Laying the ballast (Magic?)
I recently received an order which had been a few weeks in the delivering. It contained Deluxe Materials' Ballast Magic, a dry glue for mixing with ballast. The idea being that it only needs a light misting with water for a good solid hold. Ballast clumping and shifting is, apparently, a thing of the past. I'd seen a favourable review in a modelling magazine and thought I'd give it a go.
I laid the whole layout (not exactly large by any standards!) with ballast and sprayed as directed. Unfortunately, although I read the instructions on the bottle, I didn't watch the manufacturer's video and ended up mixing far too much at once. The official instructions advise mixing small amounts at a time. 24 hours later it had barely held and crumbled away at a light touch. I was not amused!
Before writing the product off, I did what I should have done originally and laid some ballast using Ballast Magic on a small piece of test track. This time I used a 5 parts ballast to 1 part Ballast Magic instead of the 7:1 recommended on the bottle. I made sure to mix very thoroughly and made up only the tiny amount I needed. After 24 hours it had stuck better... in places, but still crumbled away in most everywhere else. I just don't see how this product could ever truly work, unless mixed 1:1 perhaps. I may try on some coal loads and see how that fares. Images below, for what it's worth...
The only saving grace to all this was that the Ballast Magic had just enough hold to allow me to use the old diluted PVA method straight over what I had already put down, meaning I didn't have to take it up and start again. I sprayed first with diluted IPA - supposedly this has the same surface-tension reduction effect that "wet water" does. Then diluted PVA (something like 1:2, glue to water) was dribbled over the top using a pipette. Now THAT is how you get a rock solid hold! Some photos of the end result follow:
In terms of the exact mix of ballast I used, I covered that in some detail a long while back! Click here for the entry that deals with all that.
The moral of this story is likely one modellers the world over will have learned at some time or other. Ballasting is a boring, tedious job but it's just not worth cutting corners. I just feel sorry for those of you who have significantly sized layouts. My hat off to you!
All for now,
Jonathan
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