I am planning to secure some yard ballast and some ground cover with a 4:1 water to matte medium mix.
As a wetting agent, I will spray 70% isopropyl alcohol first.
I have done this lots of times before, spraying on the alcohol and then spooning on the matte medium.
But, is there a better way to apply the matte medium mix than spooning it on?
What about spraying it on?
How do you do it?
Rich
Alton Junction
I have tried spraying, and just end up blasting ground cover all over the place, not to mention getting matte medium drops all over everything.
I have finally hit on a solution. I use an old Alene's Tacky glue bottle, and fill it with matte medium solution. This allows me to dribble the solution on from just about scenery level. Everything stays where I want it.
Connecticut Valley Railroad A Branch of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford
"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right." -- Henry Ford
CTValleyRR I have tried spraying, and just end up blasting ground cover all over the place, not to mention getting matte medium drops all over everything. I have finally hit on a solution. I use an old Alene's Tacky glue bottle, and fill it with matte medium solution. This allows me to dribble the solution on from just about scenery level. Everything stays where I want it.
So true, never had any luck trying to spray adhesive. I use one of the small kid sized white glue bottles ( has the pointed orange twist top) This allows control of drops or dribble on as needed. Never thought to use the larger Aleen's Tacky bottle. Some find using a "pipette" tube works great especially for controlling glue for ballasting. I would like to note, matte medium is fantastic for ballast but once it has dried it is rather difficult to rewet for any removal.
Modeling B&O- Chessie Bob K. www.ssmrc.org
bogp40 CTValleyRR I have tried spraying, and just end up blasting ground cover all over the place, not to mention getting matte medium drops all over everything. I have finally hit on a solution. I use an old Alene's Tacky glue bottle, and fill it with matte medium solution. This allows me to dribble the solution on from just about scenery level. Everything stays where I want it. I would like to note, matte medium is fantastic for ballast but once it has dried it is rather difficult to rewet for any removal.
I would like to note, matte medium is fantastic for ballast but once it has dried it is rather difficult to rewet for any removal.
70% isopropyl alcohol will dissolve matte medium and allows the ballast to be easily scraped up.
richhotrain bogp40 CTValleyRR I have tried spraying, and just end up blasting ground cover all over the place, not to mention getting matte medium drops all over everything. I have finally hit on a solution. I use an old Alene's Tacky glue bottle, and fill it with matte medium solution. This allows me to dribble the solution on from just about scenery level. Everything stays where I want it. I would like to note, matte medium is fantastic for ballast but once it has dried it is rather difficult to rewet for any removal. 70% isopropyl alcohol will dissolve matte medium and allows the ballast to be easily scraped up. Rich
True, dat!
I have often removed ballast in this way. After letting the alcohol sit for a couple of minutes, a putty knife takes it right up.
When ballasting I pretty much follow Cody's method, Where he uses a pipette I use a medicine dropper for both the alcohol and the diluted white glue. Lately I have also been using a white glue bottle to spread the diluted glue mix.
For ground cover I use a small brush and paint the surface with the diluted glue and then spread the scenic material on top. This helps keep it in place when applying the alcohol. I follow this with the alcohol using the medicine dropper with a final step of dribbleing the diluted white glue using a large white glue bottle dedicated for this purpose.
In my first attempt of gluing ground cover I tried spraying the alcohol and overspray ruined the road color so I didn't even try spraying the glue. Also spraying is harder to get the ground cover as wet as it should be.
Ask 10 people and you will get 10 variations on getting the job done.
Bob
Don't Ever Give Up
CTValleyRR richhotrain bogp40 CTValleyRR I have tried spraying, and just end up blasting ground cover all over the place, not to mention getting matte medium drops all over everything. I have finally hit on a solution. I use an old Alene's Tacky glue bottle, and fill it with matte medium solution. This allows me to dribble the solution on from just about scenery level. Everything stays where I want it. I would like to note, matte medium is fantastic for ballast but once it has dried it is rather difficult to rewet for any removal. 70% isopropyl alcohol will dissolve matte medium and allows the ballast to be easily scraped up. Rich True, dat! I have often removed ballast in this way. After letting the alcohol sit for a couple of minutes, a putty knife takes it right up.
