"Vinyl or Linoleum Roads?" Topic

Anyone tried using vinyl sheets, and/or linoleum as a basis for making roads?

I've made some decent ones out of gray felt fabric for paved roads, but now I need some dirt roads, and/or snow-covered ones.

I was thinking that thin vinyl material, and/or linoleum might be useful. I'd like to make longer sections so that there are fewer seams, so one foot square tiles are right out.

I'm thinking of 2 – 3 foot sections for straights, and/or slightly winding road sections.

Seems to me if you can get thin, moderately flexible stuff, it might work well for a base material, which can then be painted as desired. I imagine it might be easier to paint and detail than felt, too.

Thresher01,
All terrain pieces here were made from linoleum material, cut to size, painted with household paint and flocked if needed.

Arable terrain:
link
Forest:
link
Steppe (note dry riverbed)
link

Roadway and river sections can fit in an A4 box which makes them easy to transport. Tape the underside of roadway and river sections to keep them from sliding away.
Cheers,
Robert

Great suggestions, Timurilank. Like your terrain.

AS I ahve commented earlier, some of us are also using roofing felt, the stuff with small stones on, gives an e3sxcellent surface effect, easy to dry brush, durable and flexible.

How do you deal with hills with vinyl or linoleum?

Tom

I made a lot of bases, small and large, as well as other things, using peel-n-stick vinyl floor tiles. There are some pitfalls to be aware of. They may apply to linoleum, and other vinyls, as well…

I flocked the floor tile pieces by painting on PVA White, and yellow Wood Glues, onto their surfaces, usually the finished sides. Then I applied flocking. All was well, for around 4-6 months… Then the PVA Glues shrank, pulling the vinyl upwards, curling it all towards the center. There was no recovering from this problem, they were ruined.

I tried sticking two pieces of the tiles together, glue-side to glue-side. No joy: same warping issues in 4-6 months, destroying those pieces as well.

The vinyl is flexible, without PVA Glue, so if you apply printed paper terrain to the glue side of the tiles, it will work splendidly! However, if you make many pieces like this, they stack nicely, but their weight adds up quickly.

Here is a link to some examples I've made using this technique -- scroll down just above the halfway mark down the page. The Movement Trays, Dungeon Tiles, and the River Tiles, were successful; the other shown projects, all failed, over time, due to warping.

After 5+ years, the terrain tiles are still in perfect condition -- no PVA Glue, so no warping. If there is any warping, I just flex them backwards, and they sit perfectly flat. As stated before, just tape the pieces together, on the shiny side, underneath, to keep them from moving around too much.

Vinyl and linoleum are useful materials, but you must consider their limitations, and their susceptibilities. Good luck! Cheers!

Surfaces are painted and dry brushed before applying any grass or foliage. I do use white glue, but warping has not been an issue. With normal wear and tear, roadway edges and river banks will lose some grass, but this will have a natural appearance if those parts have been painted an earth colour.

Making roadways is similar to making rivers and at the link you can follow some of the technique used.
link

Hills are made of two or three layers; glue only the outer edge and not the entire underside with a contact glue. This avoids the warpage problems as described by other posters.

Use cotton cloth. It is dirt cheap, comes as long as you like, and will lay over hills etc. Just spray with hair spray to seal, then paint and flock like any other material.

Canvas or other suitable cloth. Caulking mixed with paint--add sand of varying coarseness--then spread over strips of canvas. When dry, apply dry brushing followed by flocking along the edges. The raods remain flexible and can be laid over hills.

Here's a video that shows the technique from Red Beard BAron: youtu.be/vBn1aZt9H6o

Neither. Much better effect is:

link