Ok, so I took my first swing at ballast last night, and lets just say I screwed it up really badly. I used 33% white glue, alcohol and water and it was so clumpy it came out looking like cat litter. I vacuumed up the loose stuff hoping it would suck up all the clumps but it's pretty well set by now. What can i do to fix this? I would love to avoiding pulling up the track, etc. I guess I just need to bit the bullet and get WS scenic cement. Help!
If it was just white glue perhaps some hot water will soften the stuff up? What kind of ballast did you use?
You did not say what brand or size of ballast you were using. You can soften it with hot water and then repair it or remove it. Either way you do not have to relay track. There is plenty of information in this trainboard or elsewhere on laying ballast. I suggest you read that before you start again. One important step you appear to have missed is soaking the balllast with rubbing alcohol or other wetting agent before you apply glue.
Me Do'd it Too! don't feel bad i did the same thing back in the 70's when i started with n-scale. my fix was a thing that looked like the personal steaming deals they sell now. steamed a inch or two a hand vac'ed as i went. yea it was a mess, but i got 90% up. when putting down the new stuff use a small funnel to do center of track and use a OLD FRT CAR to make wheel track.
Carefully break loose as much of the ballast as you can and vacuum it up. Use a vacuum that will allow recovery of the ballast. As has been said there are several posts on laying ballast. When I ballasted the layout here I used Woodland Scenics ballast in three colours mixed as follows: 2parts buff 1part dark brown and 1part light brown. I would add 1part grey blend if doing it again. After getting the loose ballast arranged as desired I sprayed it with soapy water. Don't over do the soap. Just a few drops of dish soap is plenty in a quart of water. The water was sprayed using a spray bottle and the ballast just moistened completely but not soaked. The glue I used was Elmers yellow carpenters glue diluted 50% with water. After the glue was mixed a few drops of dish soap was added. The glue was applied by squeeze bottle with a small opening. The glue was applied between the rails in back and forth motion over about a 16 inch area. Carefully the glue was added along hte outside of the rails until the ballast was saturated but not flooded. It will take several days for the glue to set. After the glue was set the ballast was checked for any missed areas. These areas while few did occur. The missed areas were sprayed with the soapy water and glue was again applied. After all was dry the rails were cleaned with a "Brite-Boy" and the track vaccuumed. Be careful around the throw bar and points of switches so they don't get glued.
Remember to do a small section at a time. Maybe even lay some unused track on some scrap and hone your skills before venturing back onto the layout.
I was just looking at this post. Check out this video. http://www.sp-coastline.com/2009/01/how-to-ballast-and-weather-n-scale.html
It looks like you tried to ballast to large an area at one time, like your entire layout. The best way to ballast is to work in one small area at a time. When I ballasted the JJJ&E, a layout on multiple levels (10x15'), I worked in two-three foot sections, completely finishing one section before I moved on. To remove the ballast, use some hot water to soften the glue mixture and try to remove all the clumps of ballast. If you want to learn how to ballast, go to my new website below and click on "Weathering and ballasting Unitrack". It will give you some good ideas about ballasting even if you don't use Unitrack.. The main thing is to stay calm and have fun......
You'll find that the WS ballast likes to float. Just re-soak the balast, I've found that a shop vac will suck up the ballast after the soaking. I would try and find a balast that is rock based such as arizona rock and minerals. These types are not as finicky.
that video helped wonders! I'm going to try the hand sprinkling method... thanks every! We'll see how it turns out!
Honestly,looks to me like your biggest problem is patience.Ballasting takes time,that's why so many RR's go without getting it done.I'm REALLY good at it,I figure it would take me 20 or more HOURS to properly ballast your RR,maybe more.You need to carefully place the ballast exactly like you want it,then even more carefully wet it,and with equal care,glue it.You can't wet it and glue it in any way that will float the ballast,or wash it away.WS cement isn't gonna solve your problem Also,you need to be 5X as careful on switches,you want to get the ballast between switch ties positioned and glued without getting ANY glue in the moving parts.I suspect your switches are pretty much going to be trashed,unless you pull them,and put them in an ultrasonic cleaner...
Well thanks everyone for your help. I decided to just bite the bullet and buy the WS supplies. Also, unbeknownst to me, the ballast I was using was medium not fine which I suppose is more "n-scale-like". So I braved the weather to go to my LHS and bought a Light grey, Black and some more medium grey ballast, the scenic cement and spray bottle. I'm sure I'll be at this juncture down the road so it's ok to have the right tools now. I call it "The Salt and Pepper" line: Keep in mind, it's still wet and the excess needs to be vacuumed up after it dries, but I feel for my second crack at things it turned out much better. I just hope there is enough cement sprayed down to hold it all in place. Thanks again for all the help! Opinions welcome!
A medicine dropper works much better than a spray bottle. In that way you can control where the glue/water mix goes. You most certainly don't want glue all over the rails of your track. It takes more time to use the medicine dropper, but then again you don't have to spend hours to wipe the glue off the track rails. Stay glued to this topic and have fun.....
Do not be despondent. I would wager a virtual dollar that EVERYONE here has done the same thing at one time or another. It is one of the reasons my road is called the "Lessons Learned Line". Here are the steps to get up what is already down with minimal damage and assuming you used 33% Elmer's and 66% water/alcohol. Get an extra hard toothbrush or a very small stiff wire brush sort of like the ones used to clean barbecue grids but really much smaller. A stiff nail brush will also work. The water and alcohol will evaporate, leaving Elmer's White and the ballast. Get a spray bottle and fill with plain old water. Spray on the track (make sure all electricity to rails is off) Let it soak in. Repeat a half hour later until you see or feel some softening. Use the brush (whichever you have) and brush out. Do NOT forget to get the ballast out from between the ties and that every last piece is off the inside of the rails. Pick up or vacuum up. Do a small section (6-12" at a time) but work carefully and thoroughly. Now, what you did wrong 1. You used way too much ballast. It doesn't matter if you used stone, chopped walnuts or whatever. Laying ballast is a pain the rear end because it needs to be done in very small sections at a time and I find it a tedious, yet necessary, evil. 2. A tiny spoon and a small brush will allow you to put just enough ballast between the ties to fill the space between them. Brush down the line until all excess ballast has been placed between the ties. For the outside portion of the ties, do the same thing. When it looks good, use a spray bottle and spray from a distance far enough that the force of the spray does not move the ballast, either alcohol cut with some water or a few drops of dishwashing detergent mixed with water. Make sure the ballast is completely covered with the spray. The purpose is to break the surface tension for the next step. Before it dries, squirt a 50-50 or 33-66 mixture of white Elmer's glue and water onto the area being worked on. If done properly, it will soak down into the ballast. I prefer 50-50- do not use Elmer's School Glue- use the old fashioned white. After the application, VERY carefully, and with a magnifying glass, if needed., look at the inside of your rails and where the ties meet the rails on the inside and with a pair of tweezers, remove any ambient pieces of ballast that are attached to the rail or which might cause the train or consist to hop over them when moving. Now, let it dry thoroughly. Go to the next section and so on.
That was an outstanding video by Denny. I bookmarked it and will use it when I start my project later this year.
