The first few times I used a sprayer to apply dilute matte medium to ballast, the device generated a fine mist that did not dislodge any of my ballast. But eventually, it would produce only a strong stream that made a mess of my ballast. Cleaning the nozzle made no difference. So I figured something had failed in the nozzle and bought another sprayer …repeating the cycle. Eventually, however, I figured out what was going wrong and want to pass on the solution to others who may have experienced the same problem.
If your sprayer does not mist properly after cleaning out the nozzle, remove it and clean the flat surface behind the nozzle, removing any matte medium residue. As they say in France, “Voila!” Once again, the sprayer should generate a nice fine mist.
On a related note, I’ve recently discovered that Home Depot sells a sprayer for about 99 cents that works better and more reliably than anything I used thus far.
I never use a sprayer to apply glue. A sprayer is used to pre-wet the ballast or scenery. I then dribble the glue mixture on using an old Elmer’s glue bottle with the orange cap, and then spray again to further distribute the glue, if necessary.
I don’t spray on the layout at all. I pre-wet with isopropyl alcohol using a pipette, and then add dilute white glue from an Elmer’s bottle.
The alcohol is a better wetting agent than the traditional dish soap mixture. It also dries a lot faster, so you don’t end up waiting 2 days before you can run your trains on that track.
Mr. B, that is exactly how I have done it for years and have never had a problem. I only do a small section at a time but persistence pays off. The isopropyl alcohol is an excellent wetting agent and works very well to disperse the glue throughout the ballast.
Tried just as you, never had any luck w/ any sprayer. As mr B mentions, using a pipette, or eye dropper or as I have come to like: The small white glue bottle w/ that orange pointed cap.
You will find that by using any of these other methods that you gain far better control of the amount of glue and precisely where to apply. This saves from spattering glue over the track and surroundings. Far less glue residue will remain on rails and tie tops etc.
The alcohol prewetting and/or added to the diluted glue mix is really the key. Works far better than just “regular wet water” and diluted 50/50 glue. Also dries much quicker.
I’ve sprayed diluted white glue to large areas that are away from trackwork. The key is to keep to a small area at a time, then spray clean hot water through the sprayer. This keeps the internals of the sprayer from getting gunked up with glue.