Jon020's Layout Blog

I know it probably doesn't feel a big step Jon but it is - to get something that neat after so few attempts that's a real achievement and I think it looks pretty well even with the chunky wagons.

 

Look at what most first time ballasters achieve on chunky Peco or Hornby track and it becomes even more impressive!

I look forward to seeing the board develop

Hi James. Thanks for the comment. To be honest, I thought that it looked ok but there still room for improvemet and hopefully I'll get there with practice. Thanks for suggesting a practice piece as it's been a bit of a life saver.

Will stop the comment now as Angelina Jolie is on TV as Miss Croft and it's, how shall I put this, erm a little destracting . Time to enjoy Tomb raider for the nth time, with a nice cool pint of Old Peculiar

Two bottles of Wytchcraft and CSI for me Jon Glad to be able to help, remotely so to speak!

A bit late to the party here, but it looks grand to me, I can't honestly see what you'd improve on - I can't spot any voids, and the height looks spot on.

That's very neat work, Jon, full marks - nice neat application of ballast, sleepers clear, and rail sides fully visible.

 

That looks like C&L track, if so, one more tip is to cut the webs between the sleepers when you've glued the track to the baseboard, but before you apply the ballast, this then gives you the opportunity to have air gaps between the top of the ballast surface and the bottom of the rail, which is prototypical in many instances (but not all, there are equally examples of ballast reaching the underside of the bullhead rail).

 

One other method you might like to try (if marshalling x-zillion bits of reluctant bits of ballast is apt to get one ones nerves after a while), is the equally thrilling method of painting neat PVA between the sleeper bays (easier when the webs are removed!), and applying dry ballast on top. When the glue is dry, vacuum the loose ballast off and you should be left with a very neat ballasted area.

 

For 4mm scale, the use of 'N' gauge ballast almost always looks more scale than that which is sold as 'OO' ballast, and the above 'painting the PVA' method works equally well with that.

 

The big advantage of the PVA painting method (IMO) is that you can carefully control exactly where the ballast goes....

Hi again - just noticed in your previous blog entry that you are using 'Scenics' grey ballast? Presumably that is the stuff used on the photos in this thread?

 

I think I saw someone else refer to Woodland Scenics ballast as well? I'd just like to recommend Woodland Scenics ballast, which I use, together with Carrs ballast as well. All seem to be artificial and thus don't leave a grey dust or 'wash' if things go wrong as per your previous blog!

 

I think the photos of the dry ballasted track with the Deltic on the previous entry are utterly superb, you clearly have a talent in this respect and I look forward to seeing how your layout develops.

 

In case you haven't had a go at gluing that ballast on the area where the Deltic was down yet, you could have a go using Johnson's 'Klear', if you can get any. Re6/6 of this forum has also experimented with the newer Pledge 'Klear', which is the replacement for the original product, and whilst the new product doesn't seem to be suitable as a clear varnish, he found that it works well as a ballasting fixative.

 

I normally wet the dry ballast using a very fine plant mister, spraying neat IPA from around 18" to 2' height, letting it really soak in, and then going in with a pipette filled with 'Klear' (although diluted glue with a bit of washing up liquid would work equally well).

 

I would add that the reason I use this method and not the 'painting the PVA' method on Callow Lane, is due to the fact that I am using full depth Exactoscale track bases, where the depth of the PVA is generally not quite enough to give a convincing ballast surface, whereas this is not a problem with C&L or SMP track, with it's thinner sleeper bases.

 

Good luck, anyway!