In fact, the ballast can be re-used by putting it through a sifter after the alcohol has evaporated.
For applying matte medium (which I usually dilute if it is too viscous) or Woodland Scenics Scenic Cement, I either use a very large "eyedropper" that I picked up at American Science and Surplus, or an odd little flexible squeeze bottle with an accordian like structure (so you pump it from the bottom rather than squeeze the sides) that I got at the same place, I think for fifteen cents. They both offer decent control and take up seemingly just the right quantity of product. I did try a spray bottle and will not use it again as it was far too imprecise and I was wasting much product and getting it where it was not needed or wanted.
Some modelers use pipettes - I think Cody Grivno has shown that use on his videos. American Science and Surplus also has cheap glass and plastic pipettes. I have not tried it but that would let the product run out, while sometimes I like the pressurized force behind the eyedropper or squeeze bottle.
If for some reason you wanted really large quantities -- such as if you were ballasting O or G gauge track -- perhaps a turkey baster would make sense.
Dave Nelson
I use an old squeeze-type mustard bottle, filled with diluted white glue.
Modeling the Baltimore waterfront in HO scale
superbe Ask 10 people and you will get 10 variations on getting the job done. Bob
But if you ask me, I'll tell you exactly the same thing Bob did.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Aftershave or pre-electric shave bottle. The kind with an insert to make a tiny hole. Dribbles nicely and you get more flow with a gentle squeeze.
The mind is like a parachute. It works better when it's open. www.stremy.net
I don`t use water at all........straight 70% alcohol with a drop of Dawn and 20 to 30% matte medium.......and a pipette.
Dennis Blank Jr.
CEO,COO,CFO,CMO,Bossman,Slavedriver,Engineer,Trackforeman,Grunt. Birdsboro & Reading Railroad
Thanks for all of the replies.
I am drawing some important conclusions.
One, don't spray on the matte medium.
Two, no one seems to spoon it on but me.
Three, some form of dispenser to "dribble" it on seems to be the preferred approach.
So, that is what I will do and report back with the results.
Go to the housewares department at your local Walmart. They have translucent condiment bottles that the small "mom and pop" burger joints have. I used to use empty Elmer's or Aileen's tacky glue bottles. They DID dribble the diluted glue mixture, but I didn't like that I couldn't see inside the bottle. Over time, white glue and water tends to separate, with the glue lying on the bottom of the bottle. I put a larger fishing weight in the bottle and shake it a few times to mix it up (ala a rattle can of spray paint).
Marlon
See pictures of the Clinton-Golden Valley RR
Pipettes, etc are really good for tight spaces around turnouts where you need maximum control. More for scenery, but also used for wide open lengths of track, I'll use matte medium diluted at least 50/50 sprayed on in a mist. You can experiment with making a weaker matte medium/water mix, but don't over do it.
Note: You MUST clean the matte medium mister thoroughly with clean water, maybe a little alcohol, too, after use. Otherwise it will be gummed up and totally useless the next time.
Before I dribble or mist on matte medium for either ballast or scenery, I mist on 90% iso alcohol. That wets things down and its overspray doesn't have to be as closely controlled as the matte medium's. It evaporates quickly, so the matte medium still works, and allows the MM bind everything together by letting it penetrate thoroughly into whatever you're try to stick down.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
I have found a great large-volume container with the application accuracy of a laboratory grade pipette. It's a plastic bottle that originally held saline solution for soft contact lenses. Since the tip of this bottle was designed to meter out drops of saline solution into a small contact lens it functions much like a small pipette but holds a much more convenient volume of the solution. If you don't wear soft contact lenses and have no direct access to such a bottle, you probably know several people that do wear soft contacts and will save you a bottle the next time they empty one. You have to carefully pry off the top of the bottle to fill it with your solution but the top usually pops right back on without any significant leakage.
Hornblower
mlehmanNote: You MUST clean the matte medium mister thoroughly with clean water, maybe a little alcohol, too, after use. Otherwise it will be gummed up and totally useless the next time
Yep, I have ruined some perfectly good spray bottles. One thing I did do before spraying was to cover the track, structures and anything else that I didn't want to cover with the matte medium.
