Desert Roads Revisted

For some time now I have been experimenting with different materials to make a set of desert roads and trackways. Many of the pre-made options available online are only suitable for 15mm or larger scales and the few micro scale terrain options I have seen are either quite expensive or poor quality. So Building my own roads has always been an option for me, I just needed to find a technique that 'worked'.

I have previously posted details of two trial sets of roads I made. Although they looked good at the time I have since found that the roads have begun to curl up at the edges. No matter what I did I couldn't get the road sections to lay flat. Also because they were made from relatively lightweight materials (sandpaper or emery paper) they were easily disturbed on the games surface. A new idea was needed. Something heavier than sandpaper that would lay nice and flat on the table but still remain flexible. 

Jump back a couple of weeks and I was in Hobbycraft with my youngest daughter, looking for some craft materials for her. She decided she wanted to get some foam sheets which could be cut and glued into 3d models and picture's. Of course when I saw the foam the terrain building part of my brain kicked-in immediately and so we both went home with an assortment of coloured foam sheets in A4 and A3 size. At this stage I didn't have a clear plan of how to use it, but I just knew it would come in handy. 

I have spent the last few weeks experimenting with this foam understanding its properties and potential uses. The breakthrough for me came when I realised that I could glue pretty much anything to this material providing I used a good quality PVA/Wood glue. So I tried gluing some of the roads I made earlier onto the foam and found that this gave each road section more weight, allowing it to lay flat while still retaining enough flexibility to drape over hills or down slopes. The foam is about 1.5mm thick and comes in a wide range of colours including Black (suitable for Metalled roads), cream/ivory (for desert settings) and brown (for muddy European style roads). The Foam can be painted with acrylics - although it is understandably quite porous - so that edges can be blended in to match the games surface. I have also found that this material can be covered in flock grass or sand providing you use a good quantity of  glue to fix it with.

With the 'experiments' completed I set about making a whole new set of Desert Trackway using some excellent Aluminium Oxide 'sandpaper' that I discovered in my local branch of Wilkinson. As before I cut strips 1¼” wide (the length of a small FOW base) in 18" sections which I them glued to the surface of the foam sheet. When the sheet was covered in strips I made sure to remove any excess glue then covered the whole thing with another foam sheet and placed several heavy books on top. This ensured that the sandpaper bonded nice and flat onto the foam. I left these overnight to dry and then simply cut the roads out using a pair of sharp scissors. Lastly I dry brushed the edges with a sandy coloured paint to add a little bit of definition to the finished road. And here is the result:

The foam makes these roads only about 1.5mm thick.

I now have over 25 foot of desert track which is ample for any games table

I also have a set of asphalt roads (made from black Emery Paper) which I will mount the same way but on black foam instead. I'm really happy with how these have turned out and I'm looking forward to using them in my next North Africa game.