Put 100% white glue on the sides of the track, and lay some ballast on the glue.
Take a medicine dropper and put some water on the ballast with five drops of liquid detergent.
Take the same medicine dropper and drop on the ballast a 50:50 mixture of white glue and water.
This worked OK, but not up to my standards.
For the next portion of the layout, I plan on spreading the ballast on the track, shaping it, using a hairsprayer with water and a couple of drops of detergent, and gently wetting the ballast. When it’s soaked, take a medicine dropper and dropping on some 50:50 mixture of glue and water.
Got any other tips for me? I’ll post pictures when I get home.
I used to use the detergent/water mix for a wetting agent, but I’ve switched to straight isopropyl alcohol. It works better, and I don’t have to mix anything. Yes, I could probably thin it down a lot and it would still work, but it’s already very cheap, and not having to mix it saves a step.
I use one pipette for the alcohol, and a different one for the glue. Since I don’t dilute the alcohol, I don’t want to get glue into the bottle.
This is one way I use to put ballast down. I pour the ballast in the area I’m working in and move it into position with my fingers. Using a small paintbrush (one for models works well) I move the ballast into it’s final position. Using an old glue bottle I drip 70% rubbing alcohol onto the ballast followed by a 50/50 white glue/water mix from another glue bottle and let dry for 12 or more hours. I find that using the alcohol works better than the water/detergent mix.
I mist the fresh ballast with Water/Rubbing Alcohol until the ballast is wet. Then I use an eyedropper and apply whiteglue/water/liquid detergent to the saturated ballast. I prefer to mist rather than use an eyedropper for the initial saturation because it allows me to do so without moving any of the ballast. If you use an eyedropper to saturate, then you move the ballast giving you less than steller results.
The bonded ballast method is what I use. Get the ballast the way you want it dry then use the sprayer with soap & water to moisten the ballast. I use a squeeze bottle like the one the waitress in the restaurant gives you for katsup to add a 50-50 mix of Elmers yellow Carpenters Glue. Add the glue between the rails and carefully beside the rails along the ends of the ties. Saturate the ballast then wait about two days for the glue to set.
A mix of Woodland Scenics ballast as follows was used. 2 Parts Buff 1 Part Dark Brown 1 Part Brown and 1 Part Grey Blend. The mix was put in a three pound coffee can and shaken up until totally mixed. I used medium size.
OK, so if I go to the store to get some isopropyl rubbing alcohol and mist it full strength using a hair sprayer, and then using a ketchup bottle, dribble on some 50-50 mixture of glue/water, then the ballast should stay where I put it?
If you use a brush to smooth out or shape your ballast, use a foam brush. a bristle brush tends to flick the grains of ballast where you don’t want them, much bettrr control. Cut the brush to fit between the tracks. Then mist & glue. Jerry
As others have mentioned, ‘wetting’ the dry ballast with alcohol works great. I do NOT use white glue or wood working glue. That will work, but the ballast is now ‘rock hard’ and the layout will be really noisy when you run trains. I use ‘matte medium’ as it dries to a softer consistancy and will not turn the ballast into a sound board. You can pick up the stuff at art/craft supply stores like Michaels or Hobby Lobby…
The problem I’ve encountered with using matte-medium, and I know othe modelers have done it too, is that you’ll destroy your track when/if you tty to take it up for reuse in the future. There are some that say that soaking it with alcohol helps but it never worked for me. With the white glue mix you just soak the ballast with water and then pull the track up.
If by support structure you mean nothing, then yes.
The layout is only 2.5 ft by 4 ft. I plan on adding some support structure this weekend. Any tips? I need something that is extremely lightweight yet somewhat supportive.
For a layout that small just a piece of 1/4" plywood on a couple of 1x2 strips running lengthwise should be sufficient. Unsupported foam has a tendency to twist and/or sag after a while. If you want go even lighter you can use 1/8" panel board in place of the plywood. Been there and done that.
Using a medicine dropper is a good idea. It helps to distribute glue without washing away the ballast and all that hard work you did. Here is what I did.
I worked on putting the ballast inside the ties first. I used a hair spray bottle with water and two drops of liquid detergent inside to wet it down. Since I was unsure if Alcohol would change the color of the ties that I had painted, I was hesitant to use that. I then blasted the crap out of the ballast between the ties with the hair spray bottle water. I then used scenic cement in an eyedropper to glue it down. Final drying time is like 24 or so hours with the scenic cement from Woodland Scenics.
I used a mix of white glue and water and painted the sides of my roadbed, then sprinkled ballast on top (just a little to give it some tooth). After waiting approx 12 or so hours, I applied the other ballast on top with the final look that you want. I then repeated the steps with the hair spray bottle and the eyedropper with the scenic cement and so far (knock on wood) is has been going well.
1>…I use one of my old contact lens cleaner bottles for scenic cement,white glue or whatever your using…it has a micro small hole in the tip and it makes it easier to spray or dribble the glue “exactly” where you want it to go…
2>…Once I have brushed the ballast how I like it…I take a pencil and lightly “tap” the top of the rail…this helps “settle” the ballast and keep your rails “stone free” when you glue…
Even after all the years of ballasting, and when you don’t think you can find any better way, there’s always some great new methods.
Take for instance, a fellow club member has a great way of getting all those stray grains off the tie tops. After spreading and the ballast is ready to wet water and glue, he will lightly blow on the track at a sharp angle. This removes all those unwanted grains. A squeeze bulb helps in some tough spots.
Painting the roadbed edge with glue first and applying the ballast does help in shaping the profile and acts as a small dam to hold the ballast as the rest is done.
I really find that using alcohol works good also. I don’t use it straight, just add it to the wet water about 50/50. The fumes are a little easier that way. The alcohol dries so quickly, the ballast, track and roadbed won’t stay soaked which could cause troubles on any wood substrate.
Ballasting is always a “chore”, but it does go rather fast using the hints that everyone has mentioned.