mat that looks like asphalt

BILL WARD

SGF, Supreme Grumble Framer
Joined
Mar 25, 2004
Posts
2,451
Loc
Tampa, FL
Happy Holiday Grumblers!!! Hope ya'all survived the RUSH w/o tooo much hassel. I'm designing a NASCAR shadowbox for a client that I'd like to put a simulated asphalt roadway under the car and haven't come up with an acceptable mat that looks 'right'. Anyone done this type of thing??? Would love to hear about it. Thanks all.
bill ward
 
Bill,

If I had to do this project, I'd use maybe a Crescent 7529 or a 7521 linen board to give the "roadway" some texture and paint some white stripes along the bottom for the breakdown lane (not too heavy, just enough to make it look like a real painted driven over stripe with a bit of the "pavement" showing through) and maybe add some skid marks on the mat with a 60% or 75% gray marker. You could even "fly speck" the surface with a few shades of lighter grays and add a bit of "rubber" chunks here and there to make it look more realistic. You can even add some rubber "marbles" to the top of the "track" to simulate the loose rubber shards that come off the tires as the race progresses. Black sand would work well for this if you add just a touch of it to the top third of the "track".

I would also cant the matboard upwards in the back of the shadowbox to give the illusion of a banked raceway. And you could put a "wall" above the track with a white matboard with some "seams" in it and maybe a few rubber and colored "rub marks" from a few cars "touching the wall".

This is a cool challenge for you to come up with a realistic depiction of a real raceway. I wish you good luck with it.

Framerguy

Edit:

This would be one project that you would WANT to look a little "dirty".
 
I suggest you take a black or dark gray alphacellulose matboard to the parking lot and run over it with your car a few times. Maybe you can get some tread marks on it. Or, if you put it face down, maybe you can emboss the texture of the asphalt into the surface. If you try this, be sure to put down a clean piece of paper or plastic first, to prevent soiling the mat with anything that could contaminate the frame's contents later.
 
Perfect, I did a simular mat for a NASCAR fan. Go to Paint store or Home depot look for a spray can of texture paint comes in black and a few other colors. Just spray it and it looks like asphalt.( a little practice) You need to spray some crystal clear over to give it a little gloss. I really looks the part.
 
I'm sure you do, Jim! :eek:

Next time try pointing the nozzle AWAY from you!!
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Framerguy
 
You might wanna stick a dead squirrel on the board and give it about 10 minutes in your vacuum press ... realism counts.


(The week between Xmas and New Years is a strange one, indeed...
 
How c/p does this have to be?

Any hobby shop that carries model railroad supplies should have asphalt paper.

You may also be able to find miniature dead squirrels. Scale is important here.

Kit
 
I did almost exactly what Tom suggested above when I had a NASCAR box to do last summer. I used black linen, painted stripes on the curved "race track" and it looked great. My customer was thrilled (isn't that the point?)!
 
When I need an asphalt look I often use Bainbridge Formals. Their 7510 or 9510 (black core) Granite Shadow is dark gray with black flyspecking. 7513 (or 9513) Iron Grille is a black-on-black pattern with overall abstract pattern. Note these are not conservation boards, however. They are on a whitecore substrate, similar to Crescent's Whitecore Basics. For strict conservation use, I'd go with the squirrels, as mentioned above.
;) Rick
 
<font size=5>SISSYS!</font>

Pre-cut your mat. Take down to the city roads department. Have one of the crews "chip coat" it.

Heck they aint doing anything except leaning on shovels anyway.

<font size=3>WARNING</font> If you do follow these directions; do not ever mention said mat around Jim Miller, Nona, or Don Pierce.
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