Entry posted by Andy Y
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I'm frequently asked about how the concrete effect was achieved on keyhaven and also crops up periodically in reference to "How do I do inlaid track work?" questions.
The inset track on Keyhaven Quay was achieved by use of cork floor tiles abutted to the side of the sleepers, these basic floor tiles, obtained from a DIY chain, near enough match the rail height of Peco Code 75 track. The inset section between the rails uses Fabfoam obtained from a craft shop chain and cut into 14mm wide strips; the foam comes in A4 sheets at around 20p a sheet so a little goes a long way and can be easily laid into curved track of any reasonable radius and is secured to the sleepers with Copydex, fortuitously this also matches the height of the code 75 rails.
The gap between the rail and the adjacent cork floor tile is filled with ready mixed flexible filler from a tube and smoothed over. Using a strip of plasticard on top of the sleeper ends will stop the filler subsiding into the gaps between the individual sleepers. The same filler is used to fill in any small indentations and cracks that are inherent in a natural cork product and smoothed off before being left to dry.
A weakness in my approach was to not put anything over the sleeper ends which led to a slight rippling in the filler as it dried out, a strip of card or plasticard over the sleeper ends would stop that happening. Once the filler is dry a smoothing over with light abrasive paper gives an even finish, the drying process naturally taking the filler down to just below the rail head thus making cleaning relatively easy.
The whole area is then sprayed with a suitable cheap stone coloured spray (Plastikote), concrete comes in a variety of shades but it's worth looking at the real thing before going wild, weathered concrete is probably a lot paler than anticipated when you pick up the spray can. Joints in the concrete are represented by carving lines into it with a craft knife and metal ruler, the lines are then drawn in with pencil. It's then down to you how you much you wish to weather the surface from that point.
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