Ballast Stability

[Anonymous]

What should properly glued ballast feel like? I have glue mine twice (with different glue combinations and although the ballast stays in place it I run a vacuum above it when I touch it with a finger the top layer comes off. That can't be how it is suppose to be, right?

Jim

[MisterBeasley]

I let mine set a good 2 or 3 days before touching it. Once it's set, though, it doesn't flake off. Did you use a wetting agent (wet water, a mix of a few drops of dish soap in water) to get the glue to spread and adhere?

[cacole]

No, it should be firmly glued in place. What I use is rubbing alcohol in a garden misting sprayer to pre-wet the ballast, then dribble on a mixture of 50/50 white glue and water with a few drops of liquid dish washing detergent in it (wet water). I pour the glue on until the ballast can hold no more. Then I spray it all again with the rubbing alcohol. After everything is dry, the ballast is firmly glued in place, although some specks can still work loose or get knocked loose if you hit it or rub on it hard enough.

[Anonymous]

There is a 3rd coat of glue drying right now. All three time the ballast was pre-wetted (soaked really) with a 50/50 solution of water and alcohol with a couple of drops of dish soap. Right now the applied glue (over the previous 2 glues) is 50/50 mix of 'Titebond' White Glue and water. I'll see what it looks/feels like in the morning.

Thanks

Jim

[selector]

It mght help to dehumidify the room for a couple of days, and otherwise just forget about the ballast until Saturday morning...really. Maybe even Sunday. Really. It can take that long.

[bikerraypa]

glue the crap out of it, once. Use a mix of white glue and rubbing alcohol, and soak it until it looks like you've used too much (it has to seep the whole way through or it just forms a hard shell)

http://www.westernallegheny.com/modelrr/ballast.html

Ray out

[cheese3]

I would wait a couple of days...when i did my staging yard it took 2 days or so to dry.

[wbutler1]

I noted that you throughly pre-soaked your ballast. I have tried both pre-soaking and pre-spray with both alcohol and "wet water". The best results came from spraying just sufficiently to break the surface tension on the ballast, not soaking. This allowed the 50/50 glue to penetrate more fully since it did not have to displace the fluid already in the ballast. I am a relately new novice with a low experience level but I have found that the spraying works better. My first attemps were to saturate, you know if a little is good a whole lot must be better, well I don't think this is true.
Hey hope this helps
Bill Butler
Greenville, PA. USA

[selector]

Bill, I, too, did not prewet, and had good results. In fairness, though, I only wanted a retaining shell of glued ballast, and did not completely wet the ballast. Still, my solution of one part glue to five or six parts water, plus two drops of detergent, did a good job, both on beach sand and WS walnut shell ballast.

[Anonymous]

Personally, I'd forget pre-wetting the ballast. I'd use only a mixture of 25% white glue, 50% alcohol, and 25% water mixed with a few drops of detergent. Apply it until the ballast is soaked. By pre-wetting the ballast without water you're preventing your glue from soaking into everything. By using only a glue mixture, you'll know that whatever's wet, is glued. I've used this on cars filled with ground coal and it works great.

The importance of the alcohol is that it helps to dry the glue deep inside the ballast. Because the alcohol dries quickly it "carries" the water out with it.

Mark in Utah

[Anonymous]

2 months ago the only experience I had with ballast was onboard ship. Didn't even know the rocks/gravel that make up the roadbed were called ballast. However, everything I have read up to this point said pre-wetting (not pre-soaking) was strongly recommended.
In the future I will use less "soaking" and more "wetting".
As for the current situation the 50/50 white glue and water worked fine and the ballast is now securely fasten. Between the "soaking" and the more diluted glue mixture used before there just was not enough glue left to do the job.

Thanks for the help.

Jim