Filling in styrene seams


D

dekker

Member
I am gluing down my roadway using .030 styrene and I have a few seams that I would like to fill in. Any good ideas on doing this? I have several in mind but would like to save myself some time and do it right the first time. The seams are level with each other I just want to make them dissapear. Thanks!
 
Is the roadway representing concrete or asphalt? If concrete, leave 'em. They could represent expansion joints.

Bob
 
styrene

It will be concrete and I am leaving the joints alone that give it that concrete expansion joint look,I just have a few seams in places that do not look right and I want to hide them. I am thinking some type of auto body filler or maybe a good caulk might do the trick. Any ideas?
 
squadron green. but use it like you would spackling: apply very thin because you'll have to sand in down to smooth.
 
styrene

I thought about S. Green, but man is that stuff a bear to sand(if you don't spread it thin) I used that for model car building and I found out the hard way that if it is too thick you will be sanding ALOT. Thanks for the tip.
 
dekker said:
I thought about S. Green, but man is that stuff a bear to sand(if you don't spread it thin) I used that for model car building and I found out the hard way that if it is too thick you will be sanding ALOT. Thanks for the tip.
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that's where a spackling tool/putty knife comes in. Use it to spread it on and basically wipe it off the areas not in the crack (quickly!). You'll wind up removing almost all of it from the styrene, leaving only enough in the crack to fill it, and it will be even, too. With practice you won't even have to sand it.
 
Latex caulk, spread thin with a putty knife, as Ken suggests, will do a fine job of filling in small gaps. You can give it a half hour and "sand" it with your finger and a little water. Once it's painted, you'll never know the joint was there.
 
seams

I have got to say that I am VERY happy with using styrene (.030) for my roads. I used latex caulk for the seams and it worked great. I am getting to the point were I am almost done laying the road and getting it ready for paint. I am still trying to decide how to paint it. After looking at alot of pics of western desert highways I am going to model it as blacktop(faded) and not concrete. Just want to get the right color/colors and faded look. Not sure if I should brush it or air brush it. More then likely it will be a combo of both. Any ideas
 
I'm glad the latex caulk worked out for you. It's always done well for me. I'm a big fan of styrene for roads although others here have done a fine job with other materials.

For asphalt roads in the desert, I'd spray a base coat with a mix of 80% Floquil Weathered Black and 20% SP Lark Gray. That should give you a good base coat. Try it on some scrap styrene first and adjust the mix until you get a color that looks "right".

Next, I would use chalks to darken up the center of the road and lighten up the tire travel areas in each lane. The tire travel areas take on a shine, especially in the desert, so a light brushing of glosscote after you seal the chalks with dullcote will highlight the area where the asphalt is polished by the tires and weathered by the sun. If you can, go out to an asphalt road and actually look at the color and texture. Pictures tend to make asphalt look too smooth and even when it's really a little bumpy and grainy. One of the tricks I've used in the past is to lightly sprinkle the bare styrene with very fine ballast or beach sand. It doesn't have to be much, just so the coating suggests a texture. Paint right over it and it will make your road look a little better.
 
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