If I ever get around to ballasting more track, I think I will deliberately not match the color of what I have. It seems to me that prototype track varies with age and each re-ballasting.
I used real crushed stone called screening around here.
Nice background mountains, Pat. Are they flat pieces of carved foam coated with ground cover, painted on the background, or something else? I’d like to know how you rendered them, if you don’t mind.
Jim
Jim,
Yes, They are pieces of foam board cut out with a home made hot wire knife.
I then covered them with ‘Hydrocal’. You can also use drywall mud ‘Durabond 90’.
(I used dyrwall mud on the mountain)
They are only 3/4" at the thickest part.
I then finished them with this;
from http://www.woodlandscenics.com/
Email me at eZAK61@sbcglobal.net if you need more info.
Thank you, Pat. Those mountains look great and give your layout’s background some nice dimension.
Jim
If you’re aiming for scale realism, check out Brennan’s Better Ballast. It has a natural gray blend and also varies in size and shape just like real ballast. It’s made from crushed granite.
This is a photo of my ballast. It comes with complete instructions on ballasting and weathering to create a realistic look.
Dennis Brennan
www.brennansmodelrr.com
check out Dennis Brennan’s website. He makes a wide variety of ballasting products and the folks I know who have used it claim it is tip-top.
Don’t know the website off the top of my head, but I believe there is a link on the MTJ Home page at www.modeltrainjournal.com.
I should have read down to the bottom of the page and seen that Dennis beat me to it by 4 minutes. [8D]
I began with Realtrax and decided to ballast it with chicken grit and we believe it made a big difference, seemed like it finished the project.
This photo shows the track, ballasted, and how well it blends with ground cover
Another shot of a park scene and ballasted track
Bag of grit for less than $5.00 for 50#
This isn’t what southerners eat with their chicken is it?
Jon[:)]
Jon, I was going to tell everyone how nice your ballasting on your layout is. After that Yankee comment, no way. It does look great.
Jon,
Do you color the ballast or is that the natural color of chicken grit?
Dr. John,
That is the natural color of the grit. It appears to be a bit lighter when it comes out of the bag but once you use the “wet water” and diluted glue it must take off some of the dust and goes to a very natural look.
I try and find bargains and I think I hit it rich with the grit.
Jon