02-24-2016, 02:07 PM
A few close-ups of my recent work. I am especially pleased with the concrete area. This will be host to the back end of a steel yard, featuring a portacabin and piles of steel ready for distribution. The car park is still WIP but is slowly getting there. Finally, I have fitted some "lighting"! 
The concrete was done using the following method:
Firstly, I cut out a thick piece of plasticard. I then sprayed it dark grey. I then painted it with a blend of paints that I felt made up a concrete effect. I then left it for half an hour so it was tacky to the touch, but not yet dry. Then, rather than letting it dry I blow dried it using a hair dryer on "hot", in order to produce cracks in the paint. I then varnished it using clearcote. After this had dried I drew on, using black pencil, the cracks and the lines of the slabs. The cracks were drawn on over the cracks in the paint (I realised I would be better off making the paint crack naturally and using these cracks as the basis of my effect rather than trying to draw cracks from scratch). I then put a layer of clearcote over this, being careful not to smudge the pencil. The final step, other than adding the portacabin and steel girders, will be add some moss and weeds growing in some of the cracks.
To develop the cracking technique I used scrap plastic first. I find using a stunt dummy model to try out a risky new technique is definitely the way to go!
Overall, the last few days have been a huge learning curve for me in educating myself (with a LOT of help from others) on how to build roads and concreted areas. There are a few things I would do different next time, but overall I am happy with the effect I achieved. As mentioned previously, I will be trying out plaster of paris soon to see if that makes for a more realistic concrete surface. I think it will, especially in regards to producing cracks and crumbling edges (which are pretty difficult to do well when you have a sheet of plasticard as your foundation).
The concrete was done using the following method:
Firstly, I cut out a thick piece of plasticard. I then sprayed it dark grey. I then painted it with a blend of paints that I felt made up a concrete effect. I then left it for half an hour so it was tacky to the touch, but not yet dry. Then, rather than letting it dry I blow dried it using a hair dryer on "hot", in order to produce cracks in the paint. I then varnished it using clearcote. After this had dried I drew on, using black pencil, the cracks and the lines of the slabs. The cracks were drawn on over the cracks in the paint (I realised I would be better off making the paint crack naturally and using these cracks as the basis of my effect rather than trying to draw cracks from scratch). I then put a layer of clearcote over this, being careful not to smudge the pencil. The final step, other than adding the portacabin and steel girders, will be add some moss and weeds growing in some of the cracks.
To develop the cracking technique I used scrap plastic first. I find using a stunt dummy model to try out a risky new technique is definitely the way to go!
Overall, the last few days have been a huge learning curve for me in educating myself (with a LOT of help from others) on how to build roads and concreted areas. There are a few things I would do different next time, but overall I am happy with the effect I achieved. As mentioned previously, I will be trying out plaster of paris soon to see if that makes for a more realistic concrete surface. I think it will, especially in regards to producing cracks and crumbling edges (which are pretty difficult to do well when you have a sheet of plasticard as your foundation).