Hi: I'm new to Model Railroading, just a few months ago. I have a question about Ballasting Ho track. I have read that Track ballasting is fairly simple. So this is where I'm at. I have started to put the ballast down on the track. Now I read that to soak the ballast with a mixture of rubbing alcohol and water. I assume about 50/50 mixture of both. Then apply a heavy coat of diluted white glue to the ballast. I assume about 50/50 mixture of water & white glue. Im I right on this thinking. Thanks to all of you in advance for your thoughts on this.
David
It is worth it to spend a bit of time making sure the ballast is where you want it between the ties and out to the edge of the roadbed. NOW is the time to do this because once the glue or other fixitive is on the ballast it is difficult to remove ballast from the tops of ties, from the sides of rails, and other places you do not want it. I use an old piece of cork roadbed as a kind of bulldozer to run between the rails. There are also various ballasting tools listed in the Walthers catalog, such as the MLR ballast spreader.
Diluted glue works to fix ballast but I myself prefer to use either matte medium or Woodland Scenics Scenic Cement. I got a cheap eyedropper at a surplus store and once the ballast has been thoroughly wetted with the water/alcohol mix, I flood the area with Scenic Cement. Be generous with it because what you want is cement right down to the roadbed. A coating on top will simply flake off easily. The entire ballast/track combination becomes nearly as solid as a rock.
If you are shying away from this on your actual layout, try it with a piece of old snap track.
Dave Nelson
With full respect to UpNorth, I have to differ with the notion that a 50/50 mixture is advisable or even necessary. I do agree that it should be a mixture, but I disagree that it should be nearly as strong in favour of the glue. I have built only two layouts, so I can't claim to be a modeling master or god. But I did ballast and glue both layouts the same way, and with darned good results if I may say so myself.
I used the drug store blend of 70% isopropyl alcohol and water, and wet the ballast without waiting to see it begin to seep away at the edges and run onto the layout. I figured my intuition was good enough to judge when it had penetrated well into the ballast material. Then I dribbled, under control, a solution of one part yellow glue to about 6-8 parts water, plus two drops of dish detergent added to aid penetration. I think there are several benefits to this lighter solution, but chiefly that more glue goes a longer way, and the freer-flowing solution is less likely to want to displace the ballast...it wants to spread a bit, but mostly it wants to chase the drying alcohol, and that means sneaking into the interstices between the grains of ballast. Yet another benefit is that if you ever decide to remove or repair track, breaking up the ballast is really quite easy. I have done it a number of times and always managed to salvage the section of track lifted, and cleanly too.
-Crandell
I prewet with 70% isopropyl alcohol and dribble on 1:4 matte medium / H20 with an old pre-shave bottle. The small hole is ideal and the bottle holds a good amount. I find eyedroppers too wasteful of time.
Karl
The mind is like a parachute. It works better when it's open. www.stremy.net
To spread the ballast, I just use a 1 inch wide paint brush. This is the important part, because you want to make sure the ballast isn't on top of the ties or in the web of the track. Make sure that you don't get any in the points of any turnouts. I use a plain mixture of water with a few drops of liquid detergent in it. The detergent acts as a surfactant (meaning it flows into the ballast and breaks the surface tension of the water). Then I use a mixture of about 60 or 70 percent water, and the rest of white glue. I use small ketchup bottles (the kind found in old burger joints). I can ballast a 10 foot section in about 15 minutes.
Marlon
See pictures of the Clinton-Golden Valley RR
On the other hand, I've never had luck with the alcohol/water mixture, but I have a feeling that it's due to the fact that my MR is in a half-insulated garage and subject to some fairly drastic temperature changes in the summer months. Instead, I use a spray bottle filled with water and about 3 or 4 drops of liquid dishwashing detergent, which makes the water 'saturate' the ballast extremely well. Then I use WS Scenic Glue (the ultra-thin stuff). Works really well for me.
And as everyone else says, make sure you don't have any ballast sticking to the inside of the rails, after. I usually go over it with a small, flat-bladed screwdriver after the ballast dries, then vacuum up the residue.
So far, after using the water/detergent mixture, my ballast has stayed on the track very well after six years.
Tom
Tom View my layout photos! http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub One can NEVER have too many Articulateds!