Making concrete roads

To make the concrete roads on the layout using Woodland Scenics Smooth-It plaster, paving tape, and concrete color, I first marked out the roadways on the subroadbed. I made them about 21 scale feet wide. Next, I attached Woodland Scenics paving tape to the outside lines of the roadway. In N scale, only one layer of paving tape is needed to give sufficient depth.

I then mixed the Smooth-It plaster to a consistency slightly thicker than milk and poured it into the cavity created by the paving tape. I found that using too much Smooth-It could create a mess when I “floated” the surface (just like paving a driveway or a sidewalk with real concrete). I dragged the styrene screed over the tape guides to smooth the surface. I found that only one or two passes of the screed produced the best results; any bumps or small voids were later smoothed out using a fine grit sandpaper block.

I could easily bend or form the paving tape to conform to nearly any shape; I wasn’t limited to right-angled corners. It’s important to remove the paving tape once the plaster has started to set but is not yet dry. If the plaster seeps under the edge of the paving tape and you wait to remove the tape until the plaster is completely set, you run a risk of pulling away chunks of roadbed.

To make the sidewalks and curbs, I used two layers of paving tape – one right on top of another for the edge of the sidewalk away from the street and one layer on top of the outer edge of the completely dried roadway. I used a fine-grit sanding block to remove any imperfections.

I painted two coats of Woodland Scenics concrete-colored liquid pigment on all of the roadways using a foam brush, which I found to work best.

When dry, I used the back of a no. 11 hobby knife blade to scribe expansion joints in both the road and the sidewalks and curbs. I made several light passes instead of one or two heavy passes, always using a straightedge. I let the original color of the Smooth-It come through the scribe line, as it gave a nice contrast to the smooth sections of painted pavement and made the separations look more realistic.

I used Doc O’Brien’s weathering powders – black, grungy gray, and a small amount of burnt sienna – to lightly weather the roadways by taking a bit of powder on the end of a soft makeup brush and dragging it down the center of each side of the road. A little goes a long way in doing this! I used Woodland Scenics yellow-stripe dry transfers to make double or single pavement markings where appropriate. A good burnishing tool really helps in getting the transfer to stick to the pavement.

The last step was putting in oil spots in a few areas where it made sense and coming in with a sharp no. 11 blade to gouge small potholes and areas where the roadway is old and really worn down. – Alex Nawotka