How do YOU ballast?

[CaptOblivious]

I haven't done but between the rails of one 280mm section of track, but here's what I've got going on, and here are the difficulties with it.

 

I used Woodland Scencs fine medium gray ballast. Why? Because it's readily available locally, no other reason.

 

Because white glue is brittle, and comes loose when you paint it, I'm using matte medium acrylic varnish as glue. It is very flexible and durable, but can be loosened with rubbing alcohol if need be.

 

I pour a small amount of ballast, use a brush to clean it up, spritz or drop alcohol on it, then drop matte varnish.

 

This process works reasonably well, with the following caveats:

The synthetic brush I'm using builds static like crazy, making the ballast incredibly difficult to work with. I will experiment with different kinds of brushes to see if this can be controlled.

Once you spritz with alcohol, forget working with the ballast, as it will clump like mad if you touch it.

Once the varnish has dried, being a very tenacious glue, picking off spare bits of ballast takes more work, as well as cleaning the tops of the rails.

[Bernard]

CaptO,

The way I ballast is similar to the way you do it but instead of varnish I used diluted Elmer's white glue. 3 parts water, 1 part glue with a drop of dishwater soap. I use a regular small paint brush plus a small piece of index card to smooth the ballast out.

Having said all that, it still doesn't come out the way I was hoping it would.

[Guest bill937ca]

I'm using Woodland Scenics ballast and Scenic Cement.  I moist with wet water (a cup of water and  two drops of liquid detergent) and then apply Scenic Cement with an eyedropper.  I'm using a barbecue brush (shaped and built like a paint brush) from the discount store to spread ballast and having no problems. I'm reluctant to use the spray bottle. The subject area is too small.  So I use a  couple of eye droppers from the drug store--one for wet water and one for glue.

[kashirigi]

I ballast (Unitrack) by applying the ballast with a spoon and the arranging it to my satisfaction with a soft brush, making sure there's as little ballast as possible on the ties (WS fine ballast). Then I mist the works with a mix of detergent and water, making sure it's soaked. Afterwards, I apply a mix of detergent, water and PVA glue. Or, I've discovered, a mixture of detergent, water and acrylic gel medium (matte), using an eyedropper.

 

For some reason, the matte medium holds the ballast much more securely than glue, probably because its somewhat flexible.

[Bernard]

Since we've been discussing the topic of ballasting, here is an instructional video on the subject. I hope you enjoy it.

 

http://realityreduced.blip.tv/#837290

[bill937ca]

Japanese ballast is either gray or brown. Not sure which color you want to use?  Then look at this picture!   :D

 

http://www.atw.ne.jp/~suwa_h/RAIL/PHOTO/PHOTO101.jpg

 

:o

[Bernard]

Bill - It took me sooooo long to finish ballasting my layout and you know how much I loath ballasting. :o

I guess the guys in your link never heard of WS gray ballast. ;D

(or maybe there was a sale on that color :D)

[Martijn Meerts]

Looks like they renewed bits of the track around that area, there's a slight difference in color on the rail profiles as well ;)

[Guest ___]

I use the Kato ballast after the stock ballast I had from my HO days were terribly off the mark for my unitrack. Anycase I lay the ballast down then soak it up with a mix off DI water and detergent, though I'm starting to think this is not such a good idea. I'm starting to find that *I'm having the same "bunching" effect with this as if I just used the cement without the misiting.Frankly, I'm not fond of having that mix sitting on my rails to begin with.Finally I apply scenic cement with an eye dropper.

[Bernard]

I lay a mist sprayer w/rubbing alcohol and let it soak into the ballast then I used elmer's white glue diluted with water (3:1 -  3 parts water) and add a few drops of liquid dish detergent into the mixture. I find the alcohol breaks the surface tension of the ballast.

[Guest Powersteamguy1790]

I use a very fine natural rock ballast to ballast Unitrack. You can get this ballast at Arizona Rock and Mineral. They make many different ballasts in all colors.

 

I discuss ballasting Unitrack on my website as well as weathering the rails and ties.

 

Stay cool and run steam.... 8) 8)

[Guest ___]

%@#%@! Ballast. I HATE it so d@mn much!

[Bernard]

%@#%@! Ballast. I HATE it so d@mn much!

 

After ballasting over 200 pieces of flex track which is about 3' in length for each piece, I don't think I could say it any better than Aaron just did. ;D

[Guest ___]

Ballast is looking to be the next step for me.

[Bernard]

Aaron - do you know which brand of ballast you are going to use?

[Guest ___]

I'm using the Kato ballast so it goes with the Unitrack. While making the T-trak module back in the fall, Issued some ballast I already had and it did not go well for me. When I went to the unitrack ballast, it looked a lot better and blended in to the scene a lot better.

[Guest ___]

How do YOU ballast?

 

Angery :P