I am finally working on the new section, if you can call a two year old project new. I need a refresher on glue. I am using Elmer's white glue.
On round cover I paint the foam with water bases latex brown paint, them add glue on top on it while paint is wet. I them add my grass and it seems to stick fine. While this is still all fresh, I add my bushes. I have a bottle of glue that has been cut 50% apx with water and a tad of soap. Drip this on the bushes. Next day the bushes will blow off and leave the pink foam showing.
Wetwater, what mix should I use? Do I use wetwater on ground foam and if so, how wet to I get it? I prefer not to use alcohol with being a smoker.
Wetwater and ballast, how wet should I get the ballast? Could I use the same glue mix as I do for the ground cover?
One section I have ballast, well did not stick well. I think I afraid of adding to much glue.
Last question, will straight Elmer's white glue dry clear or white?
Thanks for the coming answer's.
Cuda Ken
I hate Rust
Ken, the latex paint should have stuck to straight foam. Mine did. Are you by any chance using latex and not acrylic paint?
Wet water is the same as the drug store isopropyl alcohol you by in thd 70% strength. I dilute mine with a bit more water to make it stretch further, but you can use the stuff as sold to you.
Some guys wet the ballast until the alcohol/water mix actually weeps out of the lower edge of the groomed ballast. I don't. I only wet my ballast perhaps half-way and then dribble on the glue mix. My aim is to create a decently thick shell, but I probably get some glue throughout the entire ballast volume.
Yes, you can use the same glue mix. You can also use yellow carpenter's glue, as I do, or use Matte Medium of the Mod Podge type. I would dilute the matte medium by about 25-30%, but other users may do things differently.
When you say the one ballast section didn't 'stick well', what precisely does that mean? Did the ballast crumble when you touched it? How long did it dry? How much did you add? Was there detergent added, and did you see the glue soak immediately into the pre-wetted surface of the ballast? I let a good bit of the glue penetrate the ballast, but I also don't want a solid monolithic block of ballast. I want to be able to break up, or soak and break up, the top shell only to find almost, or mostly, loose beach sand nearest the bottom. Works for me is all I can say...my rails stay put.
Straight white glue should be mostly clear, although it will leave a lighter shade and also a shiny surface. Shinier, anyway,
-Crandell
Around here, we have hard water, and the "drop of dish soap in the water" trick does not work. I found that what works great is mixing cheap store brand 70% isopropyl alcohol with the glue, no water at all. This really soaked right in on ballast and when it was dry it was secured throughout, not just a crust on the outside.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Here's a LINK to a thread on this very topic.
Wayne
Crandell, I am using Latex paint on the base. When I said the ballast did not stick well, I could blow on it and it went flying. 9 months later the ballast still blew off. That is why I guessing I need to use more glue. There was no crust on the ballast where it came off.
On the bushes I used diluted white glue, set for 12 hours and blew off. If I use straight glue, they stick.
Randy, I have soft water.
Doc, thanks for the link and I will check later. Time to lay some rail.
Ken
I'd still use the alcohol, even with soft water. You can tell if whatever you use is working - if you dribble on the glue and your wetting agent is working properly, it will instantly 'disappear' and be soaked into the scenic materials. If you see glue puddlign up - it's not workign and will end up being just a crust on top of the bench.
For 'painting' areas with glue to put down a layer of ground foam, I'd just dilute the glue with water, no need for a wetting agent for the base coat.
rrinkerYou can tell if whatever you use is working - if you dribble on the glue and your wetting agent is working properly, it will instantly 'disappear' and be soaked into the scenic materials. If you see glue puddling up - it's not working and will end up being just a crust on top of the bench.
Hum, on the ballast it been so long I cannot remember, on the bushes It was gone pretty fast Randy. That was the 50% glue and water.
I use latex paint,sprinkle on ground cover,finefoam or grass flocking while the paint is wet. I then apply bushes etc. after the latex DRIES. I think adding the glue to the paint when its wet, spoils the sticking prperties of both the glue and the paint. Just a theory. BILL
Bill, I will give it a try with out the glue.
Thanks for all the answers.