Building Roads with cork roadbed

JohnC

I have used cork for roads for several years, though in strips that I cut myself rather than as part of a pre-formed roadbed split down the middle.

I use PVA and pins to hold it down as it is gluing, removing the pins when the glue has dried.

For 'surface', I  use reasonably-coarse MDF-sawdust sprinkled on top of a coating of PVA which has been  spread with a paintbrush.  The 'dust  is pressed down to secure it to the glue and left to dry.  So long as the sawdust doesn't have too many 'big bits' in it it seems to work well. (I have also used the dyed (coloured) sawdust used for ground-cover - same procedure) 

This method can also be used for 'dirt' roads, and can create realistic country roading as a result, especially as 'country' roads are never as precise in their edges as those in urban areas and as a result you can spread the PVA/sawdust around a bit more freely. covering the edges with vegetation/ground cover.

For colouring, I use tube acrylics  and paint straight onto the dried 'dust.  You will always loose a bit of the 'surface' sawdust, but it isn't noticeable and easily replaced with another PVA/'dust treatment.

Colours will vary from location to location, but you know what effect you want.  Country roads are a mixture of browns, yellows, sometimes reds, and  whites and greys, depending on their location and construction

NB - Asphalt (Tar-sealed, Blacktop) roads are never black - they are a dark grey.

A point to watch:  Cork-strip works best in straight lines and when putting it around corners you will have to either cut triangular wedges out of the cork to curve it, or do it in individual pie-wedge-shaped sections, one piece at a time around the corner, gluing and pinning as you go. The sawdust/PVA which you would apply after everything has dried tends to fill-in any holes and covers gaps so that if you miss a bit it is not very noticeable. 

Cork can be 'carved' with a new craft-knife blade and is quite versatile.

It can also be purchased in various thicknesses and as a result you can vary your road depth as you wish (the transition from tar-sealed to dirt track comes to mind - the dirt track tending to be lower than the tar-sealed surface)

I would emphasise though, that this is entirely my experience, and that it uses cork strip i have cut myself, not bought pre-formed, and would suggest that your best method would be to experiment with a short length of pre-formed roadbed to see if it works for you, meets your requirements and  is something you can live with.

Hope this has helped.

Komata

"TVR - serving the Northern Taranaki . . . " 

John

Glad the note are of use.

Unfortunately I've never used PVA on foam, but my reading, and comments from our membership seems to indicate that PVA dosen't cause problems when used with extruded foam.

However, as that is totaly outside my field of experience, I will step back numerous paces and leave it to someone else to answer.

Next . . .

Komata

"TVR - serving the Northern Taranaki . . . "