What is the best way to lay ballast

[Anonymous]

I am currenlty working on my N scale layout and it's my first time to lay ballast. I have made a solution of wet water (6 oz of water with 2 drops liquid soap) I laid the ballast, placed a few drops of wet water on it and then tried to use my Woodland Scenics sprayer with scenery cement and the dang thing just blew all over the place. Now the little ballast that's left is barely held in place.Can you pro's help?


Jared [:(]

[Anonymous]

After spreading ballast and then tapping the railheads with the handle of the brush I am speading it with,(it knocks ballast of the top of the ties, and "settles the high spots), I use an old Elmers bottle to slowly drip my glue/wetwater mix into the ballast. After things get wet enough (2nd or 3rd pass) I open the bottle top a little more and let it flow faster. Yeah, its slow, but it works!

[Anonymous]

I used a spoon and a small paint brush .Used paint brush 1inch for the glue ,then spread ballast with spoon ,then use a dry bru***o even out the ballast .This worked for me
AL

[Anonymous]

AM I supposed to be putting some glue down first to hold the first layer down? I am confused

[bogp40]

You are doing fine up to wetting down the ballast- you need a fine mist at first. Don't spray directly at the ties let it rain down -as the balast becomes wetter you can aim closer. Don't flood though now you may add glue. If glue will not flow as you like try to lightly spray pooled spots. Adjust your methods as needed. Try various spray bottles if necesary. Different brands and weight of ballast need to treated differenty also. Experiment on test areas to sharpen you skills. One other trick I use is prior to spreading ballast, I spread/ paint on dilluted glue on the shoulders and other run off spots w/ a small foam brush. Work only small area and sprinkle on ballast - I like to us a small paper cup I find that it controls better. Don't be afraid to mix or blend different shades and colors as you go, especially at junctions, turnouts yard leads etc. You will find you own technique in no time.
Bob

[RedLeader]

I use a spoon to lay the ballast (use planty of it). Then I use a "watercolor" paint bru***o spread, level, and give form to the ballast profile. After that I use "wet" water to wet the ballast, and the glue it with deluted (50/50) white glue. For that, I use old bottles of hair dye. I've found they work great!

[cwclark]

that is right...lay the ballast down between the rails DRY...then take a paint brush (I use a fan brush because the bristles are stiff and it's more controllable) and get the loose pieces between the ties and off the rails...then gently wet the ballast with a very fine mist of the water with the soap in it...then use either an eye dropper or a large syringe 50 - 100 cc with a small rubber tube attached to the end and drip the dilute glue (50%/50%) onto the ballast and let it dry.. it's a slow tedious process to get it to come out right...Chuck[:D]

[Anonymous]

For spraying ballast, after continually blasting ballast all over the place I discovered that the problem was the type of bottle I was using. The best kind are the cheap hairspray bottles. Buy a bottle of Suave hairspray, the pump kind. Dump the hairspray and use the 50/50 solution of glue and water, with a couple drops of dish soap. It only costs 99 cents for the hairspray at the dollar store or Wal mart. While you're at it, pick up a second bottle and only put water in it. When you're done ballasting with the glue bottle, take the pump cap and put it on the water bottle and pump it a couple dozen times to get all the glue out. Otherwise it won't mist right next time and you'll have to get another. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all the great tips guys. I will have to practice more.

Jared

[jhugart]

Here's what I've done to lay ballast:

1. Clean the area around the track. This is to avoid any debris getting into the picture.

2. Apply ballast between the rails. Use a small, dry paintbru***o spread the ballast so it is even with the ties. Some may trickle out under the rails to the sides, depending on your track. That's fine.

3. Apply ballast on the sides of the track. I've seen spoons used, or folded index cards. You don't need much, as you are going to spread it to reach the height of the ties. Use that same, dry paintbrush.

The idea up to this point is to get the ballast to look the way you want. It is probably best to only work on a foot or so for your first time. Later, you may do three or more feet of track, or a switching area, or what have you. The catch is how much you want to redo if you sneeze!

4. Get a spray bottle (the kind that holds around a quart of water). Fill almost to the top with water, then add some dishwashing liquid. (The 6 ounces to a couple drops sounded more like bubble-blowing liquid!) make sure the bottle is set to the finest mist it delivers.

6. Spray into the _air_ _above_ the track. Do _not_ spray at the ballast. You want to create a rain of wet water, and let the mist fall onto the ballast. Keep spraying the air until it looks like the ballast is pretty wet. It is OK to spray more than you think is needed; you'll know you've gone too far when the ballast washes away. The idea is to get things damp, not awash.

7. Get your sprayer of Scenic Cement (nice stuff) or an eye-dropper of 1:1 mixture of white glue and water. If you use a sprayer, do the same air-spray trick you did before. Spray until it looks like you have puddles of the cement on the ballast. If you are using a dropper, get close to the ballast and gently squeeze drops. You should say them just soak in. Keep going until you approach the puddle status.

Basically, when the ballast is wet enough, the cement/glue will soak in, like you'd expect water to do on a dry paper towel. If the cement/glue beads up or makes balls, the ballast isn't wet enough to break the surface tension of the cement/glue.

Once you've done this, leave it alone. Let it dry. Don't add more ballast. When it is dry, the stuff should be resistant to a gentle brushing or fingertip pressure.

This same approach works for applying ground-up foam to your landscaping.

Enjoy!

[Anonymous]

The first thing you should do before touching your ballest is to profile youir ballest strips. The 45 degree slope on the strip is too much of an angle and no where near prototypical. Take a sureform tool and eliminare the sharp angle by smoothing down the edges of your ballest strips. Make the slope of the strip rounded with a gentle rounded profile. This will look much more realistic and make your ballest setting a lot easier. Your ballest will stay put on a smooth slope and not run all over the place as with the standard 45 degree sharp angle.

Have fun

[johncolley]

For the initial misting I have had much better success with 50-50 mix of water and rubbing alcohol with a few drops of detergent added. The alcohol aids the penetration then evaporates off. do the glue follow-up with an eyedropper on the ties so it will flow off them into the ballast. Then follow up with a final mist to wash it off the ties and rails. let it set at least 24 hours before scraping the odd pieces of ballast off the rails and ties.

[Anonymous]

Thanks to all of you who responded. Now I have some better ideas on how to go about it. Thanks

Jared

[cwaldman]

I also have been using Alcohol (straight) with an eyedropper. I have had good success dripping it from outside the rails, but on the ties. Less chance of it moving the ballast. As you go you can see it quickly and nicely darken the ballast inside the rails. Once it is well soaked I use the same approach, and even the same dropper with a 50:50 mix of white elmers and water. I never drip directly inside the rails. But a good application of the alcohol allows the glue solution to flow right in. If any fix up is then needed, it is never needed inside the rails, but only the outside tie area.

Never found a good way to mist without getting everything around the track soaked. Since ballasting is the final step, I don't want everything soaked. But a steady hand and light squeeze with a dropper for both solutions has yielded good results and little "fix-up" of moved ballast.

Avoid over flowing in either mixture or it may float the ballast out of place. This is the reason for dripping on outside ties, and allowing it to truly soak in and not be forced into the ballast.

Cletus