Road Markings

[oceanlink]

I want to create roads with texture. I heard that wet & dry sandpaper was good. I have painted a sheet in Railmatch BR departmental grey and seem happy with the finish.

I now want to paint lines etc on the roads. I masked off the areas and applied some test - first acrylic white paint. Then later I tried Tippex liquid paper.

The Tippex 'bled' under the masking tape, and the paint seemed to blob and not give a clean finish (it didnt take to the wet&dry).

Can anyone advise the way to go to to get clean sharp lines on this material ?

Any assistance would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Mat

[Guest jim s-w]

Hi mat

 

Personally I think sandpaper far too harsh for road surfaces and prefer to use textured paint instead. For markings I use pentel liquid chalk paint markers.

 

Hth

 

Jim

 

[Black Sheep]

If you have the space to spray paint onto the model then a dark primer followed by the correct colour may give you the texture you're after.

 

if you're working on a wooden board then perhaps try some very rough sandpaper to texture the actual board before painting the wood.

[Worsdell forever]

Usually for road surfaces I use Pollyfilla/Tetrion etc. smoothed out to the correct profile, painted with an appropriately coloured matt grey emulsion and weathered with pastels or powders.

 

Felton Lane road.

 

 

No markings on these old minor roads, sorry.

[noiseboy72]

Road marking should have slight relief. the paint is applied to a depth of around 5 - 10mm, so in model form I use ordinary printer paper. I print any colour required and then cut and paste onto the road surface.

[HLT 0109]

[quote

Can anyone advise the way to go to to get clean sharp lines on this material ?

Mat,

 

You will only get clean sharp lines with paint if what you are painting is smooth; if you are sticking paper onto a textured surface you will struggle to get good adhesion. Are you replicating tarmac roads or country lanes with chippings? If the latter, I have found fine grey scatter quite effective - but you still have the problem of clean edges to white lines. Even the prototype is rarely un-feathered but it is very difficult to get it right in small scale. Pre-printed, self-adhesive road surfaces are available but are probably quite expensive. I still have most of the roads on my layout to do but I have an elevated section for which I have used hardboard as my road (smooth side) painted with Halfords grey primer, mixed with a little black for darker areas. The paint gives a very slight texture which I find acceptable and it does take white acrylic for the lines; I did mine the way you have described. I guess the Tipex bled under the masking tape in your test because you couldn't get the tape to stick into the texture of the road surface. As a matter of interest, I have also used this method for my platforms for which I have used plywood as the platform surface and white acrylic paint for the edges. You do need to make sure the edge of the masking tape is stuck down well.

 

Harold.

[Guest jim s-w]

Before you start lining your roads have a look here

 

Government regs

 

Road markings are a lot bigger than you think. For example in the space of 2 white lines and a gap you will easily fit 3 large cars.

 

HTH

 

Jim

[Colin parks]

Hi oceanlink,

 

I have found that using Humbrol matt paints thinned slightly and applied with a bow pen and ruler will produce nice even lines. Where you want your lines to end, put a piece of masking tape at right angles to the line. You can then run the pen onto the tape and, with good tape and not too rough a surface, there will be a nice crisp finish to the line.

 

Colin

[mwrosebury2000]

I have tried all sorts over the years, hombrol paints, tip ex, role on tip ex, chalk and have found the best is thick poster paint (couple of pounds at larger supermarkets), mask the area and dab it on with a stiff brush then carefuly remove the masking tape whilst the paint is still wet (this seams to avoid the paint going under the tape on textured surfaces), once dry you can give it a worn look by gentle rubbing with a finger.

cheep & effective.

 

*I wouyld like to add that you test it first to check that it works with your surface*

 

Mark

[Worsdell forever]

 

Road markings are a lot bigger than you think. For example in the space of 2 white lines and a gap you will easily fit 3 large cars.

 

HTH

 

Jim

 

A few years ago we needed to write 'SLOW' on the road at work (private) and I went out to measure one on the main road and found it was about 8/9ft long The piece of lino/vinyl flooring I had to make stencils was 4ft, this had to do, it is ok at the speeds on our road but still looks tiny.

[298]

I also use a bowpen, and a few slightly modified rub-on arrows from a Faller Car System starter set.

 

One important consideration (from someone who used to work in Highway design & construction) is roads are never flat, there is always a camber or crossfall for drainage purposes. The number of layouts you see where whatever they've used is dead flat is beyond belief.

