Making your Track inexpensively Realistic and Armadillo Free

[Andy Reichert]

A possible new source of fine 4mm scale ballast with a couple of useful extra attributes.

 

 

I spread some of the possible ballast candidate onto a piece of masking tape, so it wouldn't spread over my scanner.

The picture shows the granularity and size of  the rocky, fairly weighty, self coloured material that would seem to be about right for weathered ballast.

Unlike my Woodland Scenics  ground walnut shell ballast, this doesn't appear to either float or dissolve in water. Which suggests that it won't blow around when being spread, nor when sprayed with the diluted fixative.

 

 

 

The inexpensive American source is a burrowing animal repellent. The two ingredients are Castor Oil and Fullers Earth, which I believe is also used for filters in swimming pools.  The latter of which may have an equivalent inexpensively available in the UK. Hopefully of the same particle size.

 

Since testing this, I can honestly say that I have not seen any armadillos on my track. However I  haven't don't much operating yet, so I don't know if the Castor Oil will speed the running of the trains.

 

Andy

 

 

 

 

Edited May 10, 2020 by Andy Reichert
renamed material

[Allegheny1600]

I once bought a large layout that had to be stored in my garage for some time while I built a large shed for it.

When I was finally able to erect the layout, I discovered that mice had made a meal (and a mess!) of a lot of my cork underlay in the fiddle yards, it was rather revolting!

This could have been just the thing to combat such things.

 

Seriously though, this looks good.

[The Johnster]

Aquarium filter charcoal is also good for representing coal, but as I have a source of real Welsh steam coal, I do not use it except in my aquarium filter.

[Nearholmer]

Fullers' earth was a constituent of cat litter, although it may no longer be, because mining/quarrying it is pretty destructive of the environment, and licenses have been withheld/limited in the few parts of the UK that it occurs, pushing up the price.

 

Still, I suspect that mashed (unused!) cat litter might work as model railway ballast.

 

It must the the castor oil that the armadillos don't like - the Fullers' earth will absorb oil very effectively (it is used in industrial oil absorbents) and hold on to it, presumably as it is washed into the soil.

[Junctionmad]

Fullers' earth was a constituent of cat litter

 

and used in removing the dye from red diesel !!!!!!!

[Flying Pig]

What's so bad about armadillos?