Making Concrete Roads

I have been asked to demonstrate how I made the concrete road surface on my Industry Lane layout. Now, this does not have to be a road, but any hardstand area on a layout, whether that be road, car park or factory forecourt, the principles are the same.

I have used 3mm thick MDF for the concrete surface and in the photo below, it shows how I have raised the surface to half a millimeter below rail height. This is done by gluing strips of MDF underneath, hence the lines and numbers.





Having been satisfied with the shape and height, I used a steel rule and hobby knife (scapel) to cut lines into the surface to represent the expansion joints or different 'pours' of concrete. By cutting or scribing the MDF to approximately 0.5 - 1mm deep, the back edge of the knife was used to clear/clean out the 'gap'.

To create 'cracks' in the slab, again the scapel was used in a 'random' effect to give a broken look. Make these cracks jaggered and NOT straight. Very rarely will you see old concrete crack in a very straight line.



I have used a lead pencil to high light the expansion gaps and cracks in the pic above. The side walk or pedestrian path is 2mm thick grey board, cut to shape and then scribed to form the individual slabs.

Where the concrete meets the track, I have used Das Clay (or similar) to fill the gap. This, after hardening was scribed to match the MDF surface.

After this was complete, the cracks and expansion joints were painted in with black paint to give them some depth. Unfortunately I don't have a photo of this process, but it is fairly straightforward.

Once the black was dry, I brushed on some Tamiya matt acryllic paint. The colour chosen is XF-12 J.N. Grey. When painting the surface, be careful not to paint over or fill the expansion joints and cracks with the grey paint.



The pic above shows the concrete colour (XF-12) down, some extra black (tyre marks) and green (water/damp/mould) weathering. This was done using the dry brush technique. Some light grey weathering powders were thrown into the mix as the area modeled is a cement siding.

For those who don't know what drybrushing is, it is the art of taking a small amount of paint on your brush, then wiping the brush almost clean, leaving a very small amount in the bristles. This is then applied to the model very gently, slowly building up a depth of colour that is required.

Ofcourse being concrete and having cracks appear, a few weeds could be planted in the cracks here and there or up against the kerb egde of the pedestrian foot path.

A pic of the semi-completed scene...



...and one pic of how it looks now...



Well, there you have my rendition of making a concrete surface. This can be achieved in any scale to suit any needs.

Cheers, Gary.