Just a general tip for anybody that happens to stumble on this - On dirt roads, the grass track down the middle is an artifact of mechanization. If you're doing a fantasy or historical setting where there is a substantial amount of horse based traffic, it shouldn't be there.

Mel even 7 years down the line you are still my go to for learning a new thing😊

That quip about the Grey Knights was great!

Love these tutorials... Love that you don't sell useless items , that all materials are mentioned , no step jumping and thanks to this I've tried my own terrain nothing worth showing but this has helped me improve all together

Hello Mel! I recently came upon a new type of material that eliminates the thickness and the fear of warping of road and river sections! I was shopping for felt at the local department store as I wanted to have a go at attempting to create said roads and rivers out of silicone glued to felt for durability... I came upon a totally ignored material to date but often used by crafters . Coloured, 2mm thick foam rubber sheets. (They come in a vast assortment of colours black , brown, red, purple, lilac, yellow dark royal blue , turquoise, lime green, forest green and grey). I bought a few of the blue, forest and lime green, and black to see what I could accomplish with them. Lo and behold the easiest, most fllexible, lightweight and thin road and river sections I could find. Since I game in 6mm scale these were the closest to perfect other than actually painting roads and rivers on a modular board, and much more versatile. to offer a variety of terrain layouts. I simply cut the roads into 25mm sections straight, 1/4 and 1/2 curved, y forks, T junctions, cross roads and winding, coat them with mat Mod Podge, sprinkle on some very fine white sand from War Paint terrain and when dry apply a thin bead of white PVA Tacky glue to the edges to which I add a green coloured static grass and the odd clump of foam clump foliage. That dry I then paint the road an earthy broms and dry brush on lighter brown and tan to give a 3D relief effect. When all is dry apply a coat of spray fixative. For the rivers, I use the already royal blue cloured foam sheets, paint in a few lighter or darker areas if deep or shallow water , cover the entire section with Gloss Mod Podge a couple of coats gives best result and 3D ripples. I then use a bead of Tacky white glue to the river edges on which I sprinkle regular sand and the odd fine crushed stones. When dry you can add tufts of small Tall Static Grass or foam Flock and Clump foliage. Treat with the fixative as the roads above. The results are awesome looking on the tabletop and can be secured on the underside by means of a 15mm x 25mm piece of duct tape easily peeled off when done using and stored away. They do not warp, and can be used to go uphills and down as well.

Parcel tape... Brilliant! Mel, you threw more tips out there in half an hour than I've heard in the last year. Wonderful video and I'll be watching this again... With a notepad handy. Loved the ending, lol! "Happy landings!"

Your vids are addicting. You are a wizard.Thank you again.

I really like the muddy road; going to have to have a go at that. I might make some slightly deeper ruts and add some epoxy for puddles. Great stuff Mel.

Brilliant tutorial. Used some of the techniques to give texture to my scalextric track to turn it into a rally stage! So much better than boring black!

This is the one I've been waiting for! Perfect tutorial for what I needed, cheers for the hard work.

I am so happy I found your channel. So helpful for villaging and D&D. Just awesome. Thanks.

Great tutorial! The Stirland Mud alternative on the Luke's APS tutorial could help you speed up the muddy texture

Mod podging down some sand paper works pretty good too, if you’re looking for a uniform look.

You remind me of Neil Buchanan with your enthusiasm and you simple, concise directions. well done! You don't have to be a good at art to be a terrain maker!

Perfect! I was just making a diorama and was wondering how to do the dirt roads. Now I know! Thank you, Sir.

I find that cork strips (about the size of yard/meter sticks) work pretty well-- once touched up with paint, flocking, and "gravel"... Especially for smaller scale

Another great video Mel, you are a terrain Maniac!!!! Well done mate, I shall be borrowing some of these tips in a diorama that I have in my head and want to build. Many thanks as always for great videos and great advice and top tips. Have fun mate, Joe

I have to say Mel, your tips and tutorials are simply stunning and a huge help. Keep up the great work and i will be chipping in ££, cheers duck

So cool to see that your so passionate

Brilliant! Easy and cheap solutions for us newcomers to the hobby. I will be trying the popsicle stick method today and if successful I will combine the technique with TP water effects to make river tiles!

