modelling runways

[David Placci ass. prof. Lara 521]

I have found a nice way to replicate runways:
Use fine grit (400- 600) wet and dry sandpaper(dark grey color). Glue a piece
of it on your base. Scribe the lines with a old screwdriver (remember it's
abrasive, after all!). For small scales, a common black pen will replicate tar
lines between panels.Then, one panel at the time, gently rub pastel chalk at
the center on the panel with your finger. Work gently if you want to keep your
fingerprints: it BURNS!
Use brown, ochre, then white. The pastel chalk is trapped by the paper,
creating subtle tone variations. The final touch is to use a shoe-brush in
parralel to panel lines, in order to "harmonize" the finish.The advantage of
this method is that the sandpaper has already got a to-scale aspect of
concrete. Besides, you don't need paint and won't ruin any brush. You could
also use an airbrush, but I found that changing between 3 or 4 colours was
rather tedious.
This method works GREAT, and I think it gives better results than commercial pre-printed runways
Hope this is helpful for someone.
Dave.

PS: Wouldn't it be nice to have more tips and techniques posted? Any comments?
HAPPY MODELLING TO ALL!

[Dave Loseke]

In article <dplacci.8...@hec.unil.ch> dpl...@hec.unil.ch (David Placci ass. prof. Lara 521) writes:
>I have found a nice way to replicate runways:
>Use fine grit (400- 600) wet and dry sandpaper(dark grey color). Glue a piece
>of it on your base. Scribe the lines with a old screwdriver (remember it's
>abrasive, after all!). For small scales, a common black pen will replicate tar
>lines between panels.Then, one panel at the time, gently rub pastel chalk at

I have found that doing something similar but cutting the sheets up into
seperate "panels", laying then a small distance from each other, and then
relicating the tar with a thinned mixture of white glue and black acrylic
(water based) paint put down with a syringe.

I like your technique described later in your post. I think I'll try that
next time except enhance the color of each "panel" seperatly and
then apply something overall to make the surface cohesive.

Thanks.

--
David Loseke | "What a waste it is to lose one's mind. Or
davi...@mdhost.cse.tek.com | not to have a mind is being very wasteful.
Tektronix Logic Analyzer | How true that is." -- VP Dan Quayle
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[Stephen Tontoni]

I think that the techniques described are very good, but it really
depends on the scale that you are modelling. A pen might be sufficient
for 1/72 scale, but you may want to have separate panels for 1/48 or
larger.... Kind of depends.

One thing that I have done that seems to work is that I have cut a
plywood oval, then drawn a diagonal across it. One half of the board
will be built into paved runway. The other half of the board is then
covered with turf (Woodland Scenics or similar product). Then when you
take pictures of your aircraft, you can have choose your foreground
and backgound. It gives you a lot of flexibility for shooting pictures.

--Stephen Tontoni
sto...@seaccc.sccd.ctc.edu