Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Making roads

Another guest article from my friend John. He's discovered a cheap and easy way to make roads for gaming. Check out his 'how to' below.

Step 1
Cut artist grade cardboard into 1" x 12" strip and cut 1/2" x 12" non glossy sticky floor tile and stick them together. I game micro armour so this size works well for secondary roads.  For full size roads I use  2" cardboard and 1" tile.
 
Step 2
Run a bead of latex paintable caulking along edge of cardboard and tile. Smooth in and rough up a bit.  You can add some screening at this stage as it will stick to the caulking.  Wait for caulking to dry.
 
Step 3
Prime with watered down black acrylic paint.  Wipe the tie tile gently so you leave a trace of the paint.  You can always add more.
 
Step 4
Paint the edge of the road your choice of brown (raw sienna for me) and then once it's dry you can dry brush it with lighter a shade of brown and add dabs of green or flocking.  
 
Step 5

Make more.  This is a collection I've started for 1/265th but you can vary the size depending on the scale.  A Panther alongside to give you and idea of size.  You'll be cranking out miles of scale road before you know it.
 
Here's a sample of John's work in 1/72 scale. He made a whole pile of roads for my skirmish game. Looks great eh?