Mel, timing is everything, this will go perfect on my farm diorama, oh ya great vid.

Super really enjoyed watching how it's done

some ppl say "ah" or "ehm" and TTT says "what should i call it" lol love it

Very great instructional video. Thank you. I like to use some oil stain dark walnut and put it in my ruts and tire tracks. Gives it a wet puddle look

Absolutely amazing tutorial!👍🍻

You must really love what you do...it shows!

Great Job as always Mel. i like to chop up some old wagon wheels from my old Warhammer Kits to embed in roads. not often but here or there gives it some character

I truly learn a lot from your videos

You really are the Bob Ross of the West Midlands. 🎨 🙌

As always, another great video. Keep 'em comin'. --Rusty

have you thought about making roads, even rivers from roof felt? I found some in my shed and the idea came to me. It is flexible, lies flat, is grit textured and is thin so doesn't lie above your terrain mat. It can also be cut to any size with scissers. Come to think of it, it can also be used for terrain pieces

Awesome stuff as always.

thanks for the great tips, thumbs up

It looks really nice!!!

Good sound advice.

Great stuff as always mate

Really enjoyed watching . Built models,weathered and chipped,now having seen your tutorial will try using the road as a start to do diaramas. would like to see how you next link models built with teh roads and pathways . Quality half hour. Thanks again

Brilliant!

Stumbled across this channel when looking to upgrade my Necromunda Ash Wastes (games workshop) terrain. Really good and instructive tutorials. I used this particular one for some road sections for the Ash wastes, with the foam board and filler method, and they turned out awesome. 😁 Me and my nerd syndicate thank you muchly 👍👍

Looks ace Mel

i used your models as base for paths in my game. thank you

Love this channel

Really like the horse shoe tip!

These are great for model railroading!

Fantastic video as always now I know how to make a dirt road and path

You are an absolute master! Hopefully one day I'll quit being lazy and apply your techniques and make a small vignette or diorama.

superb video, as usual. Great help to a terrain novice like me :-)

A great video again.

A friend of mine used brown caulking spread on brown felt to make roads. They look great EXCEPT that they did warp a bit on the edges. I love the idea of brown packing tape to prevent warping. It should leave it flexible enough to conform to hills. You could probably use the same techniques to make streams and rivers.

Thks for some great ideas

i found a cheaper version of that diall that you use its sand , babypowder (the stuff that you put on their bums) and glue mixed and its like cemend ! (sorry for my bad english i am not that good)

great job hope to get it 1/2 as good as yours

excellent video 😃.

That’s great be nice as a rainy set where there could be puddles not sure how hard that would be

very nice thank you

For the road with the horse hoof prints, you could make it cart wheel tracks (as opposed to tire tracks) using either a thick washer or a wooden disk (from a Arts Supply store). Have you ever though of making CD's of some of your tutorials to sell?

if you want a broken grass effect just dab the brush on the areas where you want flock but not alot and it will look like patchy grass.

Filler and ice cream sticks takes the cake in this one, boss!

good work !! another awesome vid!! Sniper joe would be proud ;)

Wow no worping . Great Job!

good work,mate

Wow. 3200 thumbs up. NONE DOWN!!! Impressive. Love it.

great

If it's available in the U.K you can also use KNAUF's gold band, it's really fine plaster that costs 25kg for 8 euros

This was a good tutorial "ya" i really liked it and learned alot "Yah" and wanna thank you for putting in the effort "yah"

Not half as much fun as watching the making of... Good work again Mel.

Great looking work again Mel, really like the hoof prints. Was wondering though, with things like these roads, the hedges and the obstacles, do they need a thinned pva sealing coat on the flocks/foliage to make them sturdy for gaming or are they good to go as is?

Loved the video. The roads you made seemed like they were made for bigger scales. Do you think this technique will work for 10mm? If not, any suggestions? I think I lean toward the third one you did (the 2").

I thought this was about actual roads lol I guess the t shirt should have raised some bells

I do the same as the lolly sticks yet I use opened up paperclips end to end.

Just as a major note, if you're planning on using them for any period where horses are a major part of it, skip the middle track of green, that's something that only really comes about without animal power and cars (And other vehicles that won't be munching on the greenery that's right there).

