For years now, I have been applying a mix of water and matte medium (4:1 ratio) with a metal teaspoon, following a spray of isopropyl alcohol.
The results have been less than satisfying, especially on the ballast, and the reason is that the distribution of the water/glue mix occurs too quickly and in too much volume. The force of the pour, though slight, is sufficient to move the ballast (Woodland Scenics) out of position.
Others have suggested using a pipette, but I have never taken up the suggestion. My resistance has been based on the notion that the pipette would distribute the mix with essentially the same force as the teaspoon.
Wrongo !
Today, I used a small pipette (actually an eyedropper) for the first time, and the results were both unexpected and highly satisfactory. After spraying the isopropyl alcohol, I applied the water/glue mix with the eyedropper over newly laid ballast, and the ballast never moved out of position. Outstanding.
The one downside is the size of the eyedropper. It is small, so I had to constantly refill it. So, I am going to pick up a basting pipette at the grocery store and try that. Others have suggested using a plastic ketchup or mustard bottle, but before I attempt that, i want to try the basting pipette.
And, don’t forget the isopropyl alcohol spray beforehand. I have been doing that for years, and it works. Without the alcohol spray, the water/glue mix bubbles up. It needs the alcohol as a wetting agent to facilitate absorption.
Instead of a turkey baster I ended up using a turkey injector, they are a couple of bucks and hold a lot of mixture. You can easily control the flow and it worked fine for me with WS Ballast, after I change to AZ Rock and Ballast I went back to dribbling out of an Elmers glue bottle.
My initial reaction is to forget about the turkey baster. I think the opening in the end is much too big. I have one in my tool box that I use to suck the water out of the hopper when I have to work on the plumbing.
OK, now that is interesting. If the opening on the end of the turkey baster is too big, how about the turkey injector that Geared Steam suggested?
If the opening on the end of the turkey baster is too big, I imagine that there would be a similar problem with the plastic ketchup and mustard bottles.
I agree with Maxman, being the turkey baster’s opening is much to large to apply glue mixture to ballast. I see a slight problem with the turkey injector is that the opening is not at the end of the needle, but rather on the side. I also think the ketchup & mustard bottles openings are also a little to big.I use the ketchup bottle, but first I plug the opening with caulking and once set I poke a new opening with an awl. Just a suggestion.
I use a pipette for my IPA. (Isopropyl alcohol. The India Pale Ale is served in a frosted mug.) I have a bunch of pipettes I picked up at my LHS. They’re much bigger than an eyedropper.
I have a bunch of small Elmers Glue bottles, the ones with the orange tip. I mix my glue and water right in these bottles, and the tip is perfect for applying glue.
I don’t think I’ve done enough ballast at one time to need a turkey baster. Since I only do about 4 feet at a time I use a small bowl and a standard pipette( I think I bought them from Micro Mart), which is about three times bigger than an eye dropper. As you’ve already figured out, you can apply a drop at a time or the whole thing, depending on how hard you squeeze.
If you want to use the turkey baster, go ahead. I use those translucent condiment bottles that you’d find in a mom and pop diner. You can get them at Walmart for about a buck a bottle. I found that the opening in the spout was a little large, so I just mixed up some quick set epoxy, set the nozzle point down and put about 1/4" of epoxy in the tip. Once it’s set, I drill a smaller hole in it.
I got some 5ml medicine droppers from my local pharmacy, they were behind the counter, not a normal sales item. They are quite a bit bigger than those that often come in the screw top of a bottle.
Yes, I agree a turkey baster would be best used with real crushed stone for O scale ballast.
I don’t recall where I got them, but I use one of these:
I wish it were larger, though, and will use a ketchup squirter next time, as I do the ballast and lineside ground cover at the same time. When I’m working on this, I like to do as much as possible in a session, and the most time consuming part of it is re-filling the dropper bottle.
While I do enjoy alcohol, never while ballasting, as “wet” water seems to work perfectly-well for my ballasting purposes.
A nice glass of whiskey afterwards, while I admire a days worth of ballasting work, does hit the spot, though. [swg]
They’re called a unitary wash bottle. It might take a bit of digging to find them but they really take the drudgery out of ballasting. If you squeeze a bit too hard you might wash out some of the ballast so use a gentle touch. I usually begin the stream over a tie or harder surface. To avoid drips during an extended ballasting session I usually lay the bottle on its side, spout up so no fluid can escape.
FWIW I use diluted “Mod-Podge” craft glue. Works the best For ME…
You might want to try my method, I know you said that you have 6 Grandkids, so that means you must have had at one time babies of your own… That being said, go to a Walgreens,in the baby isle, you’ll find a round bulb, looking thing with a spout on one end, what that is, is a way to remove the build up of fluid in a babies nose, after all a baby can’t blow his,or her nose, similar to a de-soldering device… You press the bulb and it sucks the liquid out… It also works in reverse,holding the liquid in until you squeeze the bulb…
I’ve used it many times, It also holds, about 4 times as much as a pipette…
I tried the eye dropper/pipette method and, like you said, they just don’t hold enough liquid. I started to use a small plastic squeeze bottle with a small hole for both dilute alcohol and matte medium mixture which worked really well. For ballast it seems if too much liquid is applied it does tend to move around.
The Turkey Injector has been the answer to my Ballasting problems!
I tried the plastic ketchup and mustard bottles but if one was NOT careful the bottles would let out a large drip every time the air was drawn in as the liquid coming out would pull a vacuum. Therefore causing a large movement of the Ballast!
I had a fairly large Eye Dropper which worked well but just as I was getting into a rhythm with the glue process the Eye Dropper ran out of the Glue Mix and I had to refill it.
The Meat Injector was the answer - no dripping or burping as you are controlling the speed of the flow with the plunger!
The Injector held about 3x the volume of glue than any Eye Dropper.
I looked at the basters but the open end is on the order of a 1/4" and if the Mustard Bottle caused problems the Baster would only be worse with the larger outlet hole.
I tried the White Glue Bottles with the screw top for liquid control - it worked well but had similar problems as the Mustard Bottles
With the Meat Injector - I cut the tip off so the fluid would come straight out the end.
The longer tip allows precise placement of the glue mix.
The Stainless Steel model I picked up worked smoothly all the time due to the construction as I had used hypodermic syringe which would even
For a while, our cafeteria at work provided a giant bottle of ketchup with a push-spout, and small plastic cups for self-serve. Those cups are also used by hospitals for dispensing pills, I believe. Anyway, I collected a few of these. When ballasting, I fill the cup with alcohol and use that to fill my pipette, rather than drawing the alcohol from the bottle. It’s easier to deal with and makes the low capacity of the pipette less of a problem. If I spill it, it’s not much, and I can keep the big alcohol bottle closed and out of the way. The alcohol remains clean, so I can just dump any extra back into the bottle when I’m done.
