David and Cody team up to build roadways on the State Line Route project railroad. Cody shows how to use Walthers’ modern parking lot kit and styrene to make a parking lot for Brown-Smith Global. David tries a new technique for making roads, and he shows how to weather them and add center line striping.
State Line Route in N scale: Road construction, Episode 18
By Jenny Freeland | January 28, 2022
| Last updated on November 7, 2022
My immediate reaction to the bridge was that it is sitting too low relative to the track. Wouldn’t the sides extend above the level of the track? Maybe I’m all wet, but I have some similar bridges on my layout, and they sit higher.
David and Cody, great work on the roads and parking lot. I like using painted and scored styrene for the concrete pavements but I’ve found that a fine-grit (like 220 or 240 grit) black sandpaper with some weathering and dull coat makes a nice asphalt surface in HO scale. Thanks for the tips.
I prefer styrene for my roads and parking lots. A couple of suggestions:
1) Use black styrene, so any chipped or scratched paint shows black underneath, not white, which is much less visible and prototypical as newly exposed asphalt that hasn’t yet weathered.
2) To use colored pencils for road striping, apply white before the yellow, which will make the yellow stand out or “pop” more.
3) Check your state’s codes for highway striping, because most people get it really wrong. Don’t forget, those dotted center lines are seriously foreshortened in the view from the driver’s seat. Those dotted lines are much longer and farther apart than most people realize. Use Google Maps for guidance.
Hope this helps,
Dave Foxx
I was thinking Cody needed to put in happy little tree living … right … there. In the middle of the grade crossing.
Cody, great episode; specially liked that Bob Ross was peeking over the top of your apron! I think one of his favorite sayings: “We don’t make mistakes we just have happy accidents!” applies equally well to model railroad scenery and oil painting, don’t you?