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I recently discovered colored sand sold at the craft stores, intended for placement in clear bowls and the like. There are several useful shades, and the thing is, it is very finely grained, such that it looks right in N-scale. I mix in this stuff with my more conventional Highball or Woodland Scenics ballast, which even though it might be labeled as "Fine" is still rather chunky for N-scale. The sand helps to reduce the texture down to a more reasonable scale, while the packaged ballast helps to maintain color consistency. <br /> <br />When I applied dilute glue from an eyedropper, I noticed that it seemed to soak more readily into the sand-ballast mixture than it would into ballast alone. This means that rather than having a droplet bead up and roll down the ballast shoulder, messing up all the careful placement, it tended to get absorbed better without shifting things around. It isn't perfect, though, and I still tried to apply the droplet near the ties first (capilary action draws it into the ballast along the sides of the ties), then branch outwards down the shoulder after it gets soaked. Of course, I am not using a mister or wetting agent beforehand, which would probably help. Sorry I can't recall the brand name of the sand, but I found it at Michael's next to bags of translucent pebbles and glass beads (which would also be used in a clear vase arrangement).
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