Ballasting in 0 Gauge

[fezza]

I'm new to 7mm and have to admit I am struggling with the appearance of my track....

 

Are there any special techniques for ballasting track in 0 Gauge? I tried using Woodland Scenics coarse ballast but it seems too coarse and produced a very uneven finish. What do people use for representing the ballast of an average branch line? I am looking for a slightly lived in but not neglected finish. Also are there any special techniques for representing the cess? Finally are there any easy ways to make Peco sleepers less 'plasticy' in appearance?

 

Thanks for any help you can offer an O Gauge newbie!

[MarcD]

I use a mixture of 00 ballast and play sand. I brush it into the track, Spray with the cheapest nastiest hair spray and then mix 1:2 PVA/water and a drop of washing up liquid (Brakes water surface tension). I then  soak the ballast well using the PVA/water mix. Once the first lot of glue has set repeat the gluing.

 

I'm going to be doing some ballasting tomorrow so I will take some photos and post them tomorrow evening.

 

on the plastic sleepers I normally paint them with weathered wood mixed with nut brown I have some to paint once the ballast has gone off. I also have some wooden ones to paint and a mix of peco and wooden ones already painted to I will post some photos of that as well.

 

Marc  

[3 link]

I use a ballast supplied by Dapol which to me seems about the right size, and to try and replicate ash ballast I use kiln sand, which is the sand they brush in when laying block driveways.

 

As for the sleepers I only use wooden sleepers and these I stain almost black like the real ones, or if I'm after the neglected looking ones in weed strewn sidings, these I airbrush with a mix of white/grey/satin silver as the timber loses its colour over the years.

 

Regards,

 

Martyn.

[Jintyman]

Mine is a mixture of Woodland Scenics Medium ballasts.

 

I mix one tub of medium grey with one tub of medium grey blend and then a sprinkling of medium buff into the mix for mine.

I airbrush the rails after the ballasting has been done and some falls to the ballast as well which blends it all in.

 

I'm not saying my way is right, but it suits my scenario. Just the same as my ply sleepers have been stained a touch lighter than most do theirs, but I'm going for a secondary line with a summer bleaching effect on the permanent way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hope you come to a conclusion for your ballasting, maybe try some short lengths on bits of board to get a feel for trying different colours.

 

Jinty

[vaughan45]

I have used a mix of the latest Peco ballast mixing medium & fine weathered brown with medium grey. For my new layout I have been fixing with Deluxe Ballast Bond. Sleepers have been painted with thinned Precision Paints weathered sleeper colour and then dry brushed with Lifecolor acrylic wood cold base colour to give an bleached look. Rail sides are painted with Precision Paints track dirt brown and then over coated with thinned Lifecolor wood warm base colour which provides some variation in tone along the rail sides.

 

[Astir648]

The one thing I would add is that I prefer to use dilute Copydex with a drop of washing up liquid, rather than PVA. This sets with a rubbery texture, so that it is much easier to remove or change when necessary. Dry Copydex is also less shiny than PVA.

 

Good luck!

 

David

[81A Oldoak]

For the running lines on Cwm Bach I used Woodland Scenics Mid-grey ballast. An excellent feature of this product is that unlike some granite ballasts, it does not go green when the pva glue is applied. One tip I offer is that I fill the gap between the sleepers with grey card in order to reduce the amount of ballast needed and to keep weight down.

[John R Smith]

If there is one part of railway modelling which I hate with a deep, unquenchable hatred, it is painting and ballasting track. I would almost rather undergo root canal surgery. The whole process is so tedious, mind-numbingly boring, and slow.

 

All the suggestions in this thread are very good, and I think perhaps the use of an air-brush might help a lot as David says, but even so the thought of laying, painting and ballasting track for any large layout (Norris' 70 foot opus, anyone?) is enough to give me pause. Perhaps model boats instead . . .

 

John

[fezza]

Thanks for all the advice. There are some really useful ideas here.  I have now got my hands on some Woodland Scenics Medium ballast, some hair spray, card inserts, diluted glue and am reading to make a start. Small steps, I guess...

[John R Smith]

Thanks for all the advice. There are some really useful ideas here.  I have now got my hands on some Woodland Scenics Medium ballast, some hair spray, card inserts, diluted glue and am reading to make a start. Small steps, I guess...

 

Probably the sensible first step (which almost everybody does) is to make a short - say 18 inches - "photo-plank". Get a piece of decent ply, 18x6 inches, take one piece of plain track - Peco, C & L, whatever - lay it on your board, and try painting and ballasting it. This short length will be good to warm up on and develop your skills, and if it all goes horribly wrong, well there's not much lost. On the other hand you could end up with something good, in which case you can add some grass and bushes, perhaps a PW hut, and you have an ideal prop for a photo-shoot of your favourite rolling stock.

 

John

 

P. S. I just noticed your comment about the cess. In reality this used to be very fine chippings, usually almost blue in colour, the same stuff as used in lineside so-called "ballast bins". Even in 7mm this will be very fine, so I have used strips of 120 grade wet-or-dry paper glued down either side of the track before the ballast is laid. In steam and early diesel days the cess was usually immaculately maintained as a safe walkway for lineside staff.

[81A Oldoak]

If there is one part of railway modelling which I hate with a deep, unquenchable hatred, it is painting and ballasting track. I would almost rather undergo root canal surgery. The whole process is so tedious, mind-numbingly boring, and slow.

