One of the jobs I've been least looking forward to on Selly Oak is laying the pavements. I'm not sure why, it's just a task I can't work up any enthusiasm for, but know needs to be done.
Progress has been slow, but I have managed one side of the road. I'm using 2mm thick Daler Board cut to size and then scribed for the paving slabs. A home-made ruler marked out in slab sizes speeds this job up a lot. Even more if I didn't lose the ruler each time so I didn't need to make it up again.
This is sprayed with grey car primer and then painted with Precision weathered concrete paint.
Years ago, I bought some very cheap packs of grey pastels which can be scrubbed on a very coarse file to produce powder. This is rubbed into the surface with a mucky finger. Dampening the digit helps the stuff stick into the scribed lines - although it seems to cling to the card pretty well.
I'll use the same powder on the road eventually to add variety to the colour, but that will wait until the pavements are all down.
I like the idea of mount card / Dealer board to represent pavements - or even some road surfaces, for that matter.
ReplyDeleteI must admit to being unsure about typical sizes of paving slabs, granite setts (around tram tracks in the middle of roads) and stuff like that.
I'm also wary about relying on quoted dimensions from current manufacturers' websites - mainly because I'd expect sizes offered to change over the years (especially fifty or a hundred years), even without metrication in our lifetime.
As for dirty looking, grey marks and emphasizing the edges of individual "stones", I agree about there being nothing wrong with pastel chalk dust. However, another option might be even more convenient for some people - shavings / dust from sharpening pencils, worked over the surface using a tissue, a Q-tip, or a scrap of kitchen roll.
Actually, today's blog entry is very well timed for me - as I'm about to start cutting materials for a cake box challenge entry, which is likely to include a crude representation of a bit of road / pavement surface.
Incidentally, I might have to see if I can neatly remove just the coloured layer of some mount card - as an easy way of representing kerb stones. Well, I guess it's that - or a narrow strip of mount board laid on its side / upside down - or perhaps matchsticks coloured pale grey. I know which sounds easiest to me.