[JZ]

What period are you modelling ? It was not unusual for single carriageways not to have centre lines well into the sixties, even in built up areas. See here here here and here. But notice that the dreaded yellow lines are there.

[HST-DAVE]

Hi, I've just made a dual carriageway bridge and ran into similar problem as the original poster.

 

It has a road camber (balsa wood road surface), but I have no idea how to make a 'tarmac' (I can't spell 'ashphelt') surface. I'll probably start by priming the wood with plastikote spray paint and I have some thin self adhesive stripe which I've used on enamel paint before with success altough scale line width is not exact. I'm tempted to just print out a road on thin card and stick on to see what it looks like. Any ideas for a 1/87th scale tarmac that can go on primed balsa will be gratefully received... thanks Dave.

[Guest jim s-w]

I also use a bowpen, and a few slightly modified rub-on arrows from a Faller Car System starter set.

 

One important consideration (from someone who used to work in Highway design & construction) is roads are never flat, there is always a camber or crossfall for drainage purposes. The number of layouts you see where whatever they've used is dead flat is beyond belief.

 

Thats true but in 4mm scale you are talking about a height difference of about 1mm over 5 or more cm. Its very hard to tell the difference unless you have something on the road to show the tilt. Problem there is (certainly more so with modern vehicles) tall vehicles, like buses, tend to sit level and don't tilt at the angle of the road. By spraying the middle of the roads ever so slightly lighter than the edges toy get an optical effect that its higher. I thought about it for quite a while and looked at lots of roads when doing mine and for me at least, I thought flat looked more like the real thing.

 

Cheers

 

Jim

[HST-DAVE]

Jim S-W

 

I think your earlier photo (further up this thread) is excellently detailed , can you let me into the secret of what type of textured paint you use?

 

I'll have a look out for the pentel chalk pens (cant say I've heard of them before)..

 

Thanks Jim

 

Dave

[Guest jim s-w]

Hi Dave

 

You can get the pens from WH smiths.

 

I hope you find this helpful but if anything isn't clear please ask away.

 

 

First up the basic structure. I thought long and hard about the camber of the roads but in then end decides to do them flat. The reason is partly ease but also looking at large vehicles they sit level on their suspension and to me a model leaning over doesn't look right.

 

The kerbstones are cut individually from 80thou square microstrip, the paving slabs are scribed onto plastic sheet. Don't forget things like dropped kerbs.

 

 

When ready spray everything with plasticote suede paint. This gives a texture to the surface. When dry spray everything black and then a light dusting of grey primer - you are aiming for a tarmac look to the paint - dont worry about the pavements for the moment.

 

 

Using thinned enamels block in the pavements - you can see how some of the pavement is tarmac.

 

 

When dry paint the road with neat thinners and then paint 'wear' onto the road. I use browns and blacks for the area where wheels go or not. Pay attention to how dust collects where vehicles dont go such as arround the pavements. Use the paint neat and using a large flat brush blend it into the wet thinners. You will see I have picked out some paving slabs with a lighter grey - For darker slabs the fastest way is to use grey markers.

 

 

Road markings are added using paint markers - I cut templates to help me keep them neat.

 

These will need a little more weathering to tone them down a little. Once dry spray everything with matt varnish

 

Its worth considering when your road is set as the time of the year affects the colouring - for example in the winter the roads look much whiter due to salt being spread on the road. In the autumn there are leaves in the guttering etc etc

 

Remember due to health and safety people are not asked to lift as large slabs as they were, modern paving slabs are much smaller than they were 20 years ago.

 

Not all roads are tarmac though

 

This is how I did concrete

 

 

First up paint the area to be concrete with PVA glue - allow it to dry for a bit. When it is dry enough to hold a shape use a nit comb (I had to buy one specially - honest!) to draw lines through the surface.

 

 

When set use the plasticote suede paint to give the texture - I needed my concrete browny grey but if you need it grey-grey overspray with primer. Once dry cut in panels with a scalpel and then weather as before. The black tar was added with a fineliner.

 

Finally, you need iron work! For this I did an etch based on photographs of real ironwork in the area - This is coloured with gun blue before gluing to the surface

 

 

A few picture of the finished roads including an extreme close up which is ©Tim Maddocks and reproduced here with permission

 

 

 

HTH

 

Jim

[HST-DAVE]

Thanks Jim for the excellent tutorial !!

