modeling cement for parking lots and loading docks

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railBuilderDhd

railBuilderDhd

Active Member
I'm going to be doing a lot of modeling of cement for parking lots and an intermodal free-mo module. I would like to hear how others model cement and if possible see some photos for ideas on how it would look. I figure I would like to model cement that looks old and new to show the yard has grown and some areas are newer then others. Thanks for any ideas and I look forward to an informative thread. I will be posting any test sample I do for comments as I get these done and thank everyone for the input and help.
Dave
 
use plaster of pairs and score lines in it after it drys. This will represent the expansion joints or cracks. sands smooth and will look real once painted. you can also place a corrigated sheet of styreen over the drying surface to get some grooves in it like many new concrete roads have. (remove the styreen after you get the intended imprint)
 
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I have heard of people using styrene painted with concrete colors and lightly weathered.
This is what I intend to do with my intermodal terminal.
 


I've used three different ways to model concrete:

1) sheet styrene that has been scribed, snapped and put back together (or just had the lines painted on), then painted concrete

2) concrete surfaces printed on paper then glued to the layout

3) Plaster spread out, dried, and cracked by hand pressure then painted concrete.

I prefer the styrene to the others.
 
Hi Dave: I like scored and painted styrene. A few examples.

P1030205.jpg


P1010258-1.png


P1040030.jpg


The service island is real concrete(anchor cement)

P1030434.png
 
Whoa Grampy, that anchor C-ment looks like just the ticket...
Love the broken edges!
 
Rico said:
Whoa Grampy, that anchor C-ment looks like just the ticket...
Love the broken edges!
Click to expand...

DJ
I do like that slab of cement as well. How did you get the edges looking so good and is that done with styrene as well? I may have to go with styrene since I have large sheets of styrene at home now.
Dave
 
not really a parking lot but sort of concrete retaining wall i was trying to build.
plaster of paris painted with strange mix of home depot "ooops paint" that looked more or less like concrete to me.

DSC_8663-vi.jpg
 
Dave, Rico, I made a form with 1/4" lattice, tacked to a piece of plywood. I mixed the anchor cement and poured it into the form. Just like real concrete. It sets up really fast, so you have to work fast. When I removed the forms, it had that ragged look. It also broke into 3 pieces, not real strong in a 1/4"x 6" slab. I haven't tried it for, say a parking lot. It does have a fine grain and just enough texture and color to look like real concrete. I haven't tried it on a large area, I use styrene for that. It might be interesting to try it on a large area. DJ.
 
GrampysTrains said:
Dave, Rico, I made a form with 1/4" lattice, tacked to a piece of plywood. I mixed the anchor cement and poured it into the form. Just like real concrete. It sets up really fast, so you have to work fast. When I removed the forms, it had that ragged look. It also broke into 3 pieces, not real strong in a 1/4"x 6" slab. I haven't tried it for, say a parking lot. It does have a fine grain and just enough texture and color to look like real concrete. I haven't tried it on a large area, I use styrene for that. It might be interesting to try it on a large area. DJ.
Click to expand...

Hmmm... That stuff looks nice, I actually might want to try that out on my layout. Seems like it's a bit more expensive than styrene though.
Do you think there's anything else that could be used for the form, as well?
 


I've used styrene so far, but I'm experimenting. Concrete is a hard color to "match" however, as there's so many different tones depending on ingredients.
 
jbaakko said:
I've used styrene so far, but I'm experimenting. Concrete is a hard color to "match" however, as there's so many different tones depending on ingredients.
Click to expand...

Good point about the ingredients as well you have to think about the age.

I recall some work done by John Pitts on a building that had a cement loading dock that looked real!!!! He said it was done with colored pencils but I've never done weathering with colored pencils but need to look into that more since his looked so real.
Dave
 
I'm late to the party here, but I use 1/8-inch thick "fun foam" rubber sheets from Michael's Crafts in gray. It's the stuff that kids cut foam shapes out of.

Easy to cut with scissors or a X-acto blade, can make joints with a pencil and straight edge and you can rough it up with some fine grit sandpaper. Hit it with your favorite wash for spills, tire tracks, etc.

It also comes in black for fresh asphalt or you can age it with a gray wash.

99 cents for a 12-in by 18-in or so sheet.

I'm thinking that if you glue it to a heavy cardstock or something, it might make decent poured concrete walls for modern warehouses and such.
 
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I use patching plaster. 35# bag of it at the local Ace hardware is 13 bucks. Enough to do 2 or 3 large mountains, roads, ramps, parking lots & sidewalks & RR crossings. I build forms & pour it just like concrete. Just before it dries I smooth it out w/a damp sponge. If you put it on 2 thick it takes about 12 hrs. to completely dry & then it cracks along the edges. Then if the cracks are to big I fill them in w/a good paintable caulk. I paint whatever color w/Latex paint & use fineline black or gray markers. Then you can use a paint stick or other to paint the lines. I did my whole 32" by 16ft. intermodal yard w/it.
I also make large mountains w/it.
 
Larry,
I would like to see any photos of your intermodel yard as that is something I'm in the early stages of modeling myself. This would be a very cheap option for all the cement I have to do.
dave
 
railBuilderDhd said:
Larry,
I would like to see any photos of your intermodel yard as that is something I'm in the early stages of modeling myself. This would be a very cheap option for all the cement I have to do.
dave
Click to expand...

What kind of base are you going to put it on? I did mine over plywood that I prepainted w/about 3 coats of latex paint. I also imbedded the tracks in the plywood & filled in all around the outside of the tracks to make the surface look like it was all done at the same time. I'll look back thru all the threads that I have on here & see if I can direct you to a mess of photo's of my yards.
If you go on my Photobucket acct. in my signature you will find dozens of pictures.
Pages 2, 3 & 4.
 
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