Both products deliver an extremely convincing and realistic look. My days of using plain gray ballast appear to be over. Thanks for sharing, guys.
Wilton.
Rob,
The Scenic Express looks very similar. I see it priced at about $10 per quart. My two main reasons in making my own is price (about half) and I don't have to pay shipping or drive 90 miles to Houston to try to find it. That becomes a real pain and additional expenses if I run out and have to make a second trip.
BIG JERR
Rob Spangler
I think all anyone else is doing ot make your pictures appear is copying the link, then using the insert image button. It's the one to the left of the one that looks like a filmstrip (which is for videos, like YouTube). You just click on that, and then a window should pop up with a field where you paste your link from Photobucket, adn that's it.
There's a "How to post photos" thread that ran for a while on the main section.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
GREAT LOOKING BALLAST! I have to write that down so when I get to ballasting I can use it. Thanks! That is what I like about this site, someone always has a better/newer idea.
God's Best & Happy Rails to You!
Bing (RIPRR The Route of the Buzzards)
The future: Dead Rail Society
very convincing ballast,color is dead on , my friend , Jerry
http://s1114.photobucket.com/user/eaglescoutgary/media/20131113_080659.jpg.html
Here is today's picture with the ballast completely dry. Notice the actual piece of 1:1 ballast almost disappears in the center of the photo. I still can't get the actual pictrure to appear, only the link. Sorry.
No. Far right is not ballasted yet. I will post another picture tomorrow after it dries completely.
Very good , You say its still wet ? is that the same stuff dry on far right
EAGLESCOUT ; now that you got your Pict's hosted to post all you do is 1. start a post or reply, type what your Pict is about THEN hit enter to start new paragraph 2. click {insert image } middle bottom of tool bar when composing post , a sub box well appear then 3. going to your hosting site on a nother browser page ,open "your picture album" and next to your Pict should be four boxes with labels marked, email&IM, direct, HTML & IMG ..I left click [direct} and I get (copied} appears, THEN 4.return to your browser page with this site and your composing post and in the sub box (insert image) right click and hit " paste "...your Pict should be attached to your post.... JW
here you go
FB page of my layout *new*
https://www.facebook.com/ghglines
.
thread to my layout
http://www.warcrc.net/forum/showthread.php?t=10505
pics
http://s237.photobucket.com/user/rockcrawling/library/#/user/rockcrawling/library/ho%20scale%20trains?sort=3&page=1&_suid=1388183416990004180295067414064
http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/k540/eaglescoutgary/20131112_110945.jpg
Not sure why the picture is not showing. Rock on the right is the real piece of ballast picked up off the Union Pacific right of way. Ballast is still wet with matte medium, so should dry a bit lighter.
yes ; please post a pict. it sounds great
Get yourself a free photobucket account and upload the picture there. After that it's pretty easy to get it here.
Doc,
Dyeing sand will yield one color which is fine if that is your desired effect. However, my formula yeilds a tri-color mix which approximates crushed granite closer than anything I have see to date. As I mentioned above, when I held a granite rock from the Union Pacific right of way next to my ballast it looked as though it came directly from that rock.
I suppose one could just dye sand to the desired color instead of using the grout? (See Wiki-How How to Dye Sand)
Co-owner of the proposed CT River Valley RR (HO scale) http://home.comcast.net/~docinct/CTRiverValleyRR/
Randy,
I have never been able to figure out posting pictures on this site. All I can say is I held a piece of granite ballast picked up off the Union Pacific right of way next to my experimental track section and it blended in like the ballast actually came from that rock.
Got some pictures? This sounds like a great alternative.
This is a great idea. I'm going to try it. I also live in a town where all my name brand train stuff is mail-order due to the lack of a hobby shop in town. Anything I don't want to mail away for I have to create on my own. This ballast idea is exactly what I needed. I have both a Micheals and a Home Depot in town so I'll be putting your idea into action. I would imagine the grout will solidify after it all dries eliminating the need for glue.
Thanks for sharing this idea, Eaglescout. Much appreciated.
Lorne
Fed up with the high cost of ballast and the distance from my small town to purchase it I worked on a formula this weekend with readily available materials from Michaels and Home Depot. For a crushed granite common to Montana mainlines I combined two parts each of Creatology Sand Sable Arena white and black from Michaels with one part Polyblend Natural Gray sanded grout from Home Depot. Applied this to track the same as any ballast, sprayed with 70% alcohol (wet water could be used also) and dribbled on diluted matte medium. The gray grout mutes the black and white sand to yield a realistic looking granite ballast for about $6 for three pounds. The sand grains are in between fine and medium commercial ballast which I like for HO. I want to see individual grains ("rocks") not so fine that it does not look like rocks. I will be using this formula to ballast the expansion of my Great Northern/Montana Rail Link western Montana layout.