I started work last night on my first ever attempt at ballasting track. I painted some straight white glue on the shoulders and sifted on ballast. I then sifted more ballast between the ties, and cleaned off the stray ballast with a paintbrush. I used straight rubbing alcohol to wet all of the ballast, and then used white glue diluted with water and a little rubbing alcohol dispensed from a Elmers glue bottle. IT LOOKED HORRIBLE!
I haven’t looked at it today to see how it looked when dry. Maybe it will look alright, but before I do any more I like to see if anyone has any pictures of how their ballast jobs look right after adding the glue. Is it a big mess of white glue, or did I add too much, or not dilute it enough. Show me what your ballasting looks likes before it dries please.
I can’t send you pictures but I never put undiluted white glue first. I always use diluted, I use 50/50 but others use different mixes. Try it today after the glue has dried, it should have dissappeared. Good luck.
I put the undiluted white glue on the shoulders, to help hold the ballast on the slope while wetting everything down. I had seen that recommended, and that seemed to work really well. I then soaked everything with diluted white glue after the alcohol wetting. Does it always look like a messy white nightmare right after adding the glue, or should the glue soak into the ballast pretty quickly?
Yeah, put the ballast on dry. I use a spray bottle with 2-3 drops of dishwashing liquid for my wetting agent. Spray gently and horizontally about a foot above the track, and let the wetting agent rain down. Otherwise, you’ll disturb that nicely-arranged ballast. Then, carefully wipe off the tops of the rails to get rid of the soap film. Then I use a 50/50 white glue.
I find that it takes 48 hours to dry thoroughly. It seems to dry just a bit darker than the original dry ballast. After that, I flick off the out-of-place ballast with a screwdriver or a toothpick, and vacuum the whole thing. Clean the rails again, and you should be ready to roll.
Yes, it always looks like some one spilled milk when you are done adding glue. Sounds like you did it right…There is a possibility You may have overdone it, but you cant be sure until all the ballast is dry. Too much glue is better than not enough with the execption of switches…Give it a few days…
I lay and form my dry ballast with a soft brush. I then spray alcohol in a fine mist on the ballast to soak it without disturbing it. I use an old glue bottle and plop little drops of diluted white glue (1/2 water with 1/2 glue + some detergent) on the track.
When placing my glue, I’ll drop one drop between the ties on the outside of each rail and two drops in the center between the ties, one to each side. I then work the ditches. I usually just do a foot or two at a time so as not have a big chore in one setting.
The next day I check the ballast, redo any loose spots, check for flange clearance, and clean the track.
This is one of my better ballasted turnouts. Unfortunately, it’s the first picture of a “before” project! Click for a larger picture with more detail.
Well, I went home at lunch and had a look after things had time to dry overnight. It looked alright, better than I though based on what it looked like wet. I guess I was worrying needlessly. Once I get this practice diorama done, I’ll be sure to post pictures. Maybe I’ll post some in progress shots come to think of it. This is my test-bed for trying all of my first attempts at scenery, before moving on to the permanant layout. I’ll have some questions about techniques for carving foam for a rock outcropping coming soon.
Ballasting is pretty easy. I prefer to use MEDIUM ballast for the track in HO scale. (Fine ballast is too small and can change colors if it is applied on top of green grass paper or lumber that has been painted and coarse ballast can cause derailments if it gets close to the tops of the rails, believe me I’ve used all three types in large amounts and I like Medium A LOT better). I put piles of ballast on the track, use a foam brush ( $0.33 Wal-Mart) and my finger and smooth the ballast out and get it to look the way I want it to. Then, I use an old Paul-Mitchell hairspray bottle and pour water with a few drops of dishwashing liquid into that. I then spray the ballast, I don’t spray close to or directly at the ballast I spray above it so that it slowly soaks up the water. Then, I do 1 of 2 things, sometimes I empty the same bottle and reuse it to pour in a mixture of glue/water/alcohol/dishwashing liquid then spray it on the ballast or sometimes I pour the scenic solution into an empty glue bottle and slowly add drops to the ballast. Both ways work. Then, I use a clean handkerchief and wipe the rails clean. I then use a test car with metal wheels and run it back and forth several times over the ballasted area to push away all pieces of ballast that are too close to the tops of the rails. Sometimes, I take a nail and push away the pieces of ballast that are too close to the tops of the rails. When it’s all dried, I take a file and file pieces of chalk into dust. I then use a brush and brush it all over the ties to make the track look heavily used and worn. Then, I gently wipe the tops of the rails once again to clean them.
After applying the chalk dust, I’m done with that section of track and I can run trains over it with no problems at all.
