Ballasting Question???

[canazar]

I was laying some ballast in between my two main tracks and I liked the way it looked wet.  I know when it dries, it will lighten up to its original color, but when I looked down the line, I prefered the "wet" darker color gray as it matched my road bed, much better.   Is there any product that I could pour or dribble on that would leave it with a 'wet' darker look?  

Thanks guys.

[bogp40]

I was laying some ballast in between my two main tracks and I liked the way it looked wet.  I know when it dries, it will lighten up to its original color, but when I looked down the line, I prefered the "wet" darker color gray as it matched my road bed, much better.   Is there any product that I could pour or dribble on that would leave it with a 'wet' darker look?  

Thanks guys.

You already have figured that ground "stone" ballast will dry somewhat darker once glued down. The wet stone thing. WS walnut shell dries almost exactly the same. I use a mix of WS fine gray and Scenic Express. I like the look for matching on the mainline. Sidings and yards are done with other mixes and staining.

If you want to darken the ballast or just add some variation and weathering stains see Joe Fugate's method of using the powdered Tempra paints. I have experimented w/ powdered dyes to acconplish this but I think Joe's method is easier and can be diluted and washed out if you think it is too dark.

Mainline mix

Darkened (stained) yard

If Joe doesn't see this, you should go to his website siskiyou.railfan.net

 

[loathar]

You can use chalks or weathering powders to get a darker look. I think "wet" is going to be hard to do. I like starting out with a lighter color ballast because it's easier to darken a light color than lighten a dark color.

[selector]

I used black and brown tempura powder and mixed it with plaster of paris.  The resulting powder can be brushed into the ballast between the rails and then spritzed with a 50/50 mix of isopropyl alcohol and water.  Joe's technique works very well...it worked for me.

You can sort of see the effect in the image below.

[Renegade1c]

i like that  Alaska railraod passenger train

[R. T. POTEET]

I was laying some ballast in between my two main tracks and I liked the way it looked wet.  I know when it dries, it will lighten up to its original color, but when I looked down the line, I prefered the "wet" darker color gray as it matched my road bed, much better.   Is there any product that I could pour or dribble on that would leave it with a 'wet' darker look?  

Thanks guys.

Funny you should ask!

Before you jump off of the deep end you need to understand that the reason that ballast is darker between the rails than between the tracks is because between the rails picks up all the leakage from under the locomotives. I even know an individual who goes along before he glues down his ballast and flex track and, using an eyedropper, dribbles diluted black paint onto his roadbed.

Now! about fifteen years ago an acquaintance who had tired of the far, far reaches of the wild, wild west was relocating back to civilization (Read: Pennsylvania) - I don't regard that as civilization but he did and I guess that's really all that matters.  He had also tired of model railroading - he had previously tired of three wives - although it may have been the other way around - but this last one - number four - had beat him to the draw and had absconded one Monday morning with the assets of their joint checking account - and, upon his return to civilization, was going to return to the modeling of that alternate mode of transportation (Read: airplanes).  I gave him ten bucks for five bags of Highball Products HO Scale Light Gray ballast.  I prefer a darker ballast and had been blending three bags of (N Scale) Highball Products Dark Gray ballast with one bag of (N Scale) Highball Products Black ballast to get the shade of gray which I wanted.

I ran one bag of this Highball Products Light Gray through my gee!-yard-sales-are-great-for-bargains blender - you do have one of those, I suppose - and then sifted it through cheesecloth. I then blended this with some of that Highball Products Black - being careful, of course, to note how much black I was adding to the light gray - until I had a close-enough-for-government-work shade of the gray which I had been using for ballast.

Don't know just how much darker you want your ballast to be over what you are - or have been - using but if you are already using black you are S.O.L..

As an alternative you could try mixing A.I.M. or Bragdon weathering powders in with your ballast; that will definitely darken it up.

I am interested in the solution you arrive at so keep us posted!!!

[canazar]

Thanks for the input everyone.  Turns out, Bob was spot on.  Even after it dried, it was a bit darker...  a color I am very happy with.  Honestly, I have done very little ballasting work..  probably the on thing I really dont have much expeirence in as I havent had the chance yet. 

I should have posted pic from the get go to help explain what I ment, but here is my story.  My layout, while I have jumped in with both feet off the roof into the deep in, is still in mind, a short termed layout. My wife and I are renting a house and the layout I have been building, will be torn down some day. It really doesnt bother me as I have built this one pretty cheap.  And nope, I could care less about saveing it as I have learned to imbrace the next one with all of the improvements of the last one.  Plus, I really dont know what/how much room I will get at our next house.  So with that in mind, I have designed my layout to be as close as I can get  to 100% recyclable.  With the exception of ground foam and dirt, all the trees, bushes, and and track can be taken with me.

All of my track is just pinned to the foam useing sewing pins. Pin goes thourgh the track, into the cork, into the foam with no glue. They hold quite well and my track work has been great for over 2.5 years.  This way, all I have to do, is pull the pins out, and my track comes right up, even the cork, and its clean ready to be used again.  

Only draw back, I cant weather or ballast my tracks as it would be a REAL mess.   In my mind, my painted cork road bed gets me 75% there in the looks department, and considering the exspense of new track, and/or the amount of time it would take to clean it all, its worth it to me.   One little trick I did figure out though, is to lay ballast in between my tracks...the double main, and it helps give it more of the ballasted look.   The pic here is older and no ballast between the mains as of yet..

The cork is painted with auto primer and the ballast out of the bag, was just a bit light to blend.  Close, but wanted closer.  After it dried, it matches pretty darn close so I am happy with it.

I will try andget some photos up of it later.   Thanks again guys. 

[R. T. POTEET]

We had a guy from one of the Latin American countries in the club in Massachusetts.  They told him one night that at the next meeting he would be ballasting track.  He showed up at that meeting with four sticks of dynamite and told everyone he had come to 'b'last' the track.

[Chuck Geiger]

Poteet that is funny!