Tuesday 21 January 2014

Model Railway Specialists

Have a look at our new video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcdfW4BW6fU&feature=youtu.be

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.





Scales: Busch road sections are available for Z, N, TT and OO/HO scales on our website