Making Roads??
I have been using brown felt for roads for too long now. I need to come up with something a little better looking. Does anyone out there have any suggestions on how to build some dirt-style AWI era roads? I don't care for the rubbery roadways that you can buy from terrain companies. I am looking for something that will lay flat on the table, look like a road (and not look like felt) and not slide around. Thanks for any help Mike B

A few guys from my local club use these thin flexible cork strips they bought from model railway shops. They roll up easily and taper off at the sides. Look quite good on the table top and most of the guys just roll them out without doing anything to them. One guy put a bit more effort in and glued some patchy flock down the centre and sides to give it a bit more of a rutted look and it came out really well.

That is a great idea. I'll check into it. Mike

Roads
This may sound crazy but I have experimented with sand paper, the very coarse kind. After cutting it into appropriate lengths and widths, I paint it a dark black/brown and then dry brush lighter colours to finish off. Glue a stiff card backing to make them rigid. You can buy the rolls for belt sanders which is a more economical way of doing it. Cheers Schultz

Asked one of the guys who uses the roll out stuff and it was called roadbed or trackbed. I've seen the sandpaper idea used as well and it looks really nice. I use it on sci fi models for asphalt. Martin

French road building practice from Wilkapedia: In France, Pierre-Marie-Jérôme Trésaguet is widely credited with establishing the first scientific approach to road building about the year 1764. He wrote a memorandum on his method in 1775, which became general practice in France. It involved a layer of large rocks, covered by a layer of smaller gravel. The lower layer improved on Roman practice in that it was based on the understanding that the purpose of this layer (the sub-base or base course) is to transfer the weight of the road and its traffic to the ground, while protecting the ground from deformation by spreading the weight evenly. Therefore, the sub-base did not have to be a self-supporting structure. The upper running surface provided a smooth surface for vehicles, while protecting the large stones of the sub-base. Trésaguet understood the importance of drainage by providing deep side ditches, but he insisted on building his roads in trenches, so that they could be accessed from the sides, which undermined this principle. Well-maintained surfaces and drains protect the integrity of the sub-base and Trésaguet introduced a system of continuous maintenance, where a roadman was allocated a section of road to be kept up to a standard.<20> Presumably this would have been broadly similar in the rest of the Empire. The topsurface would presumably be the colour of dirty local stone with a good mixture of manure. However this would only be correct for the main Chasse. The rest would be like cart tracks. Roads in Russia, Poland etc would be up to 150 yards wide, of mud or dust depending on the time of year and heavily rutted. Basically, you used whichever part of the road was in the best condition.