Bonded Ballast Tip

[Anonymous]

Just thought I'd pass this along...It saves a lot of time and mess.... If you use the bonded ballast method to secure ballast to your roadbed and track use rubbing alcohol as the wetting agent rather than soapy water. Since the alcohol evaporates much faster than water the ballast will be secure and dry in a few hours rather than at least a day. The alcohol breaks the surface tension of the thinned glue mixture just as well as soapy water. This works well for most any kind of ground cover too....Vic

[Anonymous]

Vic:

I've used this method myself and it works very well.

Jim

[Anonymous]

Here's a whole different slant on ballasting:
http://www.the-gauge.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=934

[Anonymous]

Golly Bill, that is a different slant. I'm not trying to burst the guy's bubble but what he doesn't know is that wallpaper paste and white glue are basicly the same thing! They are casine products derived from milk. Ever notice how a bottle of Elmer's sorta smells like sour milk?... Wallpaper paste is just the powdered form of white glue. The reason his method does not bond as tight is that he does not use a bonding agent(ie: wet water, alcohol etc) that allows the glue to penetrate the material beneath the ballast. I've used the same method to "paint on" large areas of ground cover but just mixed the scenery material with thinned white glue...Vic

[Anonymous]

This "guy's" bubbles are pretty hard to burst - he is, IMHO, one of the best MRRs around, and is in a league with Allen and Armstrong!

[Anonymous]

I notice a lot of people, including MR, use a wet mixture or pour the wet glue over the ballast. I haven't done any of it lately but early on (35 years ago) I used powered glue. I'd mix the ballast with the powered glue till there was an even dusting over it all. Put it in place then spray it with a wetting agent. A lot less mess that way.....Walt