gordon s Posted April 17, 2010 Share Posted April 17, 2010 Not sure if I have mentioned this before, but as I'm ballasting a double junction at the moment, it seemed an opportune moment. One of the most troublesome jobs for me in this modelling lark is ballasting and whilst I have got on top of standard track ballasting, pointwork has always been an issue with great difficulty getting ballast in all those nooks and crannies where you need it and keeping it out of all those areas where you don't. I picked up this tip and it certainly simplifies the whole process and make ballasting a pleasure. Simply mark out the area of the pointwork and make guide marks for the rail ends. Mask off the area of the tie bar and then just paint neat PVA onto the board. Sit the turnout into the PVA and immediately cover with ballast. Leave it for 30-45 minutes and then go back and hoover up the excess. Job done. If I was really nitpicky, then it can look a little that the turnout is floating on top of the ballast rather than in it, but compared to the difficulties of the usual methods it is a small price to pay and one that 99% of people wouldn't notice anyway... These were both done this morning and just need the final edges to be completed....doddle. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dymstocklr Posted April 18, 2010 Share Posted April 18, 2010 Gordon Yep used this method for years in 7mm and theres no doubt it takes a lot of heartache out of the process. If the sleepers are thick, eg Peco I go back over it with a very dilute 4 or 5:1 mixture with a dropper. Because most of it's already fixed it doesn't float around like it tends to do using only the dropper. I actually use the same process but with Copydex these days which is a bit more flexible. Bill Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Captain Kernow Posted April 23, 2010 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 23, 2010 Can't see much wrong with that, Gordon... My problem is that my pointwork is always laid, along with the plain track, long before the ballasting starts, so you know very well how I will ballast my points..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordon s Posted April 23, 2010 Author Share Posted April 23, 2010 Can't see much wrong with that, Gordon... My problem is that my pointwork is always laid, along with the plain track, long before the ballasting starts, so you know very well how I will ballast my points..... As a disciple of the CK method of ballasting I would normally agree, but clearly I need some more practice on pointwork, particularly those tiny little nooks and crannies that either attract PVA or bits of ballast. What I decided to do, was to use the Templot plan which gave me all the track positions. Paint the pointwork first and then lay it onto wet PVA and then ballast as above. Once that had dried and the surplus removed, I went back to normal tracklaying which was then stuck down, and wired. The pointwork was then masked off and all the plain track sprayed and painted. Once that had dried, the masking tape over the pointwork was removed and the plain track ballasted as per the CK method. May seem all a bit arse about face, but it has worked very well and has given consistant results very quickly... The CK method of ballasting can be found here....Post #45 onwards. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php/topic/3422-eastwood-town-update/page__st__25 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
musketter Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 Looks good to me Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
D802 FORMIDABLE Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 You would have to be a real nitpicking nitpicker to pick that mate, it looks great and is now filed away in the memory banks for later use! Cheers Anthony Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Re6/6 Posted January 4, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 4, 2011 Excellent looking work there Gordon. Very neat indeed. It's made me think about a change in method for me. I'd always eschewed CK's and your method as I had prefered the 'traditional' dilute PVA, dropper method. Mmmm...... got me thinking now! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave777 Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 Looks good to me You 'topped' a 9 month old thread just to add that?! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mucky Duck Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 As a disciple of the CK method of ballasting... For one moment I thought, 'Blimey, I never knew that Calvin Klein was a railway modeller!' Thanks for showing this Gordon, looks great and very useful indeed – albeit a little late to save one turnout in particular that I managed to b**ger-up by using the MD method! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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