 

All the suggestions in this thread are very good, and I think perhaps the use of an air-brush might help a lot as David says, but even so the thought of laying, painting and ballasting track for any large layout (Norris' 70 foot opus, anyone?) is enough to give me pause. Perhaps model boats instead . . .

 

John

W S Norris had a special device that spared him from the tedium of laying and ballasting track. It was called a "Bernard Miller", sadly no longer available.

[steve fay]

This Is done with Dapol's new 7mm ballast with kiln dried sand either side. I lay the sand first on a thin bed of neat PVA either side of the track, once dry I spray all over with a brown colour track included. Then applying the ballast between the rails I brush it down with a 4" paint brush and add ballast down the rail sides pushing it all down to cover the webbing on peco and C&L track. I also tap the boards with a hammer so the ballast finds its level I also use the paint brush to tidy up the ballast edge. I then give the whole area a light misting if water then apply the usual PVA water mix.

Additional weathering to suit

C&L bullhead left & peco flat bottom Right

[MarcD]

Photo 1 is  peco catch point

 

Photo 2 is plan peco track vertical

 

Photo 3 is Peco double slip

 

Photo 4 is plan peco track

 

Photo 5 is unballasted peco track

 

Photo 6 is peco track on left C&L track on unpainted wood sleepers

 

Photo 7 is Slater's track painted and un-ballasted

 

Photo 8 C&L track mixture of painted/unpainted sleepers

 

More photos to follow.

 

Marc 

[steve fay]

This is Woodland scenics medium and fine ballast that I used on Ranelagh Bridge, The main line has been laid with flat bottom track so I used Dapol's ballast to highlight the difference. Both types are applied the same way as posted above.

Hope this helps

Here's my Kiln dried sand and talc combo to give a compacted ash look, this can be coloured with any aerosol paints and weathering powders

[pwr]

Here's how I did mine

 

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/12968-black-notley-br-eastern/page-1

 

Paul R

[fezza]

Hooray - I now have some track down with ballast!  Thanks again everyone - this is like a brilliant masterclass in 0 gauge track modelling.

 

A few things arose that people may have views on:

 

1. I am not finding it easy to hide the plastic webbing under Peco track.  I don't want to 'over-ballast' as this is a minor railway and the photos I have seen of minor railways in the 1930s show ballast well below rail level, often with plenty of daylight between the bullhead track and the ballast.  What do other people do?  Cut away the webbing?  In which case is there an easy way to ensure sleeping spacing remains consistent?  Maybe using a cardboard spacer each time or will that be too fiddly?

 

2. Despite my best efforts ballast granules often washed up and stuck to the rails and chairs.  I removed them but this is a tiresome process.  Is there an easy way to stop this happening - I am just being clumsy or maybe I am using too much glue?

 

3. The Peco fishplates are rather unsightly but I struggled to get 'scale' H pattern fishplates to fit Peco track.  Are there any smaller fishplates that operate in the same way as Peco but are less visible?  

 

Thanks again!

[Jintyman]

Hi Fezza,

 

Try the etched fishplates from C&L, they would have to be soldered to each side of the rail, but you could alternate to allow for expansion.

You would need to apply a feed wire to each piece of track too.

Just a thought

 

http://www.finescale.org.uk/index.php?route=product/product&path=395_396_540&product_id=3538

 

Jinty

[John R Smith]

Hooray - I now have some track down with ballast!  Thanks again everyone - this is like a brilliant masterclass in 0 gauge track modelling.

 

A few things arose that people may have views on:

 

1. I am not finding it easy to hide the plastic webbing under Peco track.  I don't want to 'over-ballast' as this is a minor railway and the photos I have seen of minor railways in the 1930s show ballast well below rail level, often with plenty of daylight between the bullhead track and the ballast.  What do other people do?  Cut away the webbing?  In which case is there an easy way to ensure sleeping spacing remains consistent?  Maybe using a cardboard spacer each time or will that be too fiddly?

 

2. Despite my best efforts ballast granules often washed up and stuck to the rails and chairs.  I removed them but this is a tiresome process.  Is there an easy way to stop this happening - I am just being clumsy or maybe I am using too much glue?

 

3. The Peco fishplates are rather unsightly but I struggled to get 'scale' H pattern fishplates to fit Peco track.  Are there any smaller fishplates that operate in the same way as Peco but are less visible?  

 

Thanks again!

 

Hello again

 

I'm glad that you are having some success with the dreaded ballasting. Guess what I'm busy doing just now? Yup, ballasting. Which is why my first post in this thread struck such a despairing note.

 

To take your points in order -

 

The webbing between the sleepers on Peco Streamline is a pain when it comes to ballasting. But of course it is terribly helpful when it comes to laying the track, because it helps you get those nice smooth curves with no kinks or wonky sleeper spacing. I just ballast pretty high but aim to keep a small gap between the stone and the underside of the rail.

 

Use an eye-dropper for the dilute PVA and go very gently. Try very hard not to disturb your smoothly brush-laid ballast because, as you say, getting it off the rails and sleepers is a right royal pain later on. More haste, less speed.

 

You don't have to use the Peco rail joiners. Bond the rail ends with thin wire soldered to the underside of the rail, align and lay your track and use cosmetic fishplates from C&L. Or use the plastic C&L fishplates glued over the Peco joiners, there is room (I've just been doing it).

 

My own efforts are OK, but Steve Fay is the governor. How he does it so beautifully (and so quickly) I don't know, but I am very envious.

 

Have fun!

 

John

[MarcD]

As promised finished track C&L/Peco and Slaters

 

Marc