Dirt track road for WW2 Normandy campaign

Two Churchills about to get a nasty surprise

I’m planning a WW2 Normandy campaign using the Crossfire ruleset, and I’ve been collecting up the required models and scenery.

Last week I made some dirt track roads, which were surprisingly successful in that they were very quick, very cheap and look great. Altogether there’s about 8ft – enough for most layouts. They could be used for anything from 15mm up to about 28mm without looking odd.

First I cut up an old bit of hardboard into 2″ wide strips with a jigsaw. Then I cut off the edges at a roughly 45 degree angle with a sharp knife. These were deliberately a bit irregular and jagged. To texture the roads, I used “Decorators’ Caulk”, which is a rubbery gap filler sold in a tube for a sealant gun. I was a bit worried that this might cause the hardboard to warp, so I smeared it on very thin with an old credit card, and then roughed it up a bit with my finger. Each section used about a small teaspoonful. I also scratched in a few wheel ruts, mainly with my finger nail. The longer sections were left to dry with something heavy pinning down each end, to reduce the chance of warping.

They were then painted with brown emulsion, drybrushed with a cream coloured emulsion (1/2″ brush) – I deliberately put more on centre to give it more visual interest. The sections were finished off with static grass at the edges. In total they probably took less than two hours from start to finish.

Close up of road texture