Ballasting
Ballasting is a skill that requires great patience as care must be taken to
prevent poor running and damage to the track. A neat finish requires many hours
of dedication returning to the ballasted area several times as the adhesive
dries to ensure a tidy finish. Airbrushing a general grime over the ballast
improves its appearance, emphasising areas where grime would accumulate, or oil
would be deposited from standing locomotives. Never use just one ballast colour as this
tends to look poor on a layout, try and blend a few colours if possible or buy a
mix e.g. Woodland Scenics Grey Blend. Be
careful of the cheaper granite ballasts, they tend to 'green' once adhesive is
used. Use a quality ballast e.g. Woodland Scenics for improved grain size (fine
for N gauge, medium for H0/00 and coarse for 0) and excellent colour stability.
The best methods of applying ballast is to use one of the following techniques.
Always try a sample to perfect you technique.
 | Main Method - This is the best method to achieve the neatest finish, but also
in the minimum time. As you lay the ballast at the same time as the track,
it makes track laying a longer process. Mark the location of your track on the sheet underlay
and drill any required holes for turnout motors or similar. When marking the
track location, mark the extent of the ballast shoulder if this is not
limited by the edge of the sheet underlay. Brush away any debris from the
area. Using a slightly diluted PVA mix cover the area to be ballasted -
ensure all turnout tie bars or similar are left free of adhesive. It is not
recommended to attempt to cover areas much greater or equivalent to four
tracks wide and a metre long - if your PVA dries quickly this may be too
much so start with a small area. Place the track back into its correct
location, and if required pin or use drawing pins to hold in place. Next
cover the whole area with ballast up to at least sleeper depth. Leave over
night to dry and then vacuum clean away the remainder that has not stuck. A
neat ballast finish will be left! |
View step by step images of ballasting using
this method.
Ballast applied to PVA adhesive as the track is installed. The adhesive
remains at a depth below the level of the top of the sleeper but the
ballast is poured on to the top of the rail. |
The same layout installed with the excess ballast removed by a vacuum
cleaner. Use a clean bag less vacuum cleaner to allow the excess to be
reused. |
| Cascamite method - Cascamite is a white dry powder adhesive which is mixed
dry on a ratio of approximately one part Cascamite to three/four parts
ballast. Lay the dry mix onto the track and dry brush in place as neat and
clean as possible. When the dry mix is in place, use a 'greenhouse' hand
spray with water and a drop of delineated alcohol or washing up liquid (this
breaks down the surface tension of the adhesive) to spray the dry mix until
saturated. Always spray over the ballast not directly at, as the blast will
spread the ballast. Return to the area and tidy as the ballast dries. Once
the ballast has been sprayed, the following technique can be used on the wet
ballast. |
| PVA method - PVA must be one of the most versatile and useful adhesives
invented. Ballasting is simple but no quicker using PVA. Dry brush your
ballast in place as neatly as possible. Using a water spray as described
above (with the same contents), saturate the ballast before applying any
adhesive. Mix PVA with water until it can be picked up by an eye dropper or pipette
(at least ten parts water to one part PVA with alcohol/washing up liquid as
above), drop the dilute PVA onto the wet ballast and watch it soak through.
Continue applying until the mix reaches the base of the ballast. This can be
observed by eye. Spray with water mix as above if required to spread the
glue. When ballasting large areas, we use a washing up liquid bottle filled
with the dilute PVA mix! The mix is not critical, if too thick on a trial
piece, add water; if too thin, add PVA. |
Once the ballast is in place, lightly airbrush a track grime over the whole
ballast area with heavier applications where more dirt may accumulate as
described above. Once the grime is dry, weather the rail faces with a rust paint
and allow to try completely before cleaning.
Professional Layout Service offer a ballasting service when laying track. We
will also ballast and airbrush your existing track and rust the rail faces.
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