Great vid. Can you explain a technique to make marks from tank chains on a muddy road?

There’s a sign shop in the same building I live in and sure as punch they had some scrap 3mm ePVC! Although they didn’t know what it was called lol...actually I believe it’s more like 2mm maybe...

Great videos, very helpful nice one. But has anyone ever tried to count how often he says "yeah" 😂 just teasing mate lol enjoyed the video

Great tutorial by the way. But where in the UK did you get this PVC board from, I'm looking to make some roads for WW2 terrain. Thanks and keep up the good work.

Tremendous

awesome channel I wonder if there is any video on DIY grass?

@TheTerrainTutor man please tell me how do you call those white pieces you're showing in the video because I'm new in modelling? Oh and you've got some really great videos,keep it up! 😉

Awesome vid. Hope these techniques will work on cardboard

Could you make a tutorial about deserts? like, sort of a Small Canyon or something similar?

Interesting point to keep in mind, fellow Terrainiacs..... (If doing fantasy/historical roads.) The grass patch that runs the center of the road is a modern thing. Historical roads didn't have those, as they are made by continual use of car tyres. Though in older times carts were used, the wheels were much thinner and the amount of people walking or riding horse back far outweighed those travelling by cart or wagon, and these people tended to walk or ride in the middle of the road, So that centerline patch of grass would never grow. Not exactly breaking news, but its a fact that many movies and tv shows overlook. Only because I'm aware of it, it really throws me out of the moment when I see it.

Do you have any videos showing how you make bends or curves to go along with the straights?

Hey @TheTerrainTutor - Great looking stuff! Looking to make my own out of double corrugated cardboard. I made dungeon tiles out of them using DMG method with slight changes. They hold up pretty well but just have paint, no PVA. Do you think I should move to styrofoam (I've seen that vid)? I want to make square tiles with plain green flock. Then make foliage, trees, rocks, etc that can be put on the plain green tiles. Any recommendations for making my outdoor terrain out of double corrugated cardboard or should I make the switch? This is for D&D encounters, not anything big like warhammer. In my head, the pva and cardboard will not last.

Would you recommend using the tape under your regular terrain pieces to counter warping?

Great work once again Mel. Just one question how would you store these roads without damaging the foliage?

Hey Mel. Have you thought of starting an Amazon store? If I'm not mistaken you will get a small commission from everything sold. I'm not 100% sure how it works though.

Can I use adhesivespray or perhaps matt lacquerspray to seal off the turf and sand instead of 1/6 water diluted PVA glue, or will it destroy the colors and more ? Thank you for ones again a very instructive and inspiring video, there are always a joy to watch ...;-))) Many thanks for showing Mel and keep up the good work ... ;-)

grate vid. would the anti warping ideas work with hard board? thanks

Okay, I'll google expanded PVA foam (forex) to make some straight bits but what do I do about curves? As most country paths, roads and rivers which I presume is much the same process, I'd like to know if there's this PVA card in wide enough bits to cut a curved bit or do you use something else like MDF with more anti-warp techniques. These videos are such a hoot! Thanks so much and hope you have a happy and prosperous holiday season.

What is the base material you are using? The white sheets? I didn't hear you say anywhere what those are. Thanks!

Those are awesome but I'm not familiar with the material. Maybe 1/8 mdf? Foam core isn't rigid enough.

patron: hi do you have any vids or plans for building bridges? possibly stone ones.

Is it pvc expanded foam sheets for the bases? I've been looking and haven't found a good place to buy it from. Any suggestions?

What type of paint where you using when dry brushing great video btw

Can u make a river cliff side video

what should i do for my country side road like what vehicles should i place on

Hmm, I used this method on 3mm foam core, reinforcing the long edges with ice cream sticks. I used some generic wood filler to coat them with. I still have some warping on the long side, and considerable warping on the short side. Basically looking at my road pieces head on they look like shallow parentheses :) Should I be using specific types of filler on the road, or what could be causing this?

Where does one find the cream colours paint jars? I wasn't able to make out the name on the jars from the video.

Are you going to do more on the BAPT Show off your Chindits and Gurkhas.

Hi Mel , do you use the Black Foam board? would you recommend it?