My cork road bed is down but my track is not nailed down yet. I have Atlas remote turnouts I will have ballast on all the track, how do you apply the balast under the turn outs so they move freely but still looks good
Paint your cork roadbed gray before you put track or turnouts down. Apply the ballast very sparingly in those turnout areas that move. It’s also a good idea to put a light coating of Vaseline or light oil under the turnout throwbar so the glue won’t stick it to the cork roadbed when you glue your ballast.
Also, if you look at real turnouts, they don’t have ballast around the switch throwbar.
Very carefully. [:D]
Like this…I put the ballast in place,spread it and tamp it making sure all ballast is at tie level…
I just tried the Splatter paint trick that was listed in the September Model Railroader.
Just spray the roadbed area around the turnout area (without the track there!) with the paint (which is a White/Gray/Black color) and once dry then lay the track.
When I get around to ballasting I won’t have to put a lot of ballast right at the points and it will still look like it was ballasted.
The paint I used was the Plasti-kote - Fleck Stone #11444 (Manhattan Mist) available at Wal-Mart.
Be carefull when spraying this paint is it really does splatter all over the place!
BOB H
Place masking tape, or painter’s tape, over the turnout. Cover from the point rails outward another 3/4", and cover about 1/2" after the hinges of the point rails…so we’re talking a piece of tape about 5" long, maybe 6". Also, make sure the tape covers the ties that comprise the throwbar guards, because that area must remain clear when you have glued and let it all dry. Ballast everything else that is not covered as you would any other trackage on your layout. Once that is done and dry, remove the tape, and then use a teaspoon to fill in areas where you know you can improve appearance but still not interfere with the points rails or the throwbar. For example, you can add ballast toward the points from that end of the turnout, and place ballast between the point rails closer to the frog, and so on. It takes time, but it is worth this trouble to get it safe and looking good. Use an eye dropper for this part of the glueing to keep everything neat.
A final tip - don’t glue the ballast over the turnout more than is necessary to form a thin hard shell to keep the ballast in position. If you glue it solidly, it will be hard to get the turnout out for servicing, and they all need servicing. If you just form a thin shell, you can pry out the turnout with little effort, and then re-ballast once it is replaced.
I also like Bob’s idea above.