What do you use to put in between rails to make it look like the tracks are in concrete?

Some folks use foam core board and paint it grey.

Foam core poster board works well . Press it down on the tracks and use an exacto knife to cut along the impressions. Glue to the ties with Tacky Glue and then paint to suit.

Yes you really DON'T want to pour anything in-between the rails. Foam core or balsa wood or Masonite painted grey like concrete is the way to go.

RoyBoy posted:

Some folks use foam core board and paint it grey.

That's what I did. Worked fine. 

Can someone suggest a paint that would be correct for concrete?

This is Krylon Camouflage 4291 Khaki.  There is a difference between aged concrete and concrete.

Note the three layers to the floor. Luan board bottom, masonite, slightly thicker middle and luan board top, cut to fit between the rails and finished/smoothed with drywall compound before paint. 

Profile of the floor detail.

I've used joint compound tinted with black paint to get the right shade of gray.

Andy

@Steamfan77 posted:

I've used joint compound tinted with black paint to get the right shade of gray.

Andy

Andy, that looks good.  What methods did you use to provide relief on the inside of the outer rails for wheel flanges?

@Mike CT posted:

This is Krylon Camouflage 4291 Khaki.  There is a difference between aged concrete and concrete.

Note the three layers to the floor. Luan board bottom, masonite, slightly thicker middle and luan board top, cut to fit between the rails and finished/smoothed with drywall compound before paint.

Profile of the floor detail.

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@gunrunnerjohn posted:

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Same issue here John. Might be so old where they were saved is gone? He does nice work.

@BobbyD posted:

Same issue here John. Might be so old where they were saved is gone? He does nice work.

That's the very reason you don't link pictures from external pages if you want them to stay.  It's dirt simple to upload them to the thread and have them here permanently!

Mr. Muffins video this week seems to cover this as well - https://m.youtube.com/watch?mc...amp;feature=youtu.be

Thanks Steve,

I ran a spare set of trucks through the compound to get the basic clearance, then worked it with a wooden stick with a tapered end. If the compound started to dry a little too much, I would dip the wooden stick in some water to keep it pliable.

Andy

I have Gargraves track, and use tempered Masonite to put pavement to rail height.  This is a painted black Masonite ally. My town has the cleanest ally's  

I used spackling) compound, the brand that I used had a color quite close to aged concrete when it dried. The track was two-rail trolley with conventional DC power from the overhead. We had absolutely no problems with this setup.

I had a long e-mail exchange with Don "Industrial Models" Smith about his technique. Using spackling compound in multiple thin layers, he was able to achieve a good concrete appearance (after painting) without cracking ad shrinkage (except where he inserted cracks in the concrete). There's more work involved as the entire gauge of the track is filled, then you have to use a drywall saw to cut in the grooves for the rails. Turnouts in pavement are more complicated as the switch point clearance leaves fairly large gaps, even in a 2-rail application.

Another way to achieve tracks in concrete with less work would be to use SuperStreets straight sections and butt-join them with your regular track.

Hope this helps.

I am trying strips of different thicknesses of masonite as others have done to model a concrete floor in a two stall engine shed. The strips between the rails are still a little too wide so they haven't been painted yet.

I like the idea of skim coating for a masonry look but I'm not sure if the floor of an engine shed would be polished concrete or not.

I used Krylon khaki 1917 but I feel it needs more grey for concrete under a roof. That's my basement polished concrete floor to the left.

Being super cheap I just use scrap cardboard spray painted gray.

Great info !!!

Thanks to All of you for sharing your techniques!!!