# water putty roads



## joed2323 (Oct 17, 2010)

Whats your thoughts on using water putty and mixing alittle bit of black into the putty for roads? I see this is how a modeler made his roads with on youtube.

Have you guys used this before? I know i could just use smooth-it or even asphalt paper. My biggest thing is i want no seams with my roads, i want my roads to look like roads not fake


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## rrgrassi (May 3, 2012)

You could use that asphault based sealer/adhesive tape and use some z-scale ballast to simulate road paving gravel.


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Joe ... just one thought ...

You say you're looking for no seams. But in reality, asphalt roads are plagued with cracks, often those that meander clear across the roadway. Perhaps those types of cracks could allow you to consider something like asphalt roof shingles, black sandpaper, etc.? Overlap two pieces a bit, cut through both zig-zag with a sharp razor, remove excess, then but adjacent "crack" edges?

TJ


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## powersteamguy1790 (Mar 26, 2012)

I use roofing felt for asphalt roads on my layout.


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## joed2323 (Oct 17, 2010)

Yea for like 14 bucks a roll of roofing felt you can really beat the price, but tj does give a good explanation on how to deal with the seams. How far does a jug of that ws smooth-it do? i guess it depends on the thickness and the size of the roads/parking lots one would be doing, then you need the paving tape also so... 

I like in model railroading how there is a number of different ways to "skin a cat" 
Makes a person go crazy with all the different ways one could do this and do that


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## powersteamguy1790 (Mar 26, 2012)

You can't beat roofing felt for asphalt roads and asphalt pavement in industrial parks and the price is right.:thumbsup:


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## joed2323 (Oct 17, 2010)

Wow those pics are awesome. Nice layout. Im glad i just bought a roll of #30 roofing felt from home depot. Under 15 bucks a roll and i have enough for everything i need to do


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## Hellgate (Nov 9, 2011)

I saw on home depots website that they have #15 and #30.
Is #30 the MRR approved one?


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## jonyb (Mar 20, 2011)

I used Water Putty for mine. Don't waste your time mixing in color, just paint afterwards. I wasted more paint trying to make it look like concrete, I just ended up painting black and sanding.

Pics are horrible, I'll have some better ones soon.


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## joed2323 (Oct 17, 2010)

jonny b- the water putty came out great... How far does a can of water putty go? also what did you use for forms? basswood strips or what?

Hellgate- i went with the #30 because its thicker then #15 roofing felt


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## Rangerover (Feb 8, 2012)

An idea I read about using water putty. A piece of styrofoam about 1"x1" and 5-6" long. Stick a pencil at 2" or so from one end through it, measure 3" HO or to your choosing and stick in another pencil. Draw your road. Then use double face foam tape for your "form". Then spread on your water putty with a soft plastic spreader with an edge on it so as it sits on the tape both sides. Now I model the transition era and not big in black for road color the lighter grays were more common since either oil and gravel stone is what I remember used back in the 40-60's or concrete on highways. We also still had a few cobble stone streets in our city built that were built in the late 1800's until last year they macadamed over them. Also there are still plenty of dirt roads. Uneven or cracks and repair blacktop is not uncommon just like potholes and in model railroading it actually adds class. If I use black I still apply shades of gray or even white acrlyic paint smeared with a piece of cloth, and only use a tiny bit to make it look used and not brand new. Also yellow lines did not happen until the early 70's and then were only a few states experimented with yellow. White was the line color on all major roads in the US, and there was no white painted on the sides of the roads. One solid line broken in passing zones on sub major roads and there was 2 lines with the broken line on one side or the other for passing zones on major roads and highways. Yellow lines weren't used and didn't become a national safety standard until 1974, check it out on google search (wiki). Hope I helped some! Jim


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## powersteamguy1790 (Mar 26, 2012)

joed2323 said:


> Wow those pics are awesome. Nice layout. Im glad i just bought a roll of #30 roofing felt from home depot. Under 15 bucks a roll and i have enough for everything i need to do


With 90 square feet of roofing felt you'll be able to pave all the roads on 10 layouts.:thumbsup:


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## powersteamguy1790 (Mar 26, 2012)

Some more photo's using Roofing Felt for roads and parking lots. You just cut out the shape you need and glue it in place. The color of the roofing felt matches asphalt road color. It can't be any easier.


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## joed2323 (Oct 17, 2010)

powersteamguy- im guessing from the pics you left the felt as is. You didnt brush on any paint or chaulk? looks :thumbsup:


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## powersteamguy1790 (Mar 26, 2012)

joed2323 said:


> powersteamguy- im guessing from the pics you left the felt as is. You didnt brush on any paint or chaulk? looks :thumbsup:


In some area's I used some earth tone weathering chalks. There's no need to use paint on the roofing felt.


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## jonyb (Mar 20, 2011)

joed2323 said:


> jonny b- the water putty came out great... How far does a can of water putty go? also what did you use for forms? basswood strips or what?
> 
> Hellgate- i went with the #30 because its thicker then #15 roofing felt


Thanks! That can went a long way...... I used basswood strips and also ws paving tape for forms. I've got some smooth-it I'm gonna try next.


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## JohnAP (May 4, 2011)

I have experimented with left over weed block fabric. It looks pretty good, and someone mentioned it also comes in brown at larger BigBox stores. I like the roofing felt too. Shaygetz uses roofing shingles, and his work is awesome! Many ways to skin the proverbial cat.


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