I was joking about the pecan shells. However, why does Woodland Scenics ballast not float if it's made from walnut shells? It's been a while since I used any so maybe it does float a little and I just don't remember. It seems that most people opt for manufactured ballast. I was just curious if anyone would recommend a specific type of material for a good DIY ballast project. It's not really that important. It's just that it would be nice to look at my ballast and know that I made it myself. I know from one attempt that it be a lot of work. I thought someone might know of a good material from Lowe's or Home Depot.
Frisco ballast color depends, of course, on where you are on the system. My area of greatest interest is the Eastern Division from Cuba-Rolla-Newburg-Bundy Jct-Dixon. On that stretch of the railroad, the ballast is basically limestone and red granite with a tinge of added red from the iron ore that is in the other rocks. Way back in the day (early 1980's) I mixed up a large batch of Woodland Scenics ballast that I took to Rolla and compared with the real thing. Dead on. If I can read my tag on the container correctly, the following was my blend for this Woodland Scenics concoction: 3 parts cinder 25 parts limestone 3 parts gray 3 parts iron ore 8 parts buff. I never used any to ballast a model railroad, since I really don't have a layout, but I have made several ballast loads for hoppers/gons that look real good to my eye. I used to walk the rails around Rolla a lot when I got sick of studying, and the ballast color there (in the 1960-1964 era, my time at MSM) is sort of burned into my memory. Much later, I grabbed several pieces of ballast (granite) one Saturday while I was in St Clair waiting for 1522 to conquer Iron Hill (could hear her working hard!) and my blend fits in nicely with the ballast mix that was there at the depot site. Ken
Don't worry. I was only joking about the pecan shells. Do stores like Lowe's or Home Depot sell any aggregates (concrete, mortar, grout, etc.) or any other material that can be used for ballast? I could buy ballast but I like DIY projects. I guess that's why I like model railroading.
If there is a limestone quarry nearby, you might talk to them about getting some of the fines that fall under the conveyors or around the crushers. You could sift them for what you need.
The formula by meteor910 squares with photos I made years ago of Frisco ballast in Kansas. It is not uniform in color. (see attached image) Also, you have to decide whether to choose what looks better to the eye of your camera sensor. Light grey and limestone sometimes "white out" and look artificial. Do some test shots.
Trainchaser007 wondered, "However, why does Woodland Scenics ballast not float if it's made from walnut shells?" Cellulose is actually denser than water and will not float; Waterlogged wooden ships did sink. Cellulose will float, however if it has a hollow structure. Walnut shells are pretty solid so that may explain why Woodland Scenics can use them as starting material.
A fellow model railroader used rock for ballast from a ballast dealer. We noticed that some ballast was sticking to the bottom of the fuel tank on the sound equipped locomotive. We thought that it was ballast that did not get glued down, loose stuff as we call it. When he brought the engine to the yard and stopped it at the engine service facility we noticed that there was a lot of mainline ballast in the service facility. We finally figured out what was causing this. The speaker for this sound equipped loco was located in the fuel tank, when he turned the main power off on the layout the ballast on the bottom of the tank just fell off and landed where the rest of the ballast was. Apparently the magnet on the speaker was picking up the small pieces of iron ferrite in the ballast, and when the power was shut off the iron ferrite fell from the bottom of the tank !!!
What is the website for Frisco blend Arizona Rock and how good does it match the Central Division north of Ft Smith? Also how much does it cost compared to WS fine crush light grey? Joe
I thought I remembered a little WS ballast floating around in the drops of my 50% water / 50% Elmer's glue solution but I wasn't 100% sure if my memory was serving me correctly. I guess I may give sifting limestone another run and see how it goes. Limestone appears to be the ballast of choice down here in Alabama and Mississippi. It could be another material, but it certainly looks like limestone to me. - Brandon
Just do a search for "Arizona model railroad ballast" I'm not very good at doing a link or I would. The n gage matches "chat" pretty good. If you call them, they will give you a deal on several packages. I'm not sure of the price. Its much better than the gray, though. You might find a package, in a model store, the guy has a formula for "Frisco" rock. The N gage is the best. I put down the cork bed, then painted full strength white glue on the shoulders, put ballast in the center of the track, Plowed it out with the fingers and then broomed it with a brush. Slope the shoulders with a stick and broom until finished. Then 50/50 glue to water spray.
Brandon you are correct about the WS ballast, at least for my experience in N scale. However if you add a small amount of alcohol it's not as bad. There's still a small amount of ballast that floats but it's very minimal. Thanks Bill for the suggestion about Arizona Rock. Joe
I found the website for Arizona Rock as suggested by Bill but I don't see anything for Frisco blend for N scale. www.rrscenery.com Joe
Howdy, I've used a lot of grout from the big box stores. It is a good size and colors can be blended together. Mike C
My only experience with grout was tiling a floor last December with ceramic tile. We added water to the mix. What do you do to the grout after you spread it? Do you add water? Glue? 50/50? - Brandon
Joe, my order was for # 1391 white ballast. I see he don't list it under "Frisco" now. I have the saved email, but the guy's name is Phil Anderson, if you want I can forward the email, I did see in the email, he required 6 packages as a minium order. I balasted mine in 2012, so it may or may not be available now.
I was in Hobby Lobby today, and would have bought some WS ballast, but they didn't have any on the shelf... none at all. There are things about the company that I admire, but they should rename the chain, Home Decor Lobby. However, I did find a bottle of WS ground cover blend. http://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/Item/BT-GB/page/1 The find of the day was a 4-pack of WS "Early Light" trees priced normally at $9.99, but in the clearance section for only $3.59. http://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/Item/RMWC-EL/page/1 From "Home Decor Lobby," I went over to Michael's. http://www.michaels.com/ They had different colors of decorative sand. http://www.michaels.com/M10178725.html?dwvar_M10178725_color=Brown#q=Sand&start=70 One color was a tanish-grayish color. Another was jet black. I considered buying the tan/gray for ballast and the black for coal... maybe even a blend of the two for ballast. I decided to wait and find out what everyone thinks about using sand to model HO scale ballast and coal since I've never tried it. - Brandon
Howdy, We spread it like regular ballast, then sprayed it with white glue and water 50/50. Although the grout has some glue in it, we went with the trusted 50/50 method. It worked very well, and we'll do it again on our new layout. (http://www.twmrc.org). Mike C
Ethan, hopefully I can figure out how to post a photo. This is what a gentleman on another form uses. If you can expand this photo .. You can see that it looks very nice. The bagged Woodland stuff. Medium to fine grit. The secret is to 'preen' the grains as near the top of the ties as possible and leave none on top of the ties. Small sable hair brushes help a lot. All that before to drizzling of the Woodland "Scenic Cement". I tried making my own with thinned white glue and I can say it never worked as well as the Woodland stuff. I use these plastic "pipettes" from a LHS like an eye dropper. Keep the flow very slow and low so it does not disturb the ballast grains. I never do more than a few feet at a time. Once the glue goes down I stop messing with it or it gets out of my control. I fix 'issues' after it dries. I usually put on another thin layer of glue once it dries. Thinned India Ink - days later - can bring out some highlights and make it look more like rock and less like small-curd cottage cheese.
The grout looks very nice, I would like to hear more about the India Ink. First time of hearing that applied to ballast. If someone can relate more on that please do so? How thin? How to apply? Thanks.
