# Main street taking shape



## hokie1525 (Jan 13, 2015)




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## HOMatt (Feb 14, 2016)

by putting a little "tar" on the cracks and imperfections in the street, it would look just like a real road. Nice work. I can't tell if the grass is supposed to be spread on the sidewalk like that, if not, you should keep some of it in the cracks of the sidewalk. Even more realism.


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## MtRR75 (Nov 27, 2013)

HOMatt said:


> I can't tell if the grass is supposed to be spread on the sidewalk like that, if not, you should keep some of it in the cracks of the sidewalk. Even more realism.


IT looks like he has some grass in the cracks in the last picture -- hard to tell as it is a little out of focus.


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## cole226 (Feb 8, 2013)

hokie,
nothing wrong with that town. and when you get more vehicles and people on the street it will look even better. :smilie_daumenpos:


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## raleets (Jan 2, 2011)

You're off to a great start!
LOTS of cars and people adds a ton of realism. Pricey, but worth it. :appl:
Bob


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## hokie1525 (Jan 13, 2015)

Thanks for the compliments.

The "grass" on the sidewalk is just me being sloppy and I haven't cleaned it up yet. Wink wink. Perfect imperfections??? I will add some other "realisms" to the model as I go, like tar in the streets and sidewalk cracks and weeds and such. Lots more to come...


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## Fire21 (Mar 9, 2014)

Yup, I like it...looks good.


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## MarylandVol (Feb 5, 2016)

Put a guy with a lawn mower or weed whacker out there and that looks like grass clippings from a recent cut, looks very nice!


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## hokie1525 (Jan 13, 2015)

MarylandVol said:


> Put a guy with a lawn mower or weed whacker out there and that looks like grass clippings from a recent cut, looks very nice!


:smilie_daumenpos:


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## jlc41 (Feb 16, 2016)

Looking good in the neighborhood. I like it.
Joe


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## Gramps (Feb 28, 2016)

You're off to a great start. What did you use for the street and grade crossing?


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## hokie1525 (Jan 13, 2015)

Gramps said:


> You're off to a great start. What did you use for the street and grade crossing?


Believe it or not, light weight spackle. Probably takes longer to set than drywall compound, and harder to work with, but I had it handy so I used it.


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## GK Trains (Aug 10, 2013)

This looks great. I like the realism.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

Hey, I missed it when you moved this topic over here to the new thread. That looks really good!

Add some details, and it will look tremendous!


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## Overkast (Jan 16, 2015)

Nice job Hokie, is that N Scale? Are you concerned about the spackle ever cracking in the event there's an abrupt shift of the layout (like someone bumping into the table?). 

I am nearly ready to start my own road and am contemplating what to use myself. I Had thought of drywall / spackle but was afraid of cracking and thought something more crack-resistant might be the right approach?


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## HOMatt (Feb 14, 2016)

Overkast said:


> Nice job Hokie, is that N Scale? Are you concerned about *the spackle ever cracking* in the event there's an abrupt shift of the layout (like someone bumping into the table?).
> 
> I am nearly ready to start my own road and am contemplating what to use myself. I Had thought of drywall / spackle but was afraid of cracking and thought something more crack-resistant might be the right approach?


then he could just add "tar" on the cracks like they do on all roads.


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## Overkast (Jan 16, 2015)

HOMatt said:


> then he could just add "tar" on the cracks like they do on all roads.


In modeling, we're control-freaks... we like to *PLAN *for our road cracks, not let nature decide where they go! (Gosh, we would never survive working for a DOT)


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## VegasN (Mar 14, 2016)

Awesome. Further along than I and lookin excellent.


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## hokie1525 (Jan 13, 2015)

Overkast said:


> In modeling, we're control-freaks... we like to *PLAN *for our road cracks, not let nature decide where they go! (Gosh, we would never survive working for a DOT)


:hah:

I hadn't really thought about it. I only used it over the two crossings, so I can't imagine it's going to be a problem but if it is I can always fix or redo.

Thought about using compound over the entire road system, but then I would be building the road up and would have to build the surroundings up even higher and it became too much. The foam was "flat enough" to paint over. And since it will be covered by cars and pedestrians I figured any imperfections would be hidden.

Thanks for the compliments. More to come...


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