What is the suggested ballast size for HO?
I purchased some #40 grain and #50 grain Bags from “Smith & Sons” at Hobby Haven in Des Moines, but I’ve also got some Woodland Scenics “Fine” ballast as well. They offer it in Fine, medium and course.
Frank,
The WS “fine” ballast will work just…“fine” for HO-size ballast. How does that compare to the #40 & #50 bags of the other ballast?
Tom
Uh… how about bags of ballast labeled HO? sorry couldn’t resist!
The ballast that I have held in my hands from the CPR main in the Thompson River Valley in central British Columbia is approximately 2" long and perhaps 1.5" wide by 0.5" thick…the piece I took away was almost shaped like an fat arrowhead. So, taking that to 1/87th, you get something the size of a grain of salt, somewhat smaller even. I would guess that would equate to “fine”.
#40 is about the same as fine in woodland scenics but the #50 is even finer…
Doh! Why didn’t I think of that?
Oh, I know…I live in the North East.[:-,]
The Woodland Scenics fine ballst looks right on my N scale layout. I compared it to pictures I took of the UP mainline near here, but it’ll look good on HO as well.
I asked Gary Hoover (many times published in MR) what he uses on his HO layout and he likes the look of the fine ballast over the medium. He builds his layouts as if looking through the lense of a camera. Having seen his results first hand, going with the fine/#40 would be my choice in HO.
The #50 would be good for gravel roads.
I have a bag of play sand that I bought. Thought I’d spread some out on old newspaper, and use grey spay paint, then spread some more out on another newspaper, and spray paint it black. Then could mix some of it together.Maybe use different shades of grey paint and black.Maybe just a bit of white colored sand blended in.
I’ve seen clear plastic bottles like W/s ballast comes in at Hobby Lobby.Could keep the different colors of sand ballast in them.
I’ve read on the forums here somewhere where some guys were using sand, just my idea of painting it different colors. Wouldn’t be anywhere as expensive as W/S ballast
TheK4Kid
“Painting sand” is not as easy as it may sound, especially with a spray can. You’ll run into at least two problems: 1. The spray can will blow the sand off the paper you’ve laid it out on. 2. When the paint dries, it will stick the sand to the paper.
Even if you are successful, only one side of the sand grain will be covered with paint.
WS ballast is ok but to me it looks too large i much prefer Arizona Rocks Fine Ballast
Even when I find ballast that looks good , I have put some in a coffee grinder and hit it a few times, made it even finer. Too long and you have dust. A cheap coffee grinder really is nice for making fine materials.
As mentioned by TomDiehl above painting sand isn’t going to work very well. Personally I would use Woodland Scenics or some other product. Masonery sand can work well but be sure to run a magnet through it first.
On my layout I used a mix of colours of Woodland Scenics medium ballast. The mix was/is 2 parts Buff 1 part Brown 1part Dk Brown and 1 part Grey Blend. The ballast was placed in a container and shook up until it was completely mixed. The bonded ballast method was used to secure it to the roadbed.
I am preparing a clinic on ballast to give to the local NMRA division so i have spent quite a bit of time lately reviewing my many slides of pictures of track.
There really is a huge variety of sizes of ballast. I have a photo taken at Bureau Jct IL on the former Rock Island wye, now an ICE line that heads down to Peoria, with some of the largest rock ballast I have ever seen. While the Woodland Scenics Medium ballast generally looks a little too large to my eye, for this purpose it might be too small.
But on the BNSF and CP I generally see ballast about half that size, where the WS fine size would be about right. In Butler Yard in Milwaukee the ballast is actually chips of “pink lady” rock, hardened by years of switchman’s boots into a compacted solid appearance. There is no model ballast I am aware of that is actually correct for that look. It is more of a texture than separate pieces of rock or stone. I may have to give this coffee grinder idea a try for that purpose.
There is also a huge difference in where the ballast ends up. On some railroads hardly a bit of ballast is to be found on top of the ties. Other railroads do not care. Again in yards they try to avoid tripping hazards for nighttime work so I see less ballast on the tops of ties than on the main. I think oversize ballast is more noticable when it ends up on the tops of the ties or along the sides of the rails.
The other difference is whether the ends of the ties are totally covered or not.
I notice when laying ballast that once I have fastened it by flooding it with matte medium or WS scenic cement, it suddenly seems to look smaller because the gaps are somewhat filled by the medium.
David Nelson
I use Woodland Scenics fine ballast, it looks right for HO scale although I’ve never actually measured a piece of real ballast before to see how acurate it is. Off to the tracks I go, lol…
I remember seeing posts of your layout on this forum. You have one fine looking N scale layout. If the fine ballast is good enough for Gary, then its good enough for me.[:)]
I prefer the woodland scenics fine ballast for my HO track. The fine ballast also goes a longer way than the medium grade ballast.
Ballast sure has come a long way over the years. I don’t know if any of you guys ever remember the Life Like ballast they used to sell at Toys R Us in that small box. That stuff looked like the track was ballasted with boulders when all was said and done…chuck
Would putting it in a water tight container and using dye work?
Then drain it out and let it dry?
Then again wait for Hobby Lobby to send out by email some more 40% off any item in the stiore coupons, and use those , because Hobby Lobby already has decent prices on W/S ballast and with 40% off that, it would be a fairly good deal.
PS-If any of you guys and gals are not aware of it, you can sign up with HOBBY LOBBY to have weekly emails sent to you.Sometimes they contain a general 40% off coupon for any item in the store, sometimes the coupons are more product specific.
You simply print out the coupon, and CAN USE ONE A DAY at any HOBBY LOBBY store.You can go in EVERYDAY of the week and USE ONE COUPON, so if you want to stock up on something like MRR stuff, it’s not a bad deal!
TheK4Kid
If you empty the vessel out onto a non-stick cookie sheet or four, it should dry nicely and then be easily swept off with a wide artists brush into a suitable container for storage.
My worry, though, would be when it comes time to glue it after you have groomed it along the tracks. As soon as you wet it with a fixing mixture, what is likely to happen? Maybe nothing…but a little trial sounds like a very good idea.
-Crandell
Hmm… not sure how location fits in there. I’m from all over the map so explain that! (born and lived in Texas 6 years, parents from Iowa shock, 10 years Indiana, 17 years California, 12 years NY State. Hmmm…
Just yanking your chain about package labeling! 
Us Iowans were taught that theres only 2 things to have come out of the state of Texas but decorum prohibits me from elaborating. [;)]
Your parents were COOL.