Fine scale ballast

Does anyone know of a supplier of fine (finer than WS) ballast. Have tried Color Canyon Materials but can't get a response. Alternatively does anyone's local hobby shop have stocks of CCM ballast that I could get shipped (I'm in the UK). Cheers Andy

 

Hey Andy.. I will mention this again, because I am an advocate. Nobody has really beat me up on it yet, but no one else admits using it. I use "Kitty Litter". You can sift it, grind it as fine or big as ya want and its cheap as dirt, litterally.

I use kitty litter for several reasons. It is made of clay, so you can dye it any color you want, and it takes color very nicely. I use it for coal, rock, gravel, iron ore, or simply dirt. Grind, sift, and color accordingly. When it is used for ballast, grind and sift it fine, ballast with it, wet it, then soak it with white glue/water solution. It will look like mud, but when it dries completley, it looks great, and dries rock hard so you dont end up with clay dust in your mechanisms. I love kitty litter at about $2US for a 10 lb bag.. :shade:

 

Great tip, thanks! Out of interest how do you go about dying it?

 

Try http://www.scenicexpress.com and look for Smith & Son ballast under the "Trackbed and Ballast" category. A satisfied user. :shade:

 

Also some more natural rock ballasts-

Chuck carries Highball products ballast at: http://www.featherrivertrains.com

Arizona Rock and mineral:
http://rrscenery.com/

Hunter Scenery:
http://huntersceneryco.com/catalog/c4_p1.html

(Note: Just noticed the part about you being in the UK. Chuck at Feather river ships international, I don't know about the other two.)

 

Something that I am planning to use is very fine sand that I picked up from a local craft store. This sand is similiar to what you would make the sand decorative bottles with. I might suggest to Google "sand decorative bottles" if you are unfamiliar with I am speaking of.

The sand comes in many different colors and is quite a bit finer than regular ballast. Or you could always go to a ceramics supply store and get some sand that is similiar to it.

The book that I got this idea from strongly advises to run a strong magnet over the material since it is not specifically made for railroads. That way you remove any possible magnetic material that is in the sand.

Hope this gives you some additional ideas that may be available in your area.

PS Welcome to trainboard!!! (can not believe I missed that)

Mr X

 

Highball N scale ballast is crushed limestone and lighter in color than the scenic express ballast.

 

Its easy to dye.. I just used water based acrylics diluted with water to stain it.. you can stain it with just about anything..

Thin the paint very thin to alomost a water consistancy..

Spray it on it..

 

i used Arizona ballast on my layout and absolutely love it. very easy to work with and after it is dried, looks great.

 

Sand is translucent (it transmits light). I used it once, and it does work, but you have to paint it when it's dry.

Arizona Rock & Minerals is what I use, but I have a bag or two of Highball around...

 

Thanks, I think the Arizona Rock & Minerals is the winner based on feedback here and elsewhere, many thanks for putting me on to it, regards Andy

 

We use the supplier "Mt St Helens"! One of our members has sifted out Mt St Helens ash until he got the right grade!:teeth:

 

At Last !!

Now I have a use for that coffee grinder gathering dust on my kitchen counter! :cup:

Better move it to the garage now, in case someone buys whole bean coffee by mistake.....

 

Very true. Here is my sand "soil" painted after gluing in place. If it is not painted, you can see the blue hue of the foam beneath it.

 

The way to make sure your ballast (no matter what you decide to use) is the correct size is to first, go out to the road you're modeling and measure the ballast chunks, then average them.

The average ballast chunk diameter on the U.P. mainline in Weber and Echo Canyons is 3.5", or .021875" in N-scale. It may be different for your road.

I decided I needed to make a screening box. First, I found some nice stainless mesh or screen that has openings as close to that size as I could find and I made a wooden screening box with two screens, one to let the particles that are .022" or smaller fall through, then a finer screen to allow everything except N-scale ballast chunks that were .022 in diameter to fall through. So, that'd be two different screens, one with openings of .022" and the second screen with openings a couple of thousands less.

This also gets rid of the dust, which can look a lot like concrete when you sock it down with the usual ballast cement mixture.

I've found that for my use, the ballast I get from Highball needs to be mixed to get the right "look", because U.P.'s Weber/Echo ballast has about five different colors of rock in it. So, I mix up a bucket of properly sized, different colored Highball ballast, along with some real rock that I've dug myself to get the "look" to my satisfaction.

You might be lucky and discover that a color from a supplier exactly matches your prototype's ballast color, but be prepared to mix your own with about three different colors.

Here's my ballast on Echo Curve on the double-tracked U.P. mainline just east of the Echo Coaling Tower:


Here's a direct overhead shot, showing both the mainline ballast and the Park City Branch ballast which is "Cinders":


Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

 

Another satisfied Arizona Rock & Mineral guy. The NS gray ballast is very fine, and since it is actual rock, it stays in place during wetting/ballasting. Their coal is really nice, too if you're doing coal loads, loose coal around a steam engine facility, coal mine, etc. Several different sizes, as in the real world.

John C.

 

Here, here, I'm another AZ Rock and Mineral devotee! It is great stuff, you will really like it!