Concrete tarmac project

[Trebor]

hey fellas, I decided to take a break from building actual model kits and work on a display base to put finished planes on for photo purposes

ITEMS:
2'x 2' corkboard
12"x 12" cardstock
Elmer's Glue
Black spray Paint
Grey spray paint

I plan on first painting the corkboard a flat black color, then cutting the cardstock into small squares, then gluing them into place either straight or diagonally on the board, then spray painting the whole thing flat aircraft grey

what do you guys think?

and if anyone has any link to a start to finish concrete tarmac thread or something, it'd greatly help

 

[fubar57]

Nice plan Rob. What about using grey fine grit sand paper? It will give you texture and it's already grey.

Geo

 

[Trebor]

wow....I never even thought of that LOL what grit do you reccommend? and I need it to be like a light aircraft gray

 

[GrauGeist]

Go to a hardware store and look at the sandpaper selection, the higher the number, the finer the grit.

I've used 400 grit or better for 1/32 auto photos.

The wet/dry paper is the darker colored but some aluminum oxide papers look close to concrete

 

[fubar57]

Sitting in a grader in the middle of no where right now so I can't post a pick of what I have but Dave is right. I have several grits around 400 grit in light grey and they are in 8"x 8" sheets



Geo

 

[Trebor]

I think I'll go with a finer grit, cos I'll be having multiple scales from 1/48 to 1/200 and I've seen someone say that the concrete squares vary in size at a lot of airports

 

[GrauGeist]

You can purchase sheets of sandpaper in singles at most hardware stores a typical sheet is about the size of a sheet of paper (8 1/2" x 11").

The smaller the scale, the finer you would want to use. I found 400 grit wet/dry to be perfect for 1/32, as it resembles asphalt perfectly. So 1/48 scale, you would want to consider 800 grit, 1/72 scale may call for 1000 grit, etc.

Best thing to do, is just stop by a hardware store and have a look and see what would work for your project

 

[fubar57]

What kind of glue did you use to mount them Dave. I seem to recall using rubber cement once, years ago, and it's still holding



Geo

 

[GrauGeist]

I used 3M spray-tac (I forget the adhesion number) and it held really well without penetrating the paper of causing discoloration.

I can go back and find the 3M number if you want, as the can is still on the shelf in the garage after all these years

 

[Trebor]

see, the thing is, this will only be used for photo shoots of finished models, then they go on a shelf. it's not gonna be a permanent display base. I'm looking to build something that'll be universal.

 

[GrauGeist]

The adhesive would be for a diorama, you could use tape to hold the corners down for the photo, or spray-tac that allows you to temporarily hold the paper in place.

One odd characteristic of sandpaper, especially wet/dry or aluminum oxide, is that it wants to curl up. If you tape the corners down, it'll try and lift in the center.

 

[Westfield Charlie]

Well, I learn something every time I look around here. I used card stock to simulate runway cement in my dioramas, and spent a lot of time "weathering" it to get it to look realistic. I'll have to try 800 grit since I build aircraft in 1/48th scale.

 

[pbehn]

I just gotta ask, is it to represent concrete as used in WW2 (a light grey/beige colour) or modern bituminous concrete (a grey/black)?

 

[Trebor]

It's gonna be modern concrete

 

[herman1rg]

If you use abrasive paper of whatever grit, it could always have a very light coat of airbrushed colour

 

[Airframes]

To be honest, anything smaller than 1/32nd scale doesn't really need the 'texture' of grit papers or similar, as this can look too coarse against the model.
Painted card, shaded and 'dirtied' will look equally as good, as long as the expansion joints aren't overdone.
I usually mark out the 'concrete panels', then lightly score the marked lines to leave an indentation, which can then be toned, lightly, if required, to represent tar sealer, or just left 'as is'.
It's best to glue this to a solid surface, such a MDF, to prevent the base board from warping at some point in the future. The use of such materials as 'styro-foam' or cork are not really stable enough, and will warp eventually.
Here's an example in 1/48th scale, where the plain card was airbrushed with a 'concrete' shade, then had darker colours misted over the top, and stains etc added by the use of both thinned paint and eyebrow pencil, smudged onto the surface.

 

[A4K]

Great dio Terry, and great info guys! Taking this all in myself

 

[GrauGeist]

To be honest, anything smaller than 1/32nd scale doesn't really need the 'texture' of grit papers or similar, as this can look too coarse against the model.

It really depends on the scale, the diorama's setting and so on.

even in smaller scales, sandpaper can lend a great texture, such as a finer grit sandpaper, drybrushed to create a gravel road for a tank dio, rougher grit sandpaper drybrushed to create a desert setting for an Afrika Corp scene and so on.

Just like thin styrofoam pieces can be used and drybrushed to create stone walls and stone buildings, too.

There's always room for imagination!

 

[Airframes]

Oh, I agree - grit papers can be used for a number of surfaces, painted as required, and I use them myself sometimes. But for 'modern' airfield surfaces, particularly for smaller scale airliner models, I do think plain, painted card would be better. This can be textured at the paining stage, by applying the paint fairly heavily, then stippling with a stiff brush, and looks very realistic if done carefully.

 

[herman1rg]

Some types of Art board have a textured finish