whatlep
Registered
Laying nice neat platforms is not one of the things I have have excelled at. Since on my line I needed several over 4 meteres long, I've been looking for a quick "cheat" to get something decent in place. Last month I discovered what looks like being a good solution, at least for those of us modelling continental/US ground level platforms.
The solution is the 10mm thick flat soffit boarding used on houses. Usually you see the white stuff, but it's available in a variety of colours (blue platform anyone?). I have gone for "black ash". This looks convincingly like tarmac at more than a couple of feet. As you can see from the pictures below, a thin film of the desired colour is bonded to a plastic substrate. Although the quoted thickness is 10mm, I found it was generally 9mm, with a slight enlargement to 10mm at the rounded end. Obviously the stuff is designed to be used outdoors, won't rot and the supplier promises it will not delaminate or warp.
The "planks" are available in a variety of widths. I have used 100mm for island platforms and 175mm for the main station building's platform. Curiously, the 175mm width has the outer colour covering most of the plain side shown in the 100mm wide plank above which means less white area to paint or cover in self-amalgamating tape (The sticky matt black stuff used for outdoor TV cable joints). There is a very gentle wood effect on the surface, but it is not distracting to my eye.
Price for 20 metres total length in 5-metre lengths (3x100mm wide, 1x175mm wide) and delivery was slightly less than the equivalent amount of wood from my local wood merchant. Wood ain't cheap these days! My supplier was this lot: http://www.pvc-warehouse.co.uk
The results can be seen here: http://www.gscalecentral.net/fb.ashx?m=195711
The solution is the 10mm thick flat soffit boarding used on houses. Usually you see the white stuff, but it's available in a variety of colours (blue platform anyone?). I have gone for "black ash". This looks convincingly like tarmac at more than a couple of feet. As you can see from the pictures below, a thin film of the desired colour is bonded to a plastic substrate. Although the quoted thickness is 10mm, I found it was generally 9mm, with a slight enlargement to 10mm at the rounded end. Obviously the stuff is designed to be used outdoors, won't rot and the supplier promises it will not delaminate or warp.
The "planks" are available in a variety of widths. I have used 100mm for island platforms and 175mm for the main station building's platform. Curiously, the 175mm width has the outer colour covering most of the plain side shown in the 100mm wide plank above which means less white area to paint or cover in self-amalgamating tape (The sticky matt black stuff used for outdoor TV cable joints). There is a very gentle wood effect on the surface, but it is not distracting to my eye.
Price for 20 metres total length in 5-metre lengths (3x100mm wide, 1x175mm wide) and delivery was slightly less than the equivalent amount of wood from my local wood merchant. Wood ain't cheap these days! My supplier was this lot: http://www.pvc-warehouse.co.uk
The results can be seen here: http://www.gscalecentral.net/fb.ashx?m=195711