O Scale asphalt highways help

In the 30's and 40's the lines would have been white. Also stop signs became red after 1954 as they didn't have durable red pigments, they were yellow but the same shape.

@thebeeman

Check out Historical books, websites, postcards, etc for the towns in the states that are your insipiration.

Although Illinois’s Highway Number signs have been white rectangles with black lettering during my lifetime, historical postcards from the 1930s - 1950s show that highway number signs were shaped like the state of Illinois in that era.

Please share your solutions as your layout progresses.

CB&Q Bill

Postcards of scenic drives along rivers & in state parks will often show the highway surfaces.  Maybe you can observe the highway Stripes .

Search the web for a copy of “The uniform code of traffic markings” or something close to that. There are different eras if you look. Quite interesting reading .

George Lasley

I'm not sure about with regard to that specific time period, but a good rule of thumb is that a lane should be 12 feet wide. So a two lane highway would be 24' across, or a scale 6 inches. I model the same time period as you (mid '30s - early '50s), and my roads are six inches across. Anything narrower and the cars look like they will take each others mirrors off, IMO.

At 6”, your roads are 1:48.  If your vehicles are 1:43 like most are, then your roads will “look” too narrow.  Your roads will need to be a little wider to look right.

@thebeeman posted:

There are a half dozen very good posts out there helping one to build a blacktop road thru a village.  I think I have ID'ed the methods that I want to try..  That being said, I also have several questions to ask before I start to plan my asphalt roads. My era is the late 30's up to mid 50's.

In that time period, how wide (in feet) were two lane major highways being built?   What type of yellow mid line paint was being used.         Solid?  maybe intermediate ?   Double? Or what.?   

I found this photo recently of an area in my hometown in Massachusetts. The road detail is very helpful for late 40s early 50s modeling. Too bad the farm/barn and old cars are all gone now.

Regards

The thing to remember is in the 40s there typically were no lines for parking spots on the sides of city streets, the center was defined by double white lines, and if there were lanes painted on they were a solid white line:

For the full video go here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...HYrA1UzpY&t=358s

Pages 7 and 8 of this document details the width of different roads:

https://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onl...rp/nchrp_rpt_362.pdf

Typically, the width is determined based on the vehicles per day and speed limit.

-Greg

What I used are the cork HO switch pads. They have a beveled edge and are the right width for two O scale vehicles.

O scale sheets of cork is slight wider that 4 lanes.

You can see the natural cork in background vs the ones I painted with Woodland Scenics asphalt colored paint.

I used that no slip gripping tape that is used on steps.  I believe it is 6" wide and then I used automotive pin striping for the striping.  If you have curves in the road you will have to trip and piece together.  This stuff looks great and sticks to just about anything.  You can landscape over the edges so they do not look too straight.

For paving material I used 220 grit wet/dry sandpaper, cut to size and held down with 3M spray contact adhesive

I used Eric's of Ericstrains method of Woodland Scenics fine cinders mixed with white glue. Then used a metal small rolling pin (amazon) to literally "pave" the road. Very realistic. I'll try to post some pics after work.

When our house was re-roofed recently, I put aside a big roll of the underlayment.  Looked pretty good, but I haven't applied any yet.  All ideas here seem pretty good too.  If my hands get sticky and tarred up...I'll let you know pretty darn fast.

Going back to my traffic engineering course in college.  Interstate highway lanes are 12' wide.  Major highway lanes of the 30s and 40s would be more like 10'wide, saving you an inch of width.  As Cappilot stated most of our vehicles aren't 1/48 so using 1/48 scale widths may or may not look good depending on which vehicles you have and /or place on your highway.

Piggy backing off  Chuck 242s post, I bought a roll of light grey “roll roofing “. Will post pics when I install it. JohnA

I have used a roofing material called water and ice.  It can easily be cut with a razor knife and comes in about a 3-4-foot-wide roll.  It has a sticky backing which allows it to stick the layout surface.  I was able to get a partial roll from a building supply company.  It looks very much like asphalt road.  Lines can be painted on it with a yellow or white paint marker.

Marty

@Chuck242 posted:

When our house was re-roofed recently, I put aside a big roll of the underlayment.  Looked pretty good, but I haven't applied any yet.  All ideas here seem pretty good too.  If my hands get sticky and tarred up...I'll let you know pretty darn fast.

Like you I've used leftover roofing ice shield, the texture is perfect and the adhesive backing is excellent for keeping it in place.