I’m trying to lay ballast for the first time on a little diorama I’m working on. The ballast is shaped and ready to be glued.
Must I use rubbing alcohol before the wet water mix or can I just spray water over it and then add the wet water mix?
If I must use rubbing alcohol, in what types of stores do I begin to search? I’m trying to find it here in Sweden.
70% isopropyl alcohol, 30% water. Deadly, don’t drink it.
I get mine at the Wal-mart or the corner drugstore for 99 cents a quart.
The difference using it is night and day. Without alcohol, even wet water glue mix beads up atop the rockpile, but with alcohol used first, it seems to be sucked into the rubble like hot wires draw solder.
First aid section of a super market or pharmacy.
Its label usually says Isopropyl Alcohol and a percentage.
BTW - DO NOT DRINK IT…
It’s the common name (in the US) for isopropyl alcohol, usually in solution at 70 to 90%. Personally, I’ve never used the technique with alcohol. I have used the method with “wetted water” (a pint of water with a few drops of dish detergent added to break the surface tension of the water). After spreading the ballast dry and shaping it the way you like, wet the area with wetted water from a spray bottle, dribble some white glue over the area, then spray on more water to distribute the glue into the ballast.
PS: a pint is about a half liter
For wet water, rubbing alcohol or, water with dish soap can be used. Spray the wet water, before anything else. Wet water has low surface tension and will soak in evenly to the ballast. regular water will pool up on top, and run off. It will ruin the track profile. Also since it will not soak all the way in, neither will the glue. You will land up with a hard crust on the ballast only. The inside will still be loose, and that will cause problems later. I speak from experience.
As for what rubbing alcohol is called over seas, I am not sure. It is used as a topical disinfectant. It is sometimes called dentured alcohol. A good place to look may be a pharmacy or where non-prescription remedies are found.
FYI: Did you know that the manufactuers of Isopropyl or rubbing alcohol actually add “poisons” (Methyl Isobutyl Ketone) to the alcohol so that it isn’t drinkable?
Tom
Ok, I will try to wet the ballast with wetted water from a spray bottle, and then add the water/white glue/dish detergent mix and see if the ballast is still there [:D]
Electro, I used beach sand which is heavy and tended to stay put with my method…spraying a watered down carpenters’ glue in a mixture 30% glue, 70% water, and exactly two (2) drops of liquid dish detergent. Also, I used a trigger-fired sprayer bottle with a rotating nozzle to adjust the spray. Yes, it covered a lot of everything, but that was okay because the scenery can always use more glue. The point is, with a fine spray setting on the nozzle, and five to six sprays per area, I got good penetration with that solution and good bonding when it dried. All I had to do was wipe the surface of the tracks immediately after spraying each section…otherwise it is a tough job to get the rails clean.
It would be cheaper, if you decide that you want to prewet the ballast first, to simply use good old water with a drop or two of dish detergent. Why spend the money on alcohol and have all that vapour in your room?
That is my way of thinking.
-Crandell
Electro:
I’ve used both wet water and 70% Isopropyl alcohol as a wetting agent for ballast and alcohol is far superior to wet water. The alcohol instantly wicks into the ballast with not a single grain disturbed. It’s simply amazing to watch … you have to try it to see how very effective alcohol is as a scenery wetting agent.
About the only thing to be careful of with the alcohol is to not get in too big a hurry … you want just a drop at a time, wait a moment to let it spread, then the next drop and so on. If you get in a hurry and squirt several drops on at once, you’ll wash away the ballast and leave a little erosion ditch in the ballast.
I prefer using an old white glue bottle, fill it with alcohol, and adjust the tip to let out just a drop of alcohol at a time.
You can also spray an entire section of track using the alcohol in a spray bottle, but I don’t like to do that as much because I end up soaking everything in site, besides the ballast. Just a little more patience will reward you with a nicely soaked ballast (and only the ballast) that is undisturbed in any way and ready to take diluted white glue without beading up and making a mess.