Ray Von Posted December 5, 2018 Share Posted December 5, 2018 I'm thinking of using sandpaper or glass paper as a road surface in 'n' gauge. I've made a couple of test pieces, and with a bit of grey primer and weathering, the results are pretty good! I wondered if anybody has had any success with this method and has any tips on how to effectively hide the joins in the sandpaper sections? The street I am working on is about 3' long by around 2" in width, and although I realise that it's wishful thinking that anyone manufactures sandpaper in strips this length, does anyone know what the largest size sheet commonly available is and where possible to find it?? Thanks! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold grandadbob Posted December 5, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 5, 2018 (edited) Try builders merchants, you used to be able to buy it by the roll. Edit: A quick Google found this at Toolstation https://www.toolstation.com/shop/p23914?r=googleshopping&rr=marin&utm_source=googleshopping&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=googleshoppingfeed&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI4tWq07eJ3wIVSrvtCh37fgymEAQYAiABE And Screwfix https://www.screwfix.com/c/tools/sanding-rolls/cat6970001 Edited December 5, 2018 by grandadbob Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Von Posted December 5, 2018 Author Share Posted December 5, 2018 Genius! Thank you very much for that. ☺ Looks like they go down to quite a fine grit too which is what I need.... Thanks again. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbishop Posted December 5, 2018 Share Posted December 5, 2018 Depends what you want to use it for. Abrading cricket balls - about an inch. Bill Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatB Posted December 6, 2018 Share Posted December 6, 2018 (edited) Depending on era/area I would think that joins could be disguised quite effectively with poorly repaired potholes, inadequately backfilled trenches, tarsnake "repairs" etc. After all, how often do you see an uninterrupted stretch of perfect bitumen in real life? Something else to consider for authentic looking roads is the camber which all real roads have but almost no models do. Whilst you might think that so infinitesimal a curve (when scaled) would be unnoticed, IMHO it does make a difference. Consider laying your road surface on top of a foundation of strips of paper of decreasing width to avoid that dead flat look. Incidentally, I don't know about the UK, but here in Oz it's possible to buy sandpaper in long rolls about 4-6" wide, thus avoiding joints on a 3' length. Edited December 6, 2018 by PatB Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium BR60103 Posted December 6, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 6, 2018 Some sanding machines take loops which might be 3-4 feet long, but the paper I've seen looks quite coarse. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Von Posted December 6, 2018 Author Share Posted December 6, 2018 Depending on era/area I would think that joins could be disguised quite effectively with poorly repaired potholes, inadequately backfilled trenches, tarsnake "repairs" etc. After all, how often do you see an uninterrupted stretch of perfect bitumen in real life? Something else to consider for authentic looking roads is the camber which all real roads have but almost no models do. Whilst you might think that so infinitesimal a curve (when scaled) would be unnoticed, IMHO it does make a difference. Consider laying your road surface on top of a foundation of strips of paper of decreasing width to avoid that dead flat look. Incidentally, I don't know about the UK, but here in Oz it's possible to buy sandpaper in long rolls about 4-6" wide, thus avoiding joints on a 3' length. Absolutely, once you really start looking at roads - or anything you want to recreate to scale, you begin to notice things that you were previously unaware of. I think if you recreated some of these in model form, people would think you'd gone OTT!! Have a look today, there are wonky railings, leaning street lamps, rooves with green tiles, cars of the same model parked together and strips of pavement too narrow to walk on. All things in the real world that if seen on a layout would hint at an innebriated modeller! I digress. With regards to camber, I was looking at the slats from Venetian blinds, if looked at end on many of these have a slight curve to them, and if thin enough could serve as a base? I was also thinking of cutting patches from the road surface strip, and painting them slightly darker before glueing back in place and then covering the whole in a darkish wash. Ps, if anyone is modelling present-day era and wants to recreate a pavement after Virgin Media have had a go at it, I would just get a black marker, close your eyes and see where the pen takes you!! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold ianLMS Posted December 6, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 6, 2018 (edited) i used sandpaper by the roll for a road on my OO layout and it worked a treat - 240 grit I beleive. When you finished painting it (I used a thick grey/brown acrylic type paint using tubes from The Works), rub patches down smoother using more sandpaper, add weathering powders and the coarseness soon goes away. If you are modelling a later era, wet n dry superfine grit might be better to represent tarmac. I used the coarser grit to represent roads in rural 1930's which were probably less tarmac and more crushed stone/ash/dirt. https://redstoneabrasives.co.uk/categories/6-wet-and-dry-rolls/12/ does all grades of paper in 1 meter rolls. Edited December 6, 2018 by ianLMS Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Von Posted December 6, 2018 Author Share Posted December 6, 2018 Thanks Ian, That looks excellent and thanks for the link. I guess for 'n' gauge the P1200 Ultra Fine grade would be best. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold ianLMS Posted December 7, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 7, 2018 (edited) I would say so. If you are replicating tarmac, try to get the really dark grey paper. All it needs then is a slight dusting with talc powder to tone it down. You can also cut small chunks out for pot holes, which if you are modelling modern day, would be must!!! Even if you buy the paper in A4 sheets, joins can be masked to look like recent road repairs/pipe laying etc. Staggered joins might look better than a straight across join. You can get a variety pack of wet n dry with different grades. 1200 might be too fine, wheras 800, 1000 might be better. Go to the local DIY and see what they have. Good luck and look forward to seeing the results! Edited December 7, 2018 by ianLMS Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium ColinK Posted December 7, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 7, 2018 If you want to know how long a piece of sandpaper is, try asking the Austrailian cricket team! Seriously, I’ve used very fine black sandpaper for roads and its looked fine. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewartingram Posted December 7, 2018 Share Posted December 7, 2018 I use the Scalescenes download for tarmac roads. Stewart Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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