well I finally did some ballasting and weathering HO size, abit a yard track (no road bed) and a bit main line w/cork road bed , first I did half with wet water and 4 to 1 glue mix and the other half alcohol and woodland scenics seinicglue whatever… hands down I LIKE alcohol & WS scenic glue ,it just went as it should where as the wet water and 4 to 1 kind a pooled up and looked like a bad batch or mix BUT after drying they both look good and I only had one small quarter size dry pocket ( in the 4 to 1 area)
NOW REMEMBER THIS IS MY FIRST TRY AT BALLASTING . and I was quite happy but felt more confident in the alcohol/WS scenic glue.
next I used my rusty railer to paint /weather the track …HMMM I think Ill try paint/ air brush on the next go again MY FIRST TRY but ,well maybe the rusty rail paint was old or something a lot of work and still a lot a missed spots . I well try air brush poly scale BEFORE ballasting next batch . all in all a I’M happy [swg]
thats it OH! could never of pulled it off without reading ALL the fine advise I’ve picked HERE …Jerry
Jerry, glad you had a good experience entering the “wonderful” world of "ballasting. Some love it other’s dread it.
Try using the alcohol and white glue. You will see the same results and at a much lees cost than the WS cement. You don’t mention what your mix is for the “wet water” Wet down w/ alcohol/ water mix you won’t get any “pooling”
Glad to read your posting! My new layout will be ready for ballasting later this year, and I haven’t done that since the mid '90s on my previous layout. I’d love to see some pics!
I have weathered track this last year, using a couple methods. The first was the Floquil track weathering markers, and I also used a Sharpie in brown, and some “dirty” Testors paint wash. Each had their good points.
I did come to one conclusion, however. If I ever build another layout I will weather the track before it is placed. Ha, one could plant himself in a chair with boxes of flextrack and turnouts and just go to it mass production style. That has to be a good way to go about it, but I wonder if anyone has the forethought and patience to do so.
Let me report on my experience. I laid most of my track before I had a good airbrush, and in any event my train room lacks consistent venting so I was relucant to spray paint on site, so to speak. I did take flex track outside and weathered it in large batches using a stand I built of foam core board. I lightly oiled the top of the rail so the paint would be easy to scrape off. And I used two cans of appropriate and complimentary spray paints to get a slightly varied – but not blotchy – effect.
Conclusions:
it works very well for tangent track although you want to do large batches, perhaps your entire layout’s worth, more or less at the same time to get a totallty consistent color and texture. I can see where different lengths of track were painted in different batches.
the more track you paint all at once, the trickier it is to clean off the tops of all those rails even when they have been lightly oiled. Your best bet is when the paint is very fresh but the paint dries and sets rather quickly before you can get to it
when you curve the track little silvery dots appear where the plastic is moved on the base of the rail. So I end up using the Testor’s paint sticks anyway. Even so it may save some time to do large batches and then address the silvery dots.
For stiff flex track such as Micro Engineering i tried to pre-bend it before painting, with some success. But limp flex track such as Atlas just does not hold a bend, and I tried things such as masking tape underneath.
I hate ballasting so I approach it as an experience in zen. I wet the groomed ballast with full strength 71% isopropyl alcohol and follow it with a 1/1 mixture of Elmers white glue and water with a few drops of liquid detergent. Works like a charm.Buy the white glue by the gallon and it is a lot cheaper than the WS scenic cement, and it is the same material, I believe.
I agree with Bob. What a hassle it was after laying track to see the spots. So after that I now lay the track, paint then ballast. So much easier and quicker.