Sidewalks and Foundations

The pictures show my dilemma.....The sidewalks of the OGR Building Unlimited structures are perfect. The two Woodland Scenics buildings and Andre's Woolworth's building need sidewalks. Lastly, the Sidewalk foundation of the MTH Jahn's building is going to look oversized when I add sidewalks to the others unless I do something.

My current technique is to roughly measure the area and create cardboard forms that I can resize. Then, I will cut out the foam core board cut, paint and mount it. 

This is as far as I have gotten:

I am looking for comments, suggestions, etc....if someones technique is superior, I my even go back to square one and try it.

Peter

I think you're on the right track Peter. You are accounting for the various levels. So far so good.

Andy

Peter-  your city is looking good....for sidewalks I use wooden paint stir sticks (often free).  They are approx.  6 scale inches high.  I  scribe them every inch with a ball point pen, and then paint them with concrete colored paint. John A

Peter,  I like the technique used by Norm Charbonneau. He used very thin masonite or hard board. I forget the difference.

You can cut it, score it or break it and then put it back together and you then have joints or cracks. You can round over the edges or chip off a piece for broken curbing.  A concrete paint and ink wash and you are in business.

Sorry I do not have a picture but I used this technique at the club and I was very satisfied.

The technique shown in this video has worked well for me:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKJw1YUyuOk

Peter,

Your buildings look great. I always use styrene sheets .o40 to ,125 inches thick. They are white. I scribe and sand them and add paint to obtain the color I want. I will sometimes remove or modify existing bases and tie them into the styrene.

Alan Graziano

Hi Peter, 

Your commercial area looks great. It reminded me roughly of the area next to Tom Trains in Ardsley, NY. While I don't think there was ever a Woolworths in that little area (if facing Tom's Trains, the small area of stores to the left and up to the traffic light on Ashford Ave.), it looks like a typical downtown square. The sidewalks look fine, in my opinion. 

Tom 

Thanks, everyone, for the helpful ideas and the gracious comments.

Peter

When we started our layout we began with several MTH buildings, which have a 1/2" high base; nice but way out of scale. Then the Woodland Scenic buildings came out and they had no base. 

We ended up using 1/2" MDF to make bases for the Woodland Scenic buildings to bring them in line with the MTH. Then we used 1/4" MDF to make streets, which butt up against the 1/2" bases. The resulting 1/4" "curb" is sill a bit oversized for scale, but not objectionable. 

Here are two photos.

The rear buildings are MTH. There's a slight difference in the coloring, but not really noticible. 

I use a mix of 1/8 and 1/4 MDF in the tried and true Norm Charbonneau technique.

HMorgan125 posted:

The technique shown in this video has worked well for me:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKJw1YUyuOk

Excellent video.

Peter

Check out Kathy Millatt's videos on YouTube. She produces concrete sidewalks that are work of art and takes you through it step by step. I've used wood, styrene and what comes with the kits. It's a hodge podge. Mixing a good aged concrete color is always a challenge. For the substation, I used Masonite (it's the same as hardboard).

Pete,

I've been looking for some photos for you, but what I use is poplar craft wood sold in Home Depot or Lowe's (sorry can't remember which).  It's 1/4"x 1.5"x 4'.  In scale terms, it's 6" high and 6' wide.  Perfect for city streets.  I painted it gray and then hit it with an India ink / water / alcohol wash.

Here's another shot of side-walks being glued to a city street.

George

G3750 posted:

It's 1/4"x 1.5"x 4'.  In scale terms, it's 6" high and 6' wide. 

Wait.  I thought in O scale that 1/4" was equal to 1'?

mwb posted:

G3750 posted:

It's 1/4"x 1.5"x 4'.  In scale terms, it's 6" high and 6' wide. 

Wait.  I thought in O scale that 1/4" was equal to 1'?

Martin, you are correct!

Sorry, my fingers were typing faster than my brain was working.  1/4" = 1 scale foot.  For the overpass I'm modeling (with sidewalks), I used a base piece of masonite to support the whole thing.  A second piece of 1/8" masonite serves as the road and these 1/4" thick poplar boards are the sidewalk.  See side view below.  That yields a 6" scale (1/8" actual) high sidewalk.

Sorry for the brain cramp.  BTW, those are stacks of "sidewalks" in the background.

George

G3750 posted:

mwb posted:

G3750 posted:

It's 1/4"x 1.5"x 4'.  In scale terms, it's 6" high and 6' wide. 

Wait.  I thought in O scale that 1/4" was equal to 1'?

Martin, you are correct!

Sorry, my fingers were typing faster than my brain was working.  1/4" = 1 scale foot.  For the overpass I'm modeling (with sidewalks), I used a base piece of masonite to support the whole thing.  A second piece of 1/8" masonite serves as the road and these 1/4" thick poplar boards are the sidewalk.  See side view below.  That yields a 6" scale (1/8" actual) high sidewalk.

Sorry for the brain cramp.  BTW, those are stacks of "sidewalks" in the background.

George

Ok, no demerits.............................................................for now,

mwb posted:

G3750 posted:

mwb posted:

G3750 posted:

It's 1/4"x 1.5"x 4'.  In scale terms, it's 6" high and 6' wide. 

Wait.  I thought in O scale that 1/4" was equal to 1'?

Martin, you are correct!

Sorry, my fingers were typing faster than my brain was working.  1/4" = 1 scale foot.  For the overpass I'm modeling (with sidewalks), I used a base piece of masonite to support the whole thing.  A second piece of 1/8" masonite serves as the road and these 1/4" thick poplar boards are the sidewalk.  See side view below.  That yields a 6" scale (1/8" actual) high sidewalk.

Sorry for the brain cramp.  BTW, those are stacks of "sidewalks" in the background.

George

Ok, no demerits.............................................................for now,

Smart *ss, LOL

I say again, especially to the latest posters.....thanks to all for your comments and suggestions!

Peter