I am sceniced in one area enough that I am ready to lay some ballast, and am wondering about your ideas. I use the old sift and move with a small soft paint brush, but get a little frustrated. If I am not very careful the ballast flys leaving ballast scattered way to far from the track. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
thanks
Randy Johnson [:D]
I found that a large soft makeup brush is better than a smaller brush. I use the Arizona Rock Co real rock ballast and find it stays in place better as it is heavier. I place the ballast with the Micromark ballast laying tool. I find I usually have to add more to the shoulders, but it puts the right ammount between the rails. A gentle brushing action straight down the rails gets the center right quite quickly. Then I brush gently at an angle down each shoulder. The width of the brush gets it done in one pass (sort of), and the gentle action stops it flying everywhere.
Where do you find it and what color is it Simon?
Thanks for the makeup bru***ip
Randy Johnson
http://rrscenery.com/azrock3HO.html
It is a great product and in many colors. You can choose based on your prototype.
I use a spoon to apply the ballast and then I use my finger to smooth out between the rails and for the shoulders I take the back of the spoon and smooth it out. I also take the side of the spoon and tap the ties in between the rails, it helps get the ballast off the ties. Then I glue it.
Yup, I’ll second (third?) the makeup brush. Very gentle, no “flicking” the ballast all over the place. I was lucky to hear that tip early in the hobby.
My problem has always been the wetting agent. In N scale, even a fine mist of pure alcohol can cause a frustrating amount of ballast movement. The pieces are just so fine it doesn’t take much to disturb them (and me!).
Any suggestions for that? Thanks in advance.
SRT.
For my N scale track, after I wet the ballast and apply the glue, I go through and shape the ballast with a flat toothpick. It can be a little time consuming, but it’s the only way that I’ve been able to get the look that I want so far.
—jps
To save money, dirt roads and areas in parking lots where cars have run over the dirt and turned it into a fine granulated material, this gets it to scale. Sift through various sifters and store in coffee cans. You will get multiple colors. Last but not least, run a magnet through the material before using it for ballast. It’s free and you get pounds of it.
Also, sand box sand, same thing, cat litter without the blue stuff, crush it down gently with a rolling pin.
Alcohol the ballast, soak it, then white glue 1 part white glue to 5-6 parts water.
The WTRR
Hub City Yard Office
How do I ballast w/o the extra words? With great dificulty! It has to be about the most tedious chore do. I did a psgr depot that’s about 16 ft long and 9 tracks wide (8 platform & 1 running). You just have to grit you’re teeth and start at the farthest track. By way of inspiration, I’ve figured out a way to make nit-picking a positive trait. I look at pictures of MRRs and pick out what things in the pix detract from the realsim. Number one on my list is the impossibly sharp curves we have but that’s something that’s pretty much out of our hands. Number two is clumps of ballast rising above the level of the ties. So grit your teeth, chase the kids out of earshot and have at it. If done right it’s worth the effort.
How do I ballast w/o the extra words? With great dificulty! It has to be about the most tedious chore do. I did a psgr depot that’s about 16 ft long and 9 tracks wide (8 platform & 1 running). You just have to grit you’re teeth and start at the farthest track. By way of inspiration, I’ve figured out a way to make nit-picking a positive trait. I look at pictures of MRRs and pick out what things in the pix detract from the realsim. Number one on my list is the impossibly sharp curves we have but that’s something that’s pretty much out of our hands. Number two is clumps of ballast rising above the level of the ties. So grit your teeth, chase the kids out of earshot and have at it. If done right it’s worth the effort.
See: http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?page=4&TOPIC_ID=32122
Track on my HO Siskiyou Line (click to enlarge)
First of all I am in HO and use 1" wide pieces of paneling for my underlayment as cork looks to high to me. I slot it about every inch for curves and can lay 30" radius with ease. Then I pour the ballast betyween the rails for a couple of inches and use a stick to move the excess down the track. because my underlayment is only 1" wide some of the ballast falls naturally outside through the voids between the ties giving the shoulder and letting the ends of the ties appear. Then I take a screwdriver and tap the top of the rails gently to vibrate the excess ballast on top of the ties into the voids. This only leaves a few grains on top of the ties to clean up later. use a piece of styrene, cardboard or something similar to straighten the edge on both sides, spary it with wetting solution and flood the area with a 50% water, 50% white glue mix. I use a model airplane fuel bulb for this. It holds a vast amount of glue and is controllable. When it dries pick off the stray ballast. Move to the next section and repeat as needed.
One trick I tried (and I can’t remember where I first heard about it) was a little “instant weathering”, by adding some PollyS Earth to the matte medium until it was kind of a light chocolate milk color, before putting it on the ballast. It really seemed to tone down the color of the ballast and blend it together nicely.
jimrice4449, I’m sorry to hear you don’t like ballasting…I found it be kind of theraputic, as it seemed to only take about four of my brain cells to put down ballast, and I could really have some quiet time, forget about the troubles of the day and let my mind go blank for a while LOL!
Now, wiring is what I hate…I’d almost rather have oral surgery than do wiring - notice I said almost [:D]
Use FINE ballast (smaller rocks fit into voids easier), use a heavy spoon (Army surplus) for spreading and tapping, use large eyedropper (free @Walmart pharmacy) with 50% glue, 25% alcohol, 25% water +1 drop soap.
Soap plus alcohol seems redundant but IMHO soap wets better, but alcohol evaporates (leaves space and draws heat out). Wait 3 days to dry.
I did try using a spray bottle to apply the PVA/washing up liquid mix but it didn’t work too well - either too runny (so it went everywhere and didn’t fix the ballast) or too thick so it clogged the nozzle. Now I use a syringe obtained from an old printer ink cartridge refill kit and a small glass jar (allows me to peel out the hardened PVA residue afterwards) and apply small quantities at low pressure - you want to flood the ballast with the mixture but you need to be careful not to wash it away by pressing down on the syringe too hard. As far as placing the ballast is concerned, I cut a small notch in the top of the bag and pour it on as a thin line before smoothing it down with a finger - it’s very easy to put too much in at first, and removing excess is harder than adding more. Hope this is of help!
I use a makeup brush, which always gets a raised eyebrow at Macy’s when I go to get a replacement and spend a lot of time comparing, LOL! But it does do the trick. I ‘pinch’ it a little to make the brush slightly more focused when I’m spreading the ballast around, then I spray the ballast with water mixed with 3 drops of detergent, before fixing it with WS cement. Since I’m in a garage, the ballast usually sets up in about 12 hours. As to words? Well, I have a specific vocabulary that I use JUST for ballasting, however I try not to use them with the garage door open (what will the neighbors think?).
Tom [:P][:P][:P]
Thanks for all the great replies, I really liked the one about adding tint to the glue. As a pastor I have to find a less frustrating way to spread the ballast, or elst lock the doors and tell the church members I am out of town![:D]
thanks
Randy Johnson
What you want is precision. If you use an eyedropper or syringe it’s like a rifle; a SPRAY bottle is like a shotgun.
Precise gluing is a necessity for turnouts. Don’t spray glue randomly over everything. Don’t prep the area with oil on the rails or mask everything. Enough said.
I use sifted stone dust from a local quarry. Spread it first using a spoon. then I use a crayola paint brush (about 3/4 inch round) to move the ballest veerry slowly. Then go over it with a cheap 2" soofftt bristle paint bru***o smooth it. After that spray with wet water, and use a turkey baster, yes I said turkey baster to glue it with 30/70 elmers glue and water.
best photo sample I can find at moment. Also forgive the red rails. The film I was uasing for this made everything look red and anything that was red jumped off the pic.