I’ve started ballasting track - not great, but not too bad. On one section of the layout, ballast was dry, so I attempted to put down some ground foam. I managed to cover up some of my carefully done ballast with it - looks lousy. Would I have better luck if I did ground foam and then ballast? I used white glue for the ballast and Scenic cement for the ground foam.
Thanks,
Jim
I had always ballasted first then ground cover.What looks bad about it?
aav,
The ground foam got stuck on top of the ballast and ties on the side. Maybe my procedure was faulty. I brushed on some white glue - maybe on some of the ballast, but certainly not on the ties. They I sifted on some ground foam, some of which naturally fell on the ballast, ties, and rail. Then I got smarter (panicked?) and covered the track with some wide painters tape and oversprayed with 70% alchohol. That may have been my downfall as I think it softened up some of the glue used to hold down the ballast. Then I sprayed/dropped scenic cement over the foam. I pulled up the painters tape, but some of the foam under it stuck and the ballast had softened up.
On my next attempt, I’m gonna cover the track with tape thoroughly and put down the ground foam first. Then I’ll add the ballast and allow it to leach over the foam - seems more natural.
Jim
The 1.5" wide tape over the rails was the omitted step AFAICT. Sprinkling ground foam is like the artillery…an area weapon. Even sprtizing the spread foam with a glue mixture, as I do, blows some of it away an into areas where it is not wanted. But the fact is that some grass will creep into the hem of the ballast over time, and even some tall grasses and broom will creep up into the ballast between the tracks. So, some encroachment is natural.
Grass first, then ballast. Just like real life. [2c]
Thanks. Someone here suggested that the scenery part of the hobby is the creative right-brain part. I’m afraid I’m right-brain challenged! So far, I have trouble comming up with ideas and then even more trouble making them a reality. I have areas that I have ballasted and some that I haven’t. As soon as I figure out where my paved surfaces go, I’ll have another shot at some ground cover. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Jim
good luck. if i remember correctly,which was 10 or 11 years ago, tried several technuiqes before i figured out what worked best for me. your on the right track though.
I just thought of something now while reading the thread that I think might be a good idea. What you could do is, before ballasting, make a small layer of groundfoam or whatever the scenery will be for a given area along the sides of the track/roadbed. Do it about an inch or two wide. This way, you can maintain the natural order of grass > ballast without having to commit to scenicking an entire area if you dont really know what you want to do with it yet. This way you have a kind of buffer when you go back to finish the scene. You’ll be working far enough away from the track that getting errant bits and pieces where they dont belong shouldn’t be a problem, and then you can always go back and detail the right-of-way scenery.
thoughts on this idea?
I’m making progress on the Utopia Yard on my layout. Where ground foam comes in contact with ballast, it’s defineatly much better to do ground foam first and then ballast up to it. The jury is still out on whether paved surfaces should be done after or before ground foam. This time I tried foam first and pavement after - not so easy. Next time I’ll try pavement first and then ground foam. I’ll get this right eventually…
Jim