SunsetLimited
Enjoy the Journey
This is one of my most successful out-of-the-box projects.
If you're modeling a town scene on a flat surface, sand paper makes great roads. Now, I can hear you all saying, "It probably looks very average," and when my mum made the suggestion to me originally, I thought the same thing. But a fine-grit sand paper imitates road surface very well, is easily cut and trimmed to fit, has near-seamless connections and weathers very easily.
I purchase sand paper sheets in dark grey or black colouring, and I cut the sheets into strips appropriate for the area slightly wider than a scale dual-lane roadway. I then paint styrene sheets a concrete colour and trim them for use as building bases and footpaths. The footpaths overlap the sandpaper roads and create a realistic gutter and kerb.
These photos are from when I first started practicing the technique. The streets look strangely wide in parts because I wanted to model parallel parking, and the sand paper in the servo car park had lifted when I took the photo, but that's a very easy fix.
Hope this is of some use to you guys.
Mitch
If you're modeling a town scene on a flat surface, sand paper makes great roads. Now, I can hear you all saying, "It probably looks very average," and when my mum made the suggestion to me originally, I thought the same thing. But a fine-grit sand paper imitates road surface very well, is easily cut and trimmed to fit, has near-seamless connections and weathers very easily.
I purchase sand paper sheets in dark grey or black colouring, and I cut the sheets into strips appropriate for the area slightly wider than a scale dual-lane roadway. I then paint styrene sheets a concrete colour and trim them for use as building bases and footpaths. The footpaths overlap the sandpaper roads and create a realistic gutter and kerb.
These photos are from when I first started practicing the technique. The streets look strangely wide in parts because I wanted to model parallel parking, and the sand paper in the servo car park had lifted when I took the photo, but that's a very easy fix.
Hope this is of some use to you guys.
Mitch