How to Make a Cobblestone Path

In this video, modeler Martin Tärnrot will demonstrate how to make a cobblestone path, perfect for a model railroad city park. The foundation of the pathway is made up of Styrofoam. He glues the Styrofoam foundation in place with PVA glue. On top of this, he glues the pathway and secures it down to dry with pins. By making the pathway more narrow the farther up on the hill it climbs, it creates a forced perspective of distance.

For the ground layer, he uses wrinkled newspaper as a spacer to hold up the ground surface. He mixes his glue with water in a 50/50 mixture and covers the entire park with paper, gluing the sides to the outside of the path and the edges of the model. He then wets the entire surface of the paper with the glue mixture. After drying overnight, the surface will be a sturdy base for ground cover that is further reinforced with gypsum. He clears this off from the pathway and paints around the path with brown.

The surface of the pathway will be made from an air-hardening clay. He creates a long strip of clay by rolling it out and trimming the edges. After applying glue to the path, he lays down the clay. The pattern on the surface of the clay will be created with a roller. After the pattern is rolled onto the clay, he adds glue to the edges of the path and sprinkles on gravel.

The next step after drying overnight is applying a thin wash of acrylic black and brown paint. This is applied with quite a heavy hand using a paint brush. After this, a layer of white is applied using a dry-brush technique over just the top of the cobblestones. To completely learn how to make a cobblestone path, watch the full video. For more on making gravel asphalt roads or making ground cover with real leaves, visit our archives.