Tarmac/Sidewalk Base TutorialThis tutorial covers the build process to create a realistic tarmac or sidewalk for displaying models. The materials used are a wood base, acrylic medium, baking soda, scriber, and primer. The wood bases are readily avaliable from your local crafts stores. Since these wood bases are unfinished, the usually require a sanding session to prepare them. Starting with the wood base, I first mask off the edges.
Once the base has been masked off, I use an acrylic medium found at any craft store or hardware store and baking soda.
The acrylic medium is brushed onto the base.
While the base is still wet, use a sifter or strainer and sift the baking soda over the wet base.
Leave this to sit over night.
After you have given the acrylic medium to dry over night, you can simply wipe off the excess baking soda and you will be left with a base with tiny little bumps glued onto the surface. You can take some 200-300 grit sand paper and lightly sand the surface to take a little bit of the top most layer of baking soda off the base. Do not over sand, the sanding process is only a quick light rubbing of the surface.
After the light sanding session, you can prime the surface with a simple gray primer or just paint the surface the color of tarmac or side walk you want. Using a scriber and a ruler, you can lightly scribe in lines representative of the cement slabs. A quick wash will weather the surface, peel off the masking tape to stain and finish the sides; and you are done.
October 14, 2007: New tutorial for creating a tarmac or sidewalk.