Model Railroading > Asphalt Color

I have created some roads using the Walthers Smooth-it plaster product.  In the past I have colored them with the Walthers asphalt color, but it seems a bit dark to me.  I have tried to change colors using various mixtures of paints and have not come with anything I really like.  Does anyone out there have a combination of paints or a single paint color they use to color asphalt so it looks weatherd and not too dark?

It seems that, with model roads, the lighter the better. Not sure why that is, but it seems to look the best. Mine always come out too dark, as I can't seem to learn that lesson. Seriously, pick a light gray and then go 2 shades lighter.

Asphalt becomes quite gray in a very short time.  Depending on traffic, weather and sun it can be a very light gray in about two or three years.

I have mixeg grout color with spackle as a experiment and got this small patch. Ill expand my next batch with plaster and write down the mixure ratio. good luck robert

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Or maybe find an asphalt road, liberate a tiny piece from the edge and match. Of course return the piece where you found itI

HD has Behr asphalt paint color. It comes close to the Walthers and Busch asphalt roads.

Paul B
Canton, GA

Asphalt can be any shade of grey depending on the age, weather, traffic, and location

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

It’s been a while since I made my roads. I thought it was a Woodland Scenics product. I believe I simply used less of the black “asphalt” paint which resulted in a road that was more gray. I even have one road intended to be very old asphalt, never re paved, and I used very little black, so it came out very light gray

Posted from iPhone

I dust/rub the asphalt with the same real soil/dirt/dust I use in the surrounding areas. See the satellite photo 4thDistrict posted. The parking area in the workbench photo was black before the dirt was applied. The second photo is another parking area on the workbench. This time it is Heki foam asphalt cut to emphasize the joints. Same dirt application, not so heavy and not so even.
 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/16/20 03:43 by Lighter.

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