I've been concentrating lately on upgrading the scenery on the layout .... I've been putting down ballast (kitty litter) and grass and shrubbery (shredded foam with paint highlights). I've glued some of it down but I was curious to know if others do the same or just place the materials on the board and leave it?
For ground cover and shrubbery I just paint the area with the appropriate color then apply the ground cover or lynchen on the wet paint.
Bill T.
srguy, I've done both. Trees & most shrubs on the mountain are glued down. Some ground cover (stuff I got at Ben Franklin & the like) is loose because I might move or add to it. Some of my peeps are glued along the sidewalks but some are loose in the park.
I don't know about you, but my layout, like nature & towns, is in a constant state of change/growth.
wyomingscout
Good points Bill and scout ... fyi I found a product 20 years ago that I use for anchoring people and other small structures. After packing up all my train gear in 1995 when we moved into a new home, I got back into it last year and this waxy material was still in great shape and works like new. It allows you to secure people and other small items without using glue. Always good info from the forum.
here's a link http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mini-Hold-Wax-Adhesive-Securing-Stabilizing-DOLLHOUSE-Miniatures-/110777567009?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19cadb8721
srguy I've been putting down ballast (kitty litter)
I've been putting down ballast (kitty litter)
srguy.
What brand of litter and do you have any pictures of it?
Tks,
Kev
Joined 1-21-2011 TCA 13-68614
Kev, From The North Bluff Above Marseilles IL.
You may want to rethink the kitty litter as it is designed to attract moisture. Also keep in mind railroad ballast is/was generally of a size that would fit in the palm of one's hand. Compare the size to the hand size of one of your quarter scale people.
Frank brings up a good point, you don't want to have something that will attract moisture. Some folks spoke of using baking soda for "snow" with the same concerns. I am gluing things down for the most part. As a general rule, so long as it is something that would not get spilled over onto the carpet, or get drawn up into the works of the trains, I would think it would be OK to not glue it down. Fibers, or anything that may get in the works of a locomotive, etc., I would make sure I glue down. Perhaps not needing to use a lot of glue, but by using "wet water" (add a drop of dish soap to a 50/50 mix of white glue and water) and just spray it on to a general area, soaking it will hold the scenery down.
Dennis
TCA#09-63805
I glob on Elmer's Glue-All and brush it around to work a 3 or 4 inche square at a time. Then I sift on the scenic foam, plastic ballast, dirt, rocks, sand and whatnot with a spoon. I finish by dribbling a bit more glue over top of everything and then I spray the area with plain old tap water. It takes a couple of days to dry completely, but when it does it's hard as a rock. Which comes in handy if I want to make changes because I can remove it by smacking it with a hammer! Which is a lot of fun!
Anyhoo, it works on just about any surface but most often I'm working on bare plywood. I've even tried it on duct tape and while it can work with Elmer's, Aileen's Tacky Glue works better and dries harder on tape.
Becky
Trains, trains, wonderful trains. The more you get, the more you toot!
Look in a crafts and fabric store for fake fur and other grass-like materials for ground cover.
Andrew Falconer
Watch my videos on-line at https://www.youtube.com/user/AndrewNeilFalconer
The product I am using is Pet Central Kitty Litter ..... it's light grey in color and resembles gravel that you would see in an aquarium (see link below). It's cheap and I think it looks pretty realistic. Someone pointed out that it absorbs moisture ... well it does but only if you apply lots of water/glue mixture. I've bee mixing Elmers and water and applying a light spray and it works well. I haven't been putting it down between the rails .... i've put that off for the time being.
http://www.cvs.com/CVSApp/catalog/shop_product_detail.jsp?filterBy=online&skuId=714679&productId=714679&navAction=jump&navCount=1&no_new_crumb=true
This is what it looks like ... I've put down more since this photo was taken. I'll post some more for Sunday Photo
Does anyone know if it's ok to use real sand and if so how to apply it so it doesn't come loose.
Kevin
Can't stop working on the railroad!
Interesting idea however I would be leery of using it loose .... wouldn't want to foul the gears or get stuck to the lubricated components on an engine. I would consider mixing it with an adhesive to create a solid material.
I don't worry very much about the sand getting in the gears as I use Fasttrack but I wouldn't know what to mix it with. I thought of spraying adhesive down and then spraying Krylon clear matte finish over the top to seal it but I am not sure how that would look. \
I haven't used it on plastic trackbed, but here's some sand work I did last summer:
Just Elmer's Glue-All and water and it dries hard and doesn't shed. However you might want to use Aileen's Tacky Glue as it might bond better to plastic trackbed. This little beach is on foamcore by the way.
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