When you ballast a turnout, take your time and carefully remove all pieces no matter how small from places they shouldn’t be. When you apply the scenic solution center the turnout mechanism so that it will not dry shut in one position. If it dries s
Here’s some of mine - I spread the ballast dry, then apply a mix of PVA glue, washing up liquid, and a little water using a pipette or a syringe (borrowed from a computer print cartridge refill kit), you need to give it a good soaking then leave to dry, making sure that no ballast is dislodged into point blades, flangeways, etc. After that, clean off any excess glue from the rail heads using an abrasive block (I use the Peco one) and you’re done.
An easy way to get the ballast to lay right is to tap the railheads, with the handle of your brush. After glueing it, ballast will usually look like crud, until the glue drys. I ususually use a 50/50 dilute of white glue.
I wasn’t too happy with mine at first. I still think I used too much (WS, fine, light gray) since it’s on toip of some ties and too close to flanges. Should have tapped the rail more to make it settle down. It thought it would settle more when liquid was applied. In fact it did not settle at all.
My first real test at ballasting & Silflor/Prairie Tufts
HO Code 83, Walthers turnouts, Atlas flex & sectional track, fine gray ballast, 50% ModPodge Matt Medium & 50% alcohol/water/a drop of soap:
3-track horshoes curve (18"+22"+24" radii):
side view at rail joiner; used too much ballast, need to scrap off some for flange clearance
Turnouts: made tie foundations for switch stands
Here I tried to make a path across the turnouts for the switchman using medium ballast
I really like the WS Prairie Tufts, but I had to Goo them down
Here I cut in a curved #8 where there wasn’t one (#7 didn’t work even though it said 24"R)
Don’y have a pic around, but I can tell you how I do it. I take it out of the bag using my fingers, lightly sprinkle it over the areas I want ballasted until I think they look about right, the apply rubbing alcohol and WS scenic cement with eyedroppers.
Practice makes perfect!
Matthew
Another tip - A lot of folks notice a lot more ‘noise’ after ballasting. The problem is the white glue - it dries hard. Use ‘matte medium’ - it dries to a more flexible consistancy. It is available in art supply stores.
dry ballast, 50/50 with PVA, I dont like having bits on the sleepers so before I spray I use a bru***o do a final prep, then spray, not drip, dripping created moon craters in my experience.
I used old bits of track and practised heaps, as I wanted the ballest on my layout “Just So”
This is a distant view of my EZ-Track ballasted thinly with beach sand, and then I applied a heavy wash of burnt umber and black between the rails and just outside to the edge of the ties. Bleeding took it outwards in some cases. The trick is to use a spoon and a small artist’s bru***o shape the shoulders and to get the stuff away from the flange paths, and also off the ties. Then use a sprayer or dropper, gently dribbling the mixture onto the ties, inside and outside. If you spray, you have to wipe the rails immediately, but you will sometimes disturb the ballast with the paper or cloth. Not good.
Ballasting can be a hateful task but with the right brushes and ballast mix it can go fairly easy. I use a wetting agent after I’ve spread the ballast. wetting agent is 2 oz. alcohol, 2 drops of dishwater soap, 2 oz water and 2 drops india ink and a splash of Burnt Sienna.
Once I’ve wet the ballast with a spray bottle I add the 50/50 water/carpenter glue mixture I also add indi ink and brown to it to give it some depth.
Ballasting is scary. So far I have only done about 12 feet of track. I do it is 4 foot chunks so I can see the results before I move on. I work in N scale so I took 2 shades of gray, fine WS ballast and mixed them. I fold a 3X5 card into a V shape and spoon some ballast onto it. I tap the ballast out a carefully and then shape it with an acid brush. I take a bottle of alcohol and put my fat thumb over the top and dribble the alcohol over the ties between the rails, it runs between the ties and soaks the ballast along the side. Then I come along with a diluted mixture of white glue and dribble it on the same way. Once the ballast on the sides is thoroughly soaked I go away and wring my hands until it has dried.
As you can see from the picture I need to go over it with a stiff brush and clean off the stray bits of ballast.
Edit : The turn out to the siding… There isn’t a drop of glue within 3 inches of it. Like I said it is scary.
Bukwrm, I used small strips of painter’s tape over the spots in and around turnouts that I wanted to keep clean, and then blasted away, including with the spritzes of glue. So, I kept the glue-free footprint to a minimum. All I covered was the point rails and their hinges, and the little side button for hand actuating on my electric snap-switches that is in a good-sized slot carved into the side of the plastic ballast. Before everything dried, I removed the tape and actuated the point rails manually and electrically, and satisfied myself that I had not goofed. Worked every time.
I am at the stage on my layout to start ballasting, and can’t make up my mind on how it would look, so what I have did was take scrape peice of 1 x 4, and about 2 1/2 ft long and lay road bed, and track and made up different varities of ballast looks, and try out different ways to spread, wet down, and glue.
The way I did this is to experiment and develop the techniques. If I donot like how it came out, ripped it out and try again, and when you get right, then go lay ballast on your layout
write down what it took to get the look.