 

I'll pick up the suede paint /and pentel pens tomorrow morning ,, I can't wait to give it a go. The detail you have achieved is incredibly realistic.

 

n.b. I've taken the camber off the road this afternoon; the ease of using balsa wood;-)

 

Thanks again, Dave

[HST-DAVE]

I've picked up the paints today, and will have a go at making a road surface later this week.

Another question - Any ideas on how to make OO/HO scale crash barriers? The type that go in the centre of dual carriageways.... or shall I just use a piece of square/rectangular plastic tube instead of trying to make a corrigated beam?

 

Thanks... Dave

[Black Sheep]

again, what era are you modeling?

 

even today not all dual carriageways have a barrier in the middle some have a grass island and there are a couple of types of barrier.

 

the easiest to make would be the post and steel cable type which is litterally some uprights with the steel cable stretched from an anchor point, up and through the posts and then anchored again. easiest way would be to use a guitar string for the cable and plasticard or brass strips (possibly even N gauge copper clad) as the posts.

 

most good music shops will stock different gauges of guitar string and sell them individually

[PhilJ W]

I've picked up the paints today, and will have a go at making a road surface later this week.

Another question - Any ideas on how to make OO/HO scale crash barriers? The type that go in the centre of dual carriageways.... or shall I just use a piece of square/rectangular plastic tube instead of trying to make a corrigated beam?

 

Thanks... Dave

Modern Structures in Miniature stock a kit for barriers, from the range of American plastic buildings that they stock. I have seen some freezer bag ties that look as if they are of a suitable profile, about 4 mm wide with a raised curved shape top and bottom. Very similar plant ties can be obtained from a garden centre.

[HST-DAVE]

Thanks BS. I just had a brainwave and Google street viewed the barrier I'm trying to model! .. it is actually a double square beam, so will use plastic post and beam:-

 

PhilJ W - cheers, I never thought of plastic ties, I have some in the garden shed and they'll be useful for some other guard rails I need to make..

 

I best get painting now;-) Dave

[Gloucester Road]

Am just starting to think about lining roads and this has been very helpful. I live in the US and so road markings are different. Whats the difference between the single and double yellow linesat the sides of the roads?

 

Thanks

Stephen

[298]

Am just starting to think about lining roads and this has been very helpful. I live in the US and so road markings are different. Whats the difference between the single and double yellow linesat the sides of the roads?

 

Thanks

Stephen

 

Double yellow lines mean no stopping, waiting or parking, single yellow is the same but only during the times indicated (shown by a small yellow sign on a nearby pole). It's a pity most drivers don't know this.

[Gloucester Road]

Double yellow lines mean no stopping, waiting or parking, single yellow is the same but only during the times indicated (shown by a small yellow sign on a nearby pole). It's a pity most drivers don't know this.

 

Thank you very much. This is one of many reasons why I like RMWEB. Ask a question from across the pond and within minutes one has an answer.

 

Brilliant.

[Gwiwer]

I am a little restricted as to what will survive as the layout is outside although under cover. Roads were formed from a base of MDF to which was stuck Metcalfe bitumen-print card cut to size. That was fine for a few months. It slowly started to shrink back from the joins and the occasional slug and snail has enjoyed a munch of the surface Those card panels have now mostly had the gaps filled with Woodland "Flex Paste" which doesn't shrink and crack as does a powder filler or plaster. They have then been over-painted in acrylic using a blend of black, burnt umber, a pale grey and white. Mixed roughly then applied by brushing along the length of the road that has given a more enduring surface which also has lost the obvious shiny card look. Variations in use - as shown by Jim above - are created by adding darker areas where more rubber would be deposited and some irregular lighter patches for road work repairs. At the bottom of one steep hill are some skid marks; I can also place a vehicle appropriately to suggest the driver has failed to take due care and has gone straight into the wall. See here.

 

I purposely avoid the dreaded yellow lines as they seldom appear on country lanes and minor roads such as I represent and in any case I sometimes set up for "Early 1960's" running which is before they appeared widely around the country. White lines I find can be painted carefully in white acrylic using a variety of brushes and strokes. This freehand technique also allows the inclusion of white lines which are not straight and "Bus Stop" lettering.