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Tuesday 21 January 2014
Thursday 2 January 2014
MAKING REALISTIC ROADS WITH BUSCH STARTER KITS
Whether you
model in N scale or OO/HO scale Busch has a road starter kit for you. The kits
comprise of a length of self-adhesive flexible road plus a section for car
parks, road markings, road signs and barriers. These kits are an excellent
introduction to making superb looking roads on your layout which are available from our Railway Model Online Shop
Flexible
roll-out strips of single-track carriageways can be bought separately in both
light and dark asphalt colours with and without lines. The Busch range has additional
parts such as bus stops, lay bys, marked car parks, zebra crossings, cobbles,
road junctions and other features that we see on roads in real life.
Making the road
For both
straight and curved roads a suggested road laying procedure is as follows:
- It is important to ensure that the baseboard surface is perfectly flat before laying the road because a laid road will highlight any imperfections on the baseboard.
- In my experience it is best to experiment with a short test section of road on a piece of cardboard before moving onto the road that is to be fixed on the layout.
- Decide where your road is to go and pull each section away from the backing sheet slowly and deal with just one short section at a time. Do not be tempted to pull the whole road section from the backing paper at the same time - if you do that it will be impossible to work with. There is no need to stretch the material lengthways as you lay the road because this would distort the road surface.
- Carefully lay the released road section just 3 to 5 cms a time pushing it gently onto the baseboard with your fingers and watch to ensure that you are laying the road straight or in a smooth curve as you wish.
- Curves you will need to work more slowly as you follow the bend. The material is stretchy so it will accommodate a curve. Work the inside of the corner first gradually easing the road surface around the outside of the curve. Do not be tempted to use the road section on a very tight bend because the inside edge of the road surface will become crumpled.
- Gently smooth down each section as you go before moving onto the next section.
- If you need to use several sections of road lengthwise you can almost disguise the join by laying one length just to overlap over the next piece by a couple of mms.
- I find that the adhesive on these road sections is very good but Busch Scenic Glue (7599) can be used to fix down any edges that may come loose over a period of time.
The Busch
catalogue shows all of the parts of their road system, pavement and road
accessories. Alternatively go to www.busch-model.com.
TOOLS
AND MATERIALS REQUIRED (available from Ontracks)
A sharp craft knife for
cutting the road sections.
A self sealing cutting mat
to cut the road to protect the table or workbench below.
Busch OO/HO
scale road starter kit 7096: http://www.ontracks.co.uk/index.php?page=product&prodID=166669&catID=&fromSearch=true
Busch N scale
road starter kit 7097: http://www.ontracks.co.uk/index.php?page=product&prodID=166670&catID=&fromSearch=true
Scales: Busch road sections are available for
Z, N, TT and OO/HO scales on our website
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