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Post by el3625 on Mar 21, 2020 12:09:18 GMT -8
I cutting and painting pieces of .030 sheet styrene to use as my concrete parking lots. Before painting them a concrete color I used a glass cutting tool along a ruler to indent the plastic to make it look like poured sections, it actually came out pretty good, and it did not raise the plastic from using a knife to make the lines. Now it is painted and glued down and I want to make the lines look like they are sealed with tar. What is a good procedure to use next to get this affect without discoloring the concrete sections? I am afraid a wash will not work and I tried to use a sharp pencil on a piece of scrap but that was not consistent of a line enough. I need any advice on what to use to get this effect I am looking for. I figured there ought to be someone here that has done this with good results because I cannot think of one so I do not ruin what I have done so far. This is the last step before putting parking space lines down. Got any idea's or a proven technique that works?
Thanks,
Bruce
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Post by slowfreight on Mar 21, 2020 12:38:10 GMT -8
I have some ideas, but can you post a photo of your work and a photo of the prototype effect you want to achieve?
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Post by el3625 on Mar 21, 2020 12:46:54 GMT -8
I have never had good luck at posting pictures on this site and have given up on it. If you have ever seen a glass cutter it made a nice, narrow depression in the plastic and all I want it to look like is a seam that you see on the highway that has been poured with road oil, like crack sealing. All I want to do is make the seam, indentation look like it has been sealed with oil.
Bruce
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Post by nsc39d8 on Mar 21, 2020 13:23:57 GMT -8
Two ideas you might try.
One would be to use a Sharpie fine tip marker to do the lines, just finished using one to do window gaskets on some passenger car sides.
Next would be to use Tamiya panel line accent colors. Tamiya does a nice dark brown and black. Very nice weathering products.
Nice thing about them is they are thin and will "run"the lines. While wet wipe with a Q-tip to clean up the area around the line.
Some months back I posted a picture of my NS SD90 in UP that I used these products on, should be in the SPF archive.
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Post by edwardsutorik on Mar 21, 2020 15:21:03 GMT -8
Got any idea's or a proven technique that works? I think the most important idea I can suggest is to do practice pieces until you are SURE you can pull it off. Don't just take someone's word for it; prove it to yourself. Plus then you get to practice any technique suggested. I think the best approach is going to be to apply a wash, let it dry, and then wipe off the surface. You might try acrylics or maybe India ink. It's not a new idea, so someone's likely to come on with personal experience. Ed |
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Post by slowfreight on Mar 21, 2020 17:02:31 GMT -8
I have used a fine brush and black paint to do the crack sealing and it looks fine.
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Post by dieselgiants on Apr 1, 2020 3:43:50 GMT -8
Why would you want to fill the expansion joints with tar. The joints are designed to mitigate long cracks from running. When a material cracks there are stress points that will allow crack to contniue to propagate. The joints effective separate this and create a boundary to stop cracking from running on and on.
Not sure how large your parking lot is, but it would be rare to find concrete parking lots in most areas of US due to costs. Asphaltic surfaces much more common.
If you still want to fill in your lines remember those expansion joints are typically only 1/2 - 5/8 inches wide or 0.0058 - 0.00625 inches in HO. That is about as thin as 2 human hairs thick, so would be barely visible.
Just my thoughts on the matter.
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Post by el3625 on Apr 1, 2020 18:50:15 GMT -8
First of all any expansion joint is always sealed with a rubbery tar so it stays flexable and can still move. The purpose of sealing joints is to keep water out so it does not get under the material used for the road/parking lot, especially in winter as cold temps could heave the area not sealed creating more cracks, then failure of the surface. It is the same purpose as tar and chipping roads or sealing your driveway, to keep the weather out. I really do not care to make my lines to scale because you cannot. I will make them as small as I can so it will look acceptable. My career was working in road construction for 40 years. A lot of model railroading cannot be done to scale, you just do the best you can and be happy with it, it is my railroad and a hobby so have fun, I am.
Bruce
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Post by fr8kar on Apr 2, 2020 16:03:15 GMT -8
Why would you want to fill the expansion joints with tar. The joints are designed to mitigate long cracks from running. When a material cracks there are stress points that will allow crack to contniue to propagate. The joints effective separate this and create a boundary to stop cracking from running on and on. Not sure how large your parking lot is, but it would be rare to find concrete parking lots in most areas of US due to costs. Asphaltic surfaces much more common. If you still want to fill in your lines remember those expansion joints are typically only 1/2 - 5/8 inches wide or 0.0058 - 0.00625 inches in HO. That is about as thin as 2 human hairs thick, so would be barely visible. Just my thoughts on the matter. It sounds like you're talking about contraction joints. Expansion joints are what the OP is describing, and they are typically wider and more prominent than contraction joints. Most of the time a large slab is broken down into several sections divided by contraction joints. Separate slabs adjacent to one another often have expansion joints between them. |
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Post by thebessemerkid on Apr 12, 2020 19:30:08 GMT -8
How big is the divot from the glass cutter?
Could you take some VERY fine magnet wire (like <40 ga) strip it, blacken it and roll it into the depressions?
Obviously a *lot* of work, but if you're trying to represent different materials...
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