Over the Christmas holidays I noticed an interesting Facebook posting on how to make roads. The poster cut his roads from a thin rubber steel sheet. He attached felt to the self-adhesive surface which he then painted. The result was impressive and not something I had come across before.
I am in need of dirt tracks/roads and had it in mind to make them from decorators caulk as I had done for my existing roads. The downside with caulk is maintaining a consistency in thickness and can be messy. My thicker pieces are less flexible and therefore more difficult to bend over terrain. Some have also frustratingly developed a camber.
This method looked tempting so a couple of 'Self Adhesive Rubber Steel Ferrite Ferrous A4 Sheets' were purchased from Amazon. They are 0.5mm thick and magnetically-receptive (magnetised versions are available but thicker).
The reverse side is adhesive and the material is easy to cut.
Continued -
I cut the roads into 20mm widths (as per my existing collection) using a knife for straight sections and scissors for the curves.
A wash of Humbrol earth brown was applied followed by a couple of drybrushes to pick out the sand texture. Woodland Scenics blend turf was added to finish off. A spray coat of matt varnish helped to seal the turf.
Since taking these photos more tracks have been made and probably all I will need for the time being out of one A4 sheet.
A further pack of 10 sheets have now been purchased (they are also available in a roll) with the intention of replacing my caulk roads in time.
Being magnet-receptive, several sheets have been used to help secure my 1/600 aircraft. An example here being my Italians:
Care still has to be taken when moving them as the larger aircraft in particular could easily travel.
I have no idea why I did not think of this before - I did not even realise this material existed! If you are seeking cheap easy to construct roads/tracks then I heartily recommend exploring this method.
Good tip and GREAT result!
ReplyDeleteMany thanks Jonathan
DeletePhew, just in time, I was just about to do some caulking to the rear of self adhesive floor tiles, after doing 1 tester (messy!), I will try out your sand idea first. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteLikewise Norm, I was on the verge of getting out the caulk!
DeleteA very useful idea for roads.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks Peter.
DeleteGood article on a method I was not familiar with using. Thank you for a clear explanation. Here is to a long service from them.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks Pancerni.
DeleteCan we see some photos of the roads with 6mil troops posed alogside? They look nice and thin and importantly very flat. Never thought of this although all my troops have this ferro-sheet under their bases to hold them in their storage boxes (I line my storage with magnetic sheet).
ReplyDeleteI will be doing a further update on this material shortly so will include some 6mm figs. I wish I had gone down the magnetic route in storage boxes but too far gone now to rebase all my figs.
DeleteThat's a neat idea, so thanks for sharing Jon. How well do they drape over hills, if at all? I imagine they would with some coaxing but would worry that the sand would crack and/or the metal sheets develop a permanent kink that would be hard to remove.
ReplyDeleteAs for caulk roads, my plan is to put two guide rails at the required height (say 1.0mm) on a base, liberally apply the caulk and then wipe flat using a steel rule or such like along the rails. Once flat, I then plan to drop on some grit etc before the caulk dries. That's the plan anyway but I've yet to try it!
So far (touch wood) I have had no problems with the material kinking. It is as flexible as most of my caulk roads - not perfect but ok. As mentioned to Rob above I will be posting more on this subject so will add examples of them draped over hills.
DeleteA great idea regarding maintaining consistency in depth of caulk roads. It will be interesting to see the results.
In terms of draping over hills I would be most interested in how they sit on Hexon terrain if you have any.
DeleteI don't have any hexon terrain Rob but will demonstrate shortly how they compare to caulk roads over my hills. Might give you an idea. It is fair to say the caulk roads are easier to form around hills. Will have another posting up in the next couple of days.
DeleteThey look great. I might have to make some of my own.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks Ian.
DeleteHi John, I use the same method to secure my 1/300 aircraft, I find that putting a layer of the non-slip mat underlay on top of the magnetic sheet helps hold the little buggers even better.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for that advice Steve.
DeleteBrought here from Steve J’s blog. Very clever! I’ve got some of that sheeting or something similar. Might give it a go.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the blog nundanket. So far they are working well although have only had a couple of outings on the tabletop to date.
Delete