There's never time to do it right, but always time to do it over.....
HaroldA mlehmanNote: You MUST clean the matte medium mister thoroughly with clean water, maybe a little alcohol, too, after use. Otherwise it will be gummed up and totally useless the next time Yep, I have ruined some perfectly good spray bottles. One thing I did do before spraying was to cover the track, structures and anything else that I didn't want to cover with the matte medium.
Absolutely cover anything that matte medium will affect. A spray bottle full of it can totally lock up a layout if mishandled.
One other point on using the 90% iso alcohol is to only get it where you want the matte medium to go. As I noted, you can be a little sloppy with the alcohol in most cases, but be cautious near turnouts, etc. If the alcohol wets it and you get too close with the matte medium, it will draw the matte medium in by capillary action, which can be bad. On the other hand, a little wetting of alcohol with an eye dropper can help you send matte medium to exactly the right spot via the same capillary action. Kind of cool, but you gotta keep it under control.
mlehman Pipettes, etc are really good for tight spaces around turnouts where you need maximum control. More for scenery, but also used for wide open lengths of track, I'll use matte medium diluted at least 50/50 sprayed on in a mist. You can experiment with making a weaker matte medium/water mix, but don't over do it. Note: You MUST clean the matte medium mister thoroughly with clean water, maybe a little alcohol, too, after use. Otherwise it will be gummed up and totally useless the next time. Before I dribble or mist on matte medium for either ballast or scenery, I mist on 90% iso alcohol. That wets things down and its overspray doesn't have to be as closely controlled as the matte medium's. It evaporates quickly, so the matte medium still works, and allows the MM bind everything together by letting it penetrate thoroughly into whatever you're try to stick down.
I would suggest you switch from 90% alcohol to 70% in this situation. If the 90% pools around anything painted, it could dissolve it, (that's why it's used as a paint remover), it would be safer and just as effective to use the 70% alcohol for pre-wetting..
Jay
C-415 Build: https://imageshack.com/a/tShC/1
Other builds: https://imageshack.com/my/albums
modelmaker51 I would suggest you switch from 90% alcohol to 70% in this situation. If the 90% pools around anything painted, it could dissolve it, (that's why it's used as a paint remover), it would be safer and just as effective to use the 70% alcohol for pre-wetting..
Yeah, it does work for that in some cases. Just to be clear, I'm talking about 90% isopropyl, not denatured.
I'm pretty conscientious about removing anything likely to be affected. It certainly doesn't bother the scenery and coloring materials I use. I used to use 70% and came across the suggestion to use 90% in ballasting, which helped me a lot and then I applied it to scenery. It's a great improvement in evaporation, which helps things from getting too wet, and works well with really light stuff that tends to get blown around.
So, be cautious, as they say "try it on a small piece of fabric to ensure it won't fade" your stuff, when working with virtually anything like this.
For spraying large areas of scenery, cover anything you don't want glued, as has been mentioned before. I've found that the best spray bottles are the misters found in the gardening section at Walmart. They have the finest mist. When you're done spraying, flush the bottle and sprayer with hot water, or it'll gum up the works.
mlehman modelmaker51 I would suggest you switch from 90% alcohol to 70% in this situation. If the 90% pools around anything painted, it could dissolve it, (that's why it's used as a paint remover), it would be safer and just as effective to use the 70% alcohol for pre-wetting.. Yeah, it does work for that in some cases. Just to be clear, I'm talking about 90% isopropyl, not denatured. I'm pretty conscientious about removing anything likely to be affected. It certainly doesn't bother the scenery and coloring materials I use. I used to use 70% and came across the suggestion to use 90% in ballasting, which helped me a lot and then I applied it to scenery. It's a great improvement in evaporation, which helps things from getting too wet, and works well with really light stuff that tends to get blown around. So, be cautious, as they say "try it on a small piece of fabric to ensure it won't fade" your stuff, when working with virtually anything like this.
I did mean switch from 90% isopropl to 70% isopropl.
This is what I use: