I’ve done a PSP runway base in 1/72 but this is my first attempt in 1/144, and concrete at that. Suffice it to say I don’t really know what I’m doing and am going from photos and on instinct. The squares are 25 scale feet on a side, that seemed reasonable and looked good; the base is Trumpeter’s 7-inch square one. I’m going for the look at Fort Lauderdale NAS in December 1945, so the concrete would be newish and would have gotten a lot of use in a few years. The base is plastic stock, scored with an E-Xacto and blood as appropriate. Base color is Polly Scale Concrete lightened with a lot of Tamiya white. Expansion joints are a half and half mix of gloss and flat black. Dark stains are diluted acrylic black and Polly Scale Grimy Black. Reddish stains are powedered chalk, as are the brownish stains around the corners of each concrete square. Feedback and comments are welcome:
Thanks for the comments, the concrete color gave me fits because I really, really suck at mixing colors. This was my final “close enough is good enough” effort.
Looks great, but, well, vacant. You might want to add some “tire marks” (especially once you figure out where the aircraft is/are going). These marks don’t have to align with the tires – in the real world, it’s a fair bet that they weren’t made by the plane that’s currently parked over them.
I appreciate all the feedback! Being primarily a ship guy means there is a lot of guesswork (read -uncertainty/doubt/anxiety) involved with every airplane build. The final touch is going to be a few puddles of “water” here and there using acrylic gloss gel medium.
