I had recently posted a small section of road and two grade crossings that I completed. This was my first attempt at roads, and I had done a good deal of reading and saw a lot of different techniques and preferences on the subject. I am a big fan of re-purposing items I have on hand.
I had brought home some 1/8" hardboard that was used as packaging material in a shipping container at work. It has a nice flex to it, and my original intention was for mounting a backdrop for my lower level. I cut what I needed for that, and had some strips left over, which ended up as my roads.
I found this textured paint at Lowes. I've used the "rock" textured stuff before, but that uses a pretty good sized grit. I wanted something smaller, and this cap had almost a sanded texture to it. The cap is black, and that is the color I was expecting it to be, but it ended up as a faded gray color.
I had had to warm up the garage so I could paint, we've had quite the cold spell here in PA over the last few weeks. This stuff has a pretty strong odor to it, so I suggest spraying it in a well ventilated area.
Once it dried, I used yellow acrylic paint for the center lines, and I used a paint marker for the white. I had originally tried some artist pastel crayons, as I had seen good results in my research, however the texture left the lines spotty looking.
For the grade crossing, I put two strips of 1/8 plexiglass against the inside edges of the outer rails, and filled the middle with joint compound. After 24hrs, I removed the plexi, and let dry another 24. It was after I had gotten to this point that I saw a post talking about mixing color into the compound. Anyhow, once dry, I sanded with 220 sandpaper to ensure that the center rail would be exposed. Once the rail was cleaned off, I used a test car to ensure wheel clearance. I used a craft stick with sandpaper wrapped around it to keep a fairly straight edge, while removing compound for the wheels.
Once the cars rolled through smoothly (I tried 4-5, and of different manufacturers) i mixed up some acrylic paint to a dark grayish color and painted. Added the shoulder and center lines, using the same paints as the road.
The patches are acrylic paint, outlined with a fine tip black sharpie. For the tar lines, I used a black lacquer paint marker, it still has some gloss after it dries. And the oil stains in the road was made from a wash of black acrylic paint (10% paint, 90%water). I brushed some on, let it dry, then went back over it until I was happy with the color. Do multiple light coats, and build to the color you want.
I hope this encourages someone to give it a try, and be on the lookout for some scenery in between the two tracks. I've been following Paul's build, and I'm really eager to try my own "drainage ditch"!
