Streets how do you make em?

[Allegheny2-6-6-6]

The last time I modeled a paved road, I spread a thin layer of plaster, then painted it an asphalt color. I would lay some kind of "curbing" (usually strips of basswood) to serve as a both an edge and a screed to help keep the surface uniform and the edges straight. If I was to do it again, I would spread joint compound over the top of my plaster road, let it dry, and then smooth it with a damp sponge. When I was a kid, I actually built a "paving machine" modeled after one I saw being used in real life on an adjacent street. I loaded the thing with plaster and pushed it along, and it would lay a relatively uniform sheet of plater pavement.

Kevin,
It's funny you should mention bass wood. When I was up at the LHS talking to one of the guys up there who is a pretty accomplished layout builder and he told me he uses bass wood for concrete roads and add curbing and sidewalks by gluing narrower strips of bass wood on top of the piece he uses for the roads I believe he mentioned 4" wide. He gives them a coating of concrete paint that then a wash of diluted grimy black or something similar. As he explained it to me the grain on the bass wood is so fine it doesn't show up when you paint it. He also makes retaining walls pretty much the same way but standing them on their edge of course.