I would like to mix white glue and water to spray onto my sand and sawdust groundcover. What is a good ratio of glue to water ? 4:1 perhaps ? Thanks for any answers, Joe
First, wet it thoroughly with “wet water” ( water with a few drops of detergent). Then use 4 water to 1 white glue. Be sure to vacuum, before running your trains. Gears, sand and sawdust do not mix ! For attaching SceniKing sequential 7"x11" paper wall panorama, I find that using a giant glue stick holds the paper firmly, but the paper sections can be removed, if necessary. Bob Hahn
I have used glue/water mixtures successfully with a ratio of 1 part glue to nearly 8 parts water. It works fine. Two to three drops of dish detergent is a must. Pre-spraying with a 70% isopropyl alcohol mixture helps a lot.
Because you are spraying, which works marvellously, you must also mask your tracks with 1.5" wide painter’s or masking tape. If you don’t, and get busy doing a whole bunch of spraying or something else, your tracks will have dried glue on their tops. That stuff is murder on power pickup. If you don’t want to mask, then have a damp, clean, cloth handy that you can use to wipe the rail tops immediately.
-Crandell
I typically use 3 parts water to 1 part glue. I pre-wet with isopropyl alcohol, straight from the bottle. I could probably thin the alcohol, but it’s cheap enough that I don’t feel like going through that extra effort.
I don’t spray anything. Instead, I use a pipette to drip the alcohol on exactly where I want it, and not anywhere else. For the glue, I use an old Elmers bottle with the built-in dispenser top. By applying the materials in precise drops, I don’t have to mask and I don’t get glue anywhere it’s not wanted.
Well, for glueing ballast (and I’m guessing it will work for scenery as well), I use a 50:50 mix of rubbing alchol to water to wet it, then a 50:50 mix of white glue to water to secure it in place. I think the water/rubbing alchol makes it take a while to dry though.
I agree with Mister B. on this - spraying puts a lot of glue in places where it’s neither needed nor wanted: on track, structures, rock formations and nearby trees. It also doesn’t put enough in places where your scenery consists of anything more than a very light sprinkling of ground foam. I have areas on my layout where the scenery is over an inch thick - a spray wouldn’t even secure the surface material. After applying the dry scenic materials (ballast, foam, rock fill, etc.), use a sprayer to pre-wet the area - I use tap water to which a few drops of liquid dish detergent has been added. Make sure to thoroughly soak the area - this is the key to getting a good bond. For distributing the 50/50 mixture of glue and water, I use a plastic bottle that dispenses it by-the-drop. Because it doesn’t need to be re-filled so often, the work goes quickly, and the pre-wetting of the area ensures that each drop spreads quickly, both outward and downward.
When I say soak, I mean soak!
Here’s the dropper bottle of which I spoke:
Don’t skimp on the glue mixture, either - it’s not that expensive. [swg]
Once it dries, it’ll look like it’s still loose, but you’ll be able to vacuum it to keep it looking as fresh as when you “planted” it:
Wayne
My method is similar to MrB’s. I use an eye dropper to wet with alcohol, followed by using an elmer’s glue bottle. I dilute at 3-4 parts water to 1 part glue. It is not an exact science. It all sets up. Wayne’s photos show it well.
Sue
I’ve tried using the water/dish soap as a wetting agent, and I’ve tried spraying this as well as dripping it. by far, dripping pure alcohol makes it dry a lot faster. The earlier attempts would sometimes take 3 days to completely dry, but now it’s always rock-hard overnight. Alcohol evaporates much faster than water, and I think that’s the key.