With reference to a post made in 2008 I enclose a picture of my method of making road surfaces from 5mm foam board, [Canson is the only one I've found to peel reliably but you're not after a perfect finish] with one paper surface peeled off to represent a lower layer of large rammed stone, then two or three layers of smaller stones with a crushed stone dressing rolled on top.
Sandpapered to a pleasing camber, then some toy cars driven over it to make ruts, then coated with a Dulux Tester pot of washable emulsion and while still wet a coating of very finely sieved chinchilla dust. Choose which direction the sun principally shines from on your layout and with a skinny brush darken the 'shadow' side of the biggest ruts. Put some of the bigger sievings along the outside where the gravel gets thrown and that should be O.K.
Doug
[This picture has previously been posted on RMWeb]
Very impressive Doug, looks extremely realistic. Well done.
Keith
Thanks, Doug - that looks good.
That question - which direction does the sun mainly shine on your layout? - is quite a profound one and I think helpful to ask (and decide!) quite early on in planning one's layout.
David.
Looking from the front inwards, it shines from the right at 45 degrees. It means that as long as I know the orientation and where on the layout a structure may be, the shadows line up.
Unless told otherwise, if I make a model for someone else I put the sun vertically above.
The simplest shadow to add is a1mm line in waterproof 1mm fibre tip under window sills.
Doug