Best way to make realistic roads?

Hey John,

Some of the best looking roads I have seen are the ones done by @ericstrains.com. He has a great hi-rail layout and even made a big tutorial on how he does it.

On my N gauge layout I used Woodland Scenics Smooth-It. Here is a link. They also have some videos on there.

https://woodlandscenics.woodla...com/show/item/ST1452

I colored the roadway with Woodland Scenics Top Coat Asphalt.

https://woodlandscenics.woodla...com/show/item/ST1453

After the lines were installed, I added some cracks and potholes then weathered everything with an air brush.

For paved roads I used to use fine sand glued down then used ink or diluted paint to color it, it worked pretty well.

In a city area you have to ask yourself what kind of road surface, paving, belgian block, concrete? In a city area the biggest thing is to have roads with curbs. One of the more fun things I recall doing was having a city street where I simulated the 'asphault' had worn away and you saw the belgian block underneath, quite common in some sections of NYC.

For belgian block I did it the hard way, I poured plaster and then I carved it (belgian block is not uniform, which actually made it easier,but still was a chore). I colored it using a wash of thinly diluted gray ink and then I used black ink in an old fashioned fountain pen to put in black between the 'stones'.

Concrete I used styrene sheet sprayed with concrete colored paint, and I carved expansion joints in it that I used a darker color to make them visible.

I am showing my age, I remember an article in MRR when I was a teenager when someone advocated using furnace cement. Ended up being somewhat controversial because all these people later wrote in saying that it could corrode rails if used in a grade crossing.

@NJCJOE posted:

On my N gauge layout I used Woodland Scenics Smooth-It. Here is a link. They also have some videos on there.

https://woodlandscenics.woodla...com/show/item/ST1452

I colored the roadway with Woodland Scenics Top Coat Asphalt.

https://woodlandscenics.woodla...com/show/item/ST1453

After the lines were installed, I added some cracks andpotholes  then weathered everything with an air brush.

NJCJoe,

Do you happen to have lived in Michigan?   Potholes are our states signature feature.  However ours are much larger and deeper.  In some places the front end of your car may disappear.

Blowouts are a common sight during the late winter and early spring along the roadways due to our potholes.

No, not Michigan, but Pennsylvania. The potholes are pretty bad here as well.

@bigboy25 posted:

Hey John,

Some of the best looking roads I have seen are the ones done by @ericstrains.com. He has a great hi-rail layout and even made a big tutorial on how he does it.

I've had this video on my watch list, but have strayed away from watching it because of its run time. 1 hour worth of model roads, track and scenery? It's a little overwhelming!

@kwisor posted:

You didn't leave any text or captions here - what kind of roads/street system did you use? It's very cool! I have a loop of superstreets on my layout but i like how your looks more realistic and seemingly less noisy. Also, how do you have them programmed to start and stop?

@NJCJOE posted:

On my N gauge layout I used Woodland Scenics Smooth-It. Here is a link. They also have some videos on there.

https://woodlandscenics.woodla...com/show/item/ST1452

I colored the roadway with Woodland Scenics Top Coat Asphalt.

https://woodlandscenics.woodla...com/show/item/ST1453

After the lines were installed, I added some cracks and potholes then weathered everything with an air brush.

Those look incredible! Would this translate to O Scale well? Also what air brush/paint types did you use for weathering?

Joe your roads look fantastic.  How did you do the lines?  I watched the Woodland Scenics video and those lines look great.

I wonder if tar paper would work?

John

I’ve used both old shingles and roofing paper (tar paper) on my layout.

This is the paint I used to paint the roads.

https://woodlandscenics.woodla...com/show/item/ST1453

If I remember correctly, the lines were done with pin striping tape.

As far as the weathering airbrushing, grime and mud were used to create a weathered look.

Hello John the roads are from automotionfx and the cars also they can custom make your own cars if you want Jay is very nice to work with Kevin

I am redoing my roads now in laser cut 1/8 draftboard; I will add a notch under the road to insert a continuous metal rod to allow for future magnetic-guided cars to run over it.

I'll tell you what not to. I used green foam with strathmore thick art paper glued to it. I painted the road surface onto the board and then used 3M 77 Spray Glue to hold them together. It looked great until it didn't. The roads started delaminating after about a year. I then spent the next four trying to re-glue the edges along the curbs that were almost completely detached. We then had a ceiling leak from the failing dishwasher on the floor above and the roads buckled even more. I had to resurface 6 feet of city street, again with the strathmore, but used Liquid Nails construction adhesive to hold it down. So far it's working. If I were to do it again, and I'm not planning to, I'd paint the streets directly on the green foam or use something more substantial like thin Masonite as the road surface. For country roads I've been using acrylic-based tile grout tinted to a good asphalt color with black acrylic craft paint. Looks good and wears like iron.

My streets and roads are simply 220 grit sandpaper cut to size and glued with Walthers Goo to whatever is underneath (mostly ply or Homasote). I then brushed on a very light coat of Bragdon's ash weathering powder and then blew it off with canned air to give it an aged look.