ASPHALT ROADS

Making a Asphalt road system from MDF was quite a challenge, I decided to only make it wide enough to accommodate one vehicle and wanted it to be  slightly dilapidated, here is how I made them. 

British Centaur tank  cautiously moving down a asphalt road in a urban area.

 28mm Late war British Infantry making their way across a asphalt road bridge

I used 6 mm MDF for this project but you can use 3 mm if you wish.

The width of the road measures 7 cm.

While the length of the long sections measure 30 cm.

This is the look I am aimed to duplicate in the asphalt roads.

First step is to shave off the edges with Box cutters.

File down the edges that where just cut away with a file 

This is the finish you want to achieve.

Run the file long way to produce grooves in the road.

Like this

Now randomly file across the road. 

Like this

Use a dremel type hand motor with a large round bur to make a groove on the edge.

Using a small round bur highlight the previously filed area along the edge to create a area where the asphalt is breaking down.

Next randomly run the same round bur over the top of the road to create crack lines.

This is a optional step, lightly run the large round bur  randomly over the top of the road to create a bit of unevenness .

Finished etching 

Coat the whole surface with a Black Primer.

Dry brush the surface with  Vallejo Model Color Black Grey and Iraqui Sand leaving the middle portion of the road blackish. (I painted these thave forgotten the ratio but it should be 1:1 mix)

Continue to dry brush the road with Vallejo Model Color Black Grey and Iraqui Sand again only slightly going over the middle section of the road. (increase the ratio to 1:4)

Use Vallejo Flat Earth to dry brush the edge of the road and highlight with Desert Yellow and Flat Earth 1:1 mix 

Use a old brush to paint on PVA glue on the edge and in spots on the road surface and flock with fine turf.

L- section

Y - section

Cross Intersection

Curve

Finished product with a 28mm tank for scale.

I also constructed a bridge to suit this type of road surface. 
It's constructed with 6 mm MDF and basically made up of 5 sections of MDF.

  Added a section of MDF to accommodate a river and a wall on the edges of the bridage. 

 

 Etched detailed into the MDF, 28mm figure present for scale.

Coated with black Primer.

Painted and flocked finished bridge

 Aerial view finished bridge.

Image of intersection

cheers John