Need to hear your tips on quick and easy ways to have the ole rock and roll party on the track. My hands are very arthritic as well as a bone problem with my back and neck. Cant stay in one position very long ( Three, four minits tops) to do the tedious jobs that out hobby dictates. I was doing the old fashion way, but my coffee breaks are getting to close togather now LOL With the price of coffee…I could probably hire a real ballast regulator and track tamper LOL.
I noticed that Elmers glue is now in spray cans, this got me to thinking, Perhaps there is a quicker, effecient way to get fantastic looking balast in a less painfull way that Im not aware of, or with more information I can take a bit from all of you and give my Feather River Route a keener look. I will air brush the center of track when done.
I Love you guys, your a great bunch to be around…John
jwar, also, I like your avatar. Is that on the Highline? I am a GN fan but the wobbly is a close second choice. I do free-mo modules and have in progress a set of modules of the GN-WP interchange at Beiber circa '47-'50 Happy railroading! John jc5729
jwar, my first reply got lost, so am re-doing it. Two great solutions jump to mind…1. Get together an informal “RR Club” and share the work. Or, the best, teach some young folks how to do it and share your hobby with them. The rewards are far greater than just getting ballast done! jc5729
Hi John…Thank you for your comments about my Avatar, its on my main of which really…really …needs balasing, thats why I use tiny pictures that cant be blown up.LOL…I shot that comming off the bridge in the lower right corner.
Thanks again for the advice…might just train up my grandaughter shes ten and a good tree maker.
I wish I had an elegant and easy solution for you. Perhaps if you told us exactly what about ballasting the usual (or your usual) way is problematic for you…? Clearly, reaching and bending for several minutes to tidy the profile is going to bother most of us after several minutes, but perhaps even getting into that position is a real challenge for you.
I would have suggested pre-ballasted track, as unpalatable as that may sound, and using some artistic method to derive the salt & pepper look by rubbing the plastic ballast surfaces with a couple of colours to get the mottled look. Personally, I use an aluminum pie plate with a cup of sand in it, hold it parallel to the track, and shake it along the ties to get a berm. Then, I pour a bit inside the rails, flick it gently with a soft brush to spread it, and do the same outboard of the rails to get the tie ends clear. I also try to tidy the foot of the ballast, but that can be tidied after gluing by spending off moments here and there picking away at the stuff that is objectionably displaced.
As for the reach, you’ve got me there…scaffold-type ladder, maybe?
Good luck on the ballasting, if I were closer I would offer to help you ballast your rails. Your grand daughter is a good tree maker??? Can I borrow her for a while? haha. I like your layout, would like to see it in opperation. Mike
Somebody makes a ballast tool - looks like a beercan cozy that you put on the tracks, load with ballast and slide it along. Don’t know how well it works and you’d still have to glue it down.
Somebody on this forum has used flexstone spraypaint for ballast - he sprays the roadbed and lays the track in it. It holds the track and looks pretty good, but it looks like you have most of your track already down so that probably isn’t an option for you.
That Knoch stuff looks interesting, but 11 pounds for 5 meters translates out to something like $18 for less than 6 feet, not counting shipping.
Thanks for the tips Guys…and you got me thinking. Train up a child seems like a good way to go. Looking at another thread concerning sunday school kids and trains, Just may go that way too
But The main thing I really have to do, is stop whinning, theres a lot worse off then me, Promise not the whine, if I do SLAP ME…LOL…John
John…one of my best friends has a fabulous layout he’s been building over the years but is now unable to do much of anything because of age. I’ve provided much of the manpower for his most recent projects and have welcomed an opportunity to learn from a Master Modeler. My modeling skills have increased beyond my wildest imagination through his guidance.
As has been suggested, find a willing train club member or a young adult for assistance. You’ll both end the day with a smile.
I own the above referenced gadget. I would not recommend it for the arthritic. Or, unfortunately, for much of anyone. It’s one of those ideas that looks nice on paper, but unfortunately ballast doesn’t sift evenly.
As for a solution, the only one I really can come up with is to ballast in shorter lengths, say six inches at a time. Use the plastic spoon method to lay out the ballast, leveling with a finger. And then take a break to do something else. Then wet it down and dribble the glue on. And then take a break to do something else.
If you have the Dream-Plan-Build videos you can do a ballasting step, watch a chapter, do another ballasting step… etc… slow and steady wins the race and all that.
Sorry can’t help. I think if someone had come up with a quick and easy way to ballast, it would soon become very well known.
If you were just starting out, I’d recommend using track with moulded in ballast, but it looks like you are already well-advanced there. I use an old ‘Parmesan cheese shaker’, somewhat like the Noch grass shaker, to spread the ballast evenly, and I use granite or stone chippings rather than the light stuff, which can get messy.
With the arthritis, all I can suggest is to find the most comfortable position and take your time - or train up a youngster.
jwar: Go to Micro Mark and they sell a ballast spreader. It’s on the web. Just poor the ballast in the spreader and run it along the tracks and it applies a uniform layer of ballast. Once you have done that use a brush to fix it up a little bit and there you have ballast with little or no proublem. I suggest this because I saw a man at a train show with wevere Rheumatoid arthritis, but with the ballast spreader he was still able to enjoy that part of the hobby.
Now, you could also use AMI road bed, and adhesive tacky rubber product that goes down like asphalt, makes a good roadbed, so here are two ways to continue the best hobby in the world. By the way. after you put down the AMI roadbed, you can still sprinkle some ballast to the top, then just press it in, it will stick to the AMI ballast.
Yard Master
WTRR
