 CAN)

If you need a really large roadway. I suggest going to Home Depot and get a roll of roofing material. I don't know its proper name, but it does come in a grey colour and can simulate a gravel road. Once again I would consider painting and weathering it to make it look more realistic.
You can pick up a roll for under $30.00 and they are several meters/feet long. A few things to consider.......it may be hard to cut and the rolls are actually quite heavy.

Another inexpensive alternative is to use either use split peas or lentils and glue them to a ground surface (foam core, bristol board, card board...etc). This process is very time consuming, but at least you can make a proper cobblestone road design for a town/village. Make sure to fill in the seams and paint/weather accordingly.

To go with such a large roadway.....what do people use for grass? I was thinking of using astroturf/artificial grass and using the different diameter fishing line to simulate tall grass and other vegetation.

Hopefully one day I will get all my stuff together and take photos of it.

Cheers

normandy · Post by **normandy** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 4:22 am

Aferguson, you might give this a try.....
http://www.armorama.com/modules.php?op= ... &artid=205