Ballast

[Anonymous]

What type of ballast should I use for around my ho track. Fine or course?

[orsonroy]

I'd recomment ballasting with the fine ballast. The medium and coarse MIGHT be to scale for some roads, but in general it looks too large and cartoonlike. In fact, in some areas on my layout (gravel roads and yard areas), I grind up the fine ballast to make it powdery and more to scale (HO scale pea gravel and blow sand should be TINY)

A good way to check if your gravel or ballast is "to scale" is to wander outside with a small amount of ballast and a HO scale figure. Compare the figure's fist to the model ballast and check the size. Then find a rock that's the size of your own fist. Next, compare THAT rock to the size of real ballast. Conpare the ballast to your fist size, and then find some model ballast that's the same size relative to the figure's fist. (believe me, this is easier to do than it is to describe!)