I have an area of pavement on my layout that needs to be painted to look more like cement . Have you guys mixed up a few colors to get that look ? I have a lot of white , medium grey , some black ....other " dribs and drabs "don't know what else is needed ? Before I do a lot of experimenting and wasting of paint , I thought I'd ask first !

T

That's a broad question, cement comes in many colors. A basic I use is primer gray from testors, but I would use any light gray

I thought someone might say " buy Floquil Cement paint " but I'd like to avoid buying stuff if I can so as to use whatever I have on hand .

T

I am using for concrete roads "Faller Roadway Paint" #180507. It is basically light gray but with a touch of brown and green like the Polly Scale concrete paint.

I've always have mixed my own and it's a bit different each time. New cement is usually a very light gray, but to age it I add a bit of yellow to it and sometimes a touch of green and/or black to make it a bit darker as well. Cement is not consistently the same color, I've got a couple of patches in the sidewalk and a walkway around my house which were done within a few weeks after the initial pour and they stand out, one is lighter than the original, the other is darker.

Thought I'd do a little color experiment , just for fun .

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Starting from the left :

1. medium /dark grey right out of the can

2. 3 parts the above grey , 1 part white

3. 3 parts grey , 1 part white , 3 parts yellow

4. 3 parts grey , 1 part white , 2 parts red .

I'm surprised with the yellow ...didn't think it would look that good .

This is done on a white background , as it will be when I paint the roadways .
T

My method recently has been to mix various colors of craft paints until I get a decent color. Typically, I use a sand color, a white, and a gray. But, I mix to a shade or two lighter than the typical concrete color. Then, I use a wash of black india ink to weather and darken where appropriate.

Where ever possible, I like to find a sample of the same age cement that I want to model, and, starting with ( Yeah I'm going there ) Floquil "Aged Concrete", add colors to come as close as I can to my "sample".
The sidewalks, and my front stoop, are a light "aged"tan. My neighbors stoop, which was just torn out and re-poured, is a very light gray.
The color itself is not as much the issue, as the variations of color that's dependent on the date of the pour. You just have to keep those "variations" believable. Not too many, not too few, for the era, and the area you're representing.
Yeah, this is the long-winded version of the "model what you see" theory.

Unfortunately I'm out of "sand" colored paint at the moment so will attempt to use what I have . Pete , I've got three or four different areas to paint and , I agree , it would look best if I had some variation like you mentioned .

T

teejay Wrote:Unfortunately I'm out of "sand" colored paint at the moment so will attempt to use what I have . Pete , I've got three or four different areas to paint and , I agree , it would look best if I had some variation like you mentioned .

T

I'd start off with white, add some black a drop or two at a time until you have a very light gray. Add a few drops of yellow and/or even a little bit of green or brown to get the tone you want. Remember, there is yellow in both green and brown. The thing is that for any color you add, a little goes a long way. Do a small batch at first so you can add more white if you start getting things out of whack. And like Pete is saying, take you sample outside and compare it with what you're trying to match. If you look at a concrete retaining wall, you can even see the difference between pours sometimes so there's no magic "exact" color to shoot for.

I used Floquil concrete and aged white on Landstar Elevators.

Opinions please !

This is the start of a scene at one end of my small layout . The road is supposed to be one in really bad shape because of heavy trucks running in and out of the steel facility . Granted I need to finish the scene on either side of the roadway ....does this look OK , so far ? Be honest .

T

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Just looking at the pics , the surface of the road on the broken pieces looks a little too dark .

I would suggest to place the broken parts closer together forming smaller gaps. You may also try to wipe with a sponge over the street when the paint is still wet. That makes a nice pattern.

I was thinking of the gaps too , but the wafers of plaster ( actually Durhams Water Putty ) have already been glued down and painted over . I do have smaller pieces of the same material I could glue in the gaps .

T

How about putting larger pieces of plaster on the glue on the road and break it in pieces right on the road.