I have spent ages trying to find textured cobblestone roads for my 10-12mm scale models, but without success. There are a couple of different printed ones, designed for model railways, but they weren't exactly what I was looking for.

I decided that I'd have to make my own. I initially tried scouring the local DIY shops for textured wallpaper that was suitable, but once again came up short. (I did find some that would make great ploughed fields though!)

The one day I found a potential solution - 2-ply textured toilet paper! (I think it's Andrex, but I'm not sure - we no longer have the packaging...) After a bit of experimenting, I found it was pretty quick and easy to fabricate some road sections suitable for European towns.

The materials required are:

Roll of suitably textured loo paper, cardboard (or other material for the base), PVA, Nik's Magic Wash (TM) (see below for recipe), sharp knife, good pair of scissors and a paint brush.

There is a step-by-step process:

1) Cut out the road sections to suit. Mine are 40mm wide, and in various lengths (5cm, 7.5 cm 10cm). The drawback with using toilet paper is that unless you can hide the perforations, the maximum length is about 12cm.

2) Split the 2-ply into 1-ply, and place textured side down.If you want to cut the paper (not recommended) use a really sharp pair of scissors and take your time, as the paper tends to tear, rather than cut. Thin the PVA if necessary, paint onto the road section pieces, and carefully position/drop them onto the toilet paper, and allow to dry. Don't push too hard (if at all), as this will squash the texture.

3) Once the glue has dried, turn over and carefully paint on the Magic Wash with soft brush. I found that just loading up the brush with wash,and then letting it flow into the paper works best, rather than painting it on, as the paper is very absorbant, and brushing it too hard/much will damage it. Leave to dry.

4) When the Magic Wash has dried, turn the road sections over again, and trim off the excess paper with a sharp knife.

5) Paint up the edges to match. To undo the warping that occured due to using cardboard, I painted the under side with thinned down PVA.

Job's a good 'un!

Nik's Magic Wash

1/4 jam jar Klear floor polish (a really good article on it's uses is here.)

1/2 jam jar water

1 pot GW ink(in this case black)

As well as giving me the right shade and enhancing the texture, it has the added bonus of stiffening the paper!