I have easily 50%+ of my double-line down (C&O late 40's to about 1955). My last 2 editions of the Albemarle Division I just got Woodland Scenics "medium" and had at it. On my last one, I used Woodland Scenics "Medium Gray Blend" and liked the color and the scale. However, the problem was ALL of the stones are exactly the same size which adds a touch of monotony to me. So, I have obtained sample packets from Scenery Express, Arizona Rock, and "Bucks Ballast". Buck's has great color, but the dust that is inherent from the way he makes it seems to gel as it sets dry and doesn't (in my opinion) look good. Arizona Rock as great, great colors but way too large for HO. (My scale). Scenery Express "Medium Gray" I blended w/ Woodland Scenics and it looks great. Same w/ the Arizona Rock. I blended it w/ Woodland Scenics and it look great.. I tried the Arizona Rock HO scale NW-SF "Snow" and it looked like freaking rice. Way too large. I'm thinking about downsizing and getting some Arizona Rock in the gray, to whites gray blend I like for C&O mainline in N scale. I am doing all of these on sample boards made up of about 4 to 5" of track on Homasote. I don't want to put any on the layout until I get the color I'm happy with. Anyone tried blending N Scale ballast w/ HO to tone down the scale? I'm think about ordering several bags but wanted to see what others have experienced. I want the ballast to be "right" on this the 3rd and my last RR. Thoughts?
I would agree with your thoughts about Ballast. Ballast is an odd thing. Smaller ballast that is scale may sometimes look wrong. I think it really depends on how you blend colors in your ballast, as you've noticed. A lot of commercial ballast is too uniform in it's color and kind of ends up looking wrong as well. Hmmm.. hadn't thought about ballast issues in quite some time.
I don't know if anybody is interested in looking at some pictures of my scale ballast. I have 2 types, new and aged. These are sized by number 25 mainline ballast which is minus 3 inch instead of say 2.5 inch modern ballast. This is as close to scale as you can come but I do the upper boundaries of each size. I have come into contact with a high alumina product that I didn't know existed and it really is the cats meow when it comes to color and shape of true ballast.
