At $10 or so a shaker bottle, Woodland Scenics gray ballast gets rather pricey when building a large layout. A great substitute is starter or baby chick grit which can be purchased at almost any farm supply store in 50 pound bags for about $6.
Before running out to make a purchase, however, I should toss in a couple of caveats. First, be sure to read the label on the bag before buying. Some starter grit is anise flavored and some is dyed with iron oxide. Avoid this stuff for obvious reasons.
Also, starter grit lacks the size uniformity of Woodland Scenics ballast. But you can come pretty close by gently striking a shallow container of grit with a heavy mallet then sifting the stone through a screen.
If you're super fussy, do the bulk of your ballasting with the starter grit then dress up the top with Woodland Scenics ballast.
Also good is colored paver sand, which comes in a 20# bag for about $8 and can be sifted for several diffrent sizes of gravel or ballast.
Hmmm...Interesting.http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/product/chick_grit.htmlNot as cheap as mentioned, but still much cheaper than WS. Seems to come in different colors too. I can just see the strange looks the "country folk" at the Co-Op will give me when they find out what I'd want to use it for.
loathar Hmmm...Interesting.http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/product/chick_grit.htmlNot as cheap as mentioned, but still much cheaper than WS. Seems to come in different colors too. I can just see the strange looks the "country folk" at the Co-Op will give me when they find out what I'd want to use it for.
Not as strange as the looks I get when I buy makeup brushes for weathering.
Marlon
See pictures of the Clinton-Golden Valley RR
Now this looks like a SOLID option for balast. No way I can by enought WS (or any others) to even begin to finish my upcomming layout.
Even at say $20 for ten pounds (shipping for me) it's a heck of a deal.
Thanks
I have used black sand from AC Moore the kind used for sand art as cinder ballast in my engine facility mixed in with regular black cinder ballast you can never tell.
I was rather intrigued and went on a mission to find some "grit". Our local farm supply had some but it was Poultry Grit, and not "Chick". Bought it anyways as four lbs. was like $4. The 50 lbs bags at our MFA ran about $4 bucks too, but sheesh, didn't need that much! This is an all granite grit. I've come to find out that this is a #2 grade. I gave a handful a quick wash and took a photo next to some HO track so you can all see the size. To big for ballast (in HO), but it will come in handy for other things on the layout.
I'm going to go get some Chick Grit as it is much smaller..... In any case I'm going to mess around with this and see if it holds a die to change the color.
You guys are great, coming up with alternatives. Anybody out there see any downsides to these ballast solutions?
Hal
That grit looks like it could be used for retaining walls and building foundations....thanks for the picture
I've been think about my layout for a long while and here are two other ballast products that I picked up some time ago. These are actually sold as HO ballast.
The first photo is by Az. Rock & Mineral Co. It is UP Mainline Ballast #123-3. Comes in a 12oz bag and ran me about $4.30 at a LHS.
The next one here is by Mountain Modelcraft. Again, it's UP Mainline #407 ballast. No weight on the bag, but feels about right for 12oz or so. It runs like $4, but I got it off ebay as they have sales every now and then.
The AZ R&M is real rock. I'm not 100% sure what the MMC is, but it looks and feels like real rock.
You can easley see the size difference from the pourtry grit photo above.
Good ballast comparisons,but be careful not to short out your trac with that metal rule.
Cat's Pride litter is what we used on our HO scale club layout. No other brand will work because they swell up and clump when wet, but Cat's Pride, made by Oil Dry Corporation, is ground up kaolin clay that does not swell or clump. When glued down, it's not going to attract a cat even if you have one in your layout room.
It can also be used to clean up oil spills in your garage or carport.
You can see the results of using it as ballast at http://members.cox.net/cacole2/
checked out your website, nice layout but didn't see any dark ballast, is it possible to dye the kitty liter a darker color or have you tried to do that yet?
grinstuffchecked out your website, nice layout but didn't see any dark ballast, is it possible to dye the kitty liter a darker color or have you tried to do that yet?
If you want a darker color, you can brush on diluted craft or latex paint or a stain after the ballast thoroughly dries. It may also be possible to color it before putting it down if you have a way to tumble it in a mini cement mixer type of arrangement and then spread it out to dry. An air brush is also an easy way to color it.
I have found that using a spray of rubbing alcohol instead of wet water to moisten the ballast before dribbling on the glue mix helps the ballast dry faster and the glue permeates more thoroughly. It may also be possible to put paint into your glue mix, though I haven't tried that.
cacoleIt may also be possible to color it before putting it down if you have a way to tumble it in a mini cement mixer type of arrangement and then spread it out to dry.
Yes, it is. Use an old 1 pound coffee can about 1/4 full. Add diluted watercolor paint gradually, shake well between doses of paint.
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
Some additional findings.
This first one is the #2 poultry grit from above only I added in some diluted paint, Light Tuscan Oxide Red. Seems to take paint rather well. I used a glass mason jar as I didn't want to do much for the test... and it cleaned up nice even after drying. That was a good idea guys.
Next is #3 poultry grit, or turkey grit. This comes in 50lbs. bags for about $6 and found it in a feed and seed store. Not much dust and just gave it a quick rinse, let dry.
Next up is #1 poultry grit, or more specifically, chic grit. (ya all getting the idea with the size grit and the bird involved??) Yup, it's a tad smaller. Needed to rinse it a bit more, but no biggie. Again, 50lbs, $6.
This last one is something I just sort of stumbled upon, it's from sandbags used for weight in trucks etc. during the winter. Comes in a long tube of about 60lbs. Think it is a Quickcrete product, the print on the nylon sacks was faded.... And yup, it was in the back of my truck to help her from get'en squirrely in the back end. It needed a bit more rinsing,
So there ya have it. Hope this helps, I know I've learned a bunch and now had about 800lbs of ballast to mess with (lol... most is the sand in the back of my truck :P )
Oh, Reklein, I finally figured out that I needed to disonnect the track to keep from getting shocked.
BillWAt $10 or so a shaker bottle, Woodland Scenics gray ballast gets rather pricey when building a large layout. A great substitute is starter or baby chick grit which can be purchased at almost any farm supply store in 50 pound bags for about $6.
Howdy,
I took your advice and ballasted my whole layout with the baby chick grit. It really looks terrific. One question though-- now what do I do with all these darned chickens !?!?!?
John
loathar. I can just see the strange looks the "country folk" at the Co-Op will give me when they find out what I'd want to use it for.
. I can just see the strange looks the "country folk" at the Co-Op will give me when they find out what I'd want to use it for.
You mean funny looks while they're busy raising the price ! :)