Do you paint the poppy seeds after laying?

Mick

As yet no, but I don't do weathering and most of the rail is unpainted.

Blue poppy seed are naturally very variable and give a good colour range straight from the bag. My first four bags were all from the same batch and contained a good amount of dark seed. I bought another couple of bags some months later with a different batch number and these contained a higher proportion of light colour seed. (The same problem as with buying balls of wool). When I saw how light the colour of the latter seed was I mixed it with the remains of the blacker seed.

I have just posted a picture to Flickr to give you a better idea

Regards Ray

Excellent advice - just as well I have digital scales and measuring spoons - for cake making!  Do you have a close up of point work, where the solenoid pin enters the tie bar?  Also, presumably paste can get on the sleepers.  It doesn't detract from the final impression?

Thanks,

Alun

Good Alun you have found it.

You need a rich mix of paste with minimal water. If you use blue poppy seeds you need to keep to small quantities and work quickly - otherwise the poppy seeds take in too much water and will swell a little. Not a problem as they will dry back out. It is not a quick method but you get better with practice - and the paste doesn't show on the sleepers. As to points and tie bars - I drill / cut quite large holes for Peco point motors which are clipped directly to the points. I cover the hole in the baseboard with a rectangle of brown paper cut to fit round the point motor. This stops the poppy seeds from disappearing through the baseboard. Sorry but no pictures.

Regards

Ray

Yes indeed!  I take it blue poppy seeds were the variety you used?

I will be mounting points underneath the board, but I imagine the same principle applies.  It seems more risk averse than grit and PVA.

As ever, greatly appreciated,

Alun

Hello Alun

Yes indeed!  I take it blue poppy seeds were the variety you used?

 

Yes - I have other posts on the subject, one with pictures of the bags and the suppliers name and price.

Regards

Ray

That's great.  Ballasting is a little way off yet, but I like to have a plan.

Hello Halsey
 
The idea of using poppey seeds was suggestd in a 1960's Railway Modeller.  I think the suggestion was to bind them with Cascamite which I believe is a powder form of PVA.  PVA is too permanent for my liking so why not wall paper paste.
 

..- how durable is this solution over time - sorry if I've missed it from a quick first look but do you paint and/or weather it afterwards or leave "natural".
...

I started ballasting around the time a started writing my Blog in 2011.  I have just loaded this video made in January 2017 which is journey around the 'Mainline' with the Branor Systems Camtruck.
 
http://youtu.be/sp-wdZ89zeE

If I had known that you were going to check on the state of the ballast I would have had the vacuum out as I see a few of the poppey seeds have escaped at the sides of the track at a couple of places.  The seeds were not coloured.  In some places they are rather 'blue' and I started mixing a little coal dust to darken them.  They are a natural product so their colour is variable.
 
I posted the following comments on a recent thread. 
 
Experience suggests only mix very small quanities of paste at a time.  Make the paste stiff and fold in the dry seeds.  Don't let the mix stand around as this encourages the seeds to swell.  It is very therapeutic but for a large layout requires dedication.

The ballast is not strong and I have had to carry out perhaps half a dozen local repairs over the last six years, maybe where there has been movement or derailments.  In the first three months I had to redo a couple of metres which I attirbuted to being both too economical with the paste and making too much at a time.

I would use the system again for a permanent layout.

Regards

Ray

Regards Ray