Old Concrete Road Method

I’ve been working on a diorama for a few of my trucks. I decided I wanted an old truck yard(obviously, its me), where old or almost run down trucks and trailers can be parked. I wanted the old concrete look and miscellaneous objects lying here and there to give more visual interest. So here is the start of this theme I have in my head. I intend on another wall further down the diorama with more concrete work for more added details and visual interest. But this is just to show you all the results of how I made the concrete road.

My methods:

  1. I mixed the tile grout very heavily with moderate water to allow for quick drying.

  2. I Spread it on the area of the diorama. I used grout (thick consistency). I did this outside, when the sun was out and let the heat dry the surface of the grout. As this dried quickly, it slowly produced the minuscule cracks you see.

  3. Even it out with spreader.

  4. Took a sponge and dabbed certain areas with it. I continued to sponge certain areas to give the grainy patches you see in a few of the photos

  5. I used a small spreader to draw over the grout to produce some of the half broken concrete patches; sub-levels, and other small u level, rocky crevices you see…

  6. Then I used a black wash and let that dried for a day. Then went over it again with the same black wash. Then let it dried for an hour, then went over it with a brown wash. I will go over it again, to knock back the brown again. Will post the complete diorama when done. Hope this helps those who are probably wondering how I achieved this results.















28 Likes

WOW!
Looks like the real thing, would have fooled me!

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Tack så mycket. Glad you liked it.:slight_smile:

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Great! I especially like how you replicated the spalling erosion.

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Very good! I like it!

BTW, as per my suggestion for a Dio Building category, this wouldn’t have to be posted in the “Uncategorized” Category.
:smiley: :canada:

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Thank you very much.

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Great technique. Thanks for sharing. :+1:

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Thanks for the tip and SBS!

Very convincing looking- I’ve never heard of using tile grout either. Thanks for sharing this with us.

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thanks

Most welcome.

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You are most welcome.

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Have you found a way of perhaps controlling the amount of cracking? I like what I see but what if I wanted to show concrete that wasn’t quite as abused; maybe not leave it in the sun as long?

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Not really. But you can test it out and see the results. Maybe I can do a little test at a later date.

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That’s very clever and a great technique… It had me fooled on the first look… Looks like the real thing :+1:

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Thanks a lot.

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What grout color did you use?

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Very effective

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I used a light Grey color. I figured it’s better choice as I can always darken it, if the need be.

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Thank you

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