Nice looking work, but if you want to sift your own ballast you need a set of screens like this, not just the one for the size you wish to use. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Stackable-Plastic-Sieve-Screen-Kit-4-screens-Classifying-20-40-50-60-Mesh-Gold/312316630717?hash=item48b78596bd:g:Qb4AAOSwwkRb6jn~:rk:2:pf:0
because first you needs to get all the big stuff removed with a #60, then sift for the good chunks using the #50 for mainline and Code 100 then the #40 for the code 83 and/or sidings, and then you need to get rid of the super fine stuff that is just way too little using the #20 (for an extra $10 you can get the four-screen set with the proper #30 in it from Amazon) so it doesn’t wind up looking like you ballasted your mainline with a load of peat moss.
Happy railroooooading!
Actually, I used three different sieves that I had on-hand, then finished-up with the spatter screen - it was the one that allowed me to end up with pretty-much prototypically-sized HO ballast.
Wayne
Not all brands sell by fine/medium/coarse. I would recommend any brand of real rock ballast over Woodland Scenics based on the trouble so many people seem to have with it. I use Scenic Express #40 for mainline ballst in HO, and fine sand for secondary tracks.
DSC03135 by wp8thsub, on Flickr
[bow] For a while I vasseled back and forth as to which size fit HO, so for years I [bow][bow]used different sizes, N scale or HO scale then I started to really scrutinize what I was using. One day while walking along the tracks in front of my house I picked up some pieces of ballast and held them in my hand. I then looked at the hands of HO figures and tried to justify size when I realized the medium ballast was too big.
N scale looked better:
Then I discovered street dust which is even finer and I used that as well.
The nice thing about the street dust is the variety of colors that’s contained within the dust.
It seems to blend well with the track and it seems to be almost scale. I use it on both mainlines and sidings.
Just have to strain it and run a magnet through it to take out impurities. It is easy to work with and the white glue works well. If you want to change its coloring just mix in some gound up chalk.
It the real thing from nature, another reason I like it.
Robert Sylvester
Newberry-Columbia Line, SC