I've been watching this thread with interest as I have an area on my planned N Gauge layout which I intend to pave and have been giving it some thought.
My current plan is to fill between the sleepers, but only up to the top of them, with epoxy filler and then use contact adhesive to fix down strips of 10 thou. Slaters platicard topped with strips of Slaters paving slab sheet between the rails, being careful to leave a gap between rails and paving for the wheel flanges to run through. A quick airbrushing to colour/weather the paving, with a dribble of very thin darker colour acrylic to pick out the joints, should finish the job. I'll use the same technique outside the rails but here the platicard/paving slab sandwich can run right up to the rails.
The main point here is that by filling between the sleepers first, you then have a solid, even base to glue the 10 thou. plasticard to and the paving slab card will go down smoothly on top of it. The double thickness comes up to just below the rail top on my Code 55 track.
At my level crossing I plan to use thin balsa wood, scored and stained to look like old weathered wood planks but, again, this will be on top of the epoxy filler between the sleepers.
That's my present plan anyway, but I'm always open to suggestions of a better way.
I've also tried the plaster of paris way before when I modelled in 00 and found the best way is to temporarily fit some 30 thou. plasticard strips to the inside face of each rail before infilling with PoP. (This was for 00 so obviously 20 thou would probably be about right for N Gauge).
I used double sided Sellotape to attach the plasticard. The strips can be removed once the PoP has solidified, but not competely set, to leave a nice clean groove for the wheel flanges to run in. I have usually mixed some black and brown powder paint with the PoP so that if an edge does break away, it doesn't show up as a glaring white patch. Once thoroughly dry the PoP can be scored into slabs and painted. This is quite a messy way of doing it though and I thought I would try a different method this time.
Happy modelliing,
Expat
My current plan is to fill between the sleepers, but only up to the top of them, with epoxy filler and then use contact adhesive to fix down strips of 10 thou. Slaters platicard topped with strips of Slaters paving slab sheet between the rails, being careful to leave a gap between rails and paving for the wheel flanges to run through. A quick airbrushing to colour/weather the paving, with a dribble of very thin darker colour acrylic to pick out the joints, should finish the job. I'll use the same technique outside the rails but here the platicard/paving slab sandwich can run right up to the rails.
The main point here is that by filling between the sleepers first, you then have a solid, even base to glue the 10 thou. plasticard to and the paving slab card will go down smoothly on top of it. The double thickness comes up to just below the rail top on my Code 55 track.
At my level crossing I plan to use thin balsa wood, scored and stained to look like old weathered wood planks but, again, this will be on top of the epoxy filler between the sleepers.
That's my present plan anyway, but I'm always open to suggestions of a better way.
I've also tried the plaster of paris way before when I modelled in 00 and found the best way is to temporarily fit some 30 thou. plasticard strips to the inside face of each rail before infilling with PoP. (This was for 00 so obviously 20 thou would probably be about right for N Gauge).
I used double sided Sellotape to attach the plasticard. The strips can be removed once the PoP has solidified, but not competely set, to leave a nice clean groove for the wheel flanges to run in. I have usually mixed some black and brown powder paint with the PoP so that if an edge does break away, it doesn't show up as a glaring white patch. Once thoroughly dry the PoP can be scored into slabs and painted. This is quite a messy way of doing it though and I thought I would try a different method this time.
Happy modelliing,
Expat
