Diluted White Glue?


wilson44512

wilson44512

Newbie RRDER
Can some one tell me the best measurements for white elmers glue and water? For scenery. and should i add a few drops of dish soap. I searched the internet for the answer, But i get a lot of different measurements. And some say to spray isopropyl alcohol on it before the cement? I didnt think model railroading would give me such a headache lol[:D]
 
It's just a basic 50/50 mix of water and elmers glue.

I use the alcohol too. I will add like 10% of that to the white glue mix. No need to apply it separately.
 
Another 50/50 user here. I don't add the alcohol to the glue. When covering a large area with something like Woodland Scenics grass or turf I paint the glue mix onto the surface and then sprinkle on the ground cover. If I have to add more cover for thin spots then I sprinkle it on, drop on some more of the glue mixture and then dribble on some alcohol to break the surface tension and allow the glue to spread evenly. Common 70% alcohol works fine and I apply it with a Testors paint pipette. An eye dropper would work as well but holds less volume. I glue ballast the same way but lay the ballast down on the dry area then wet with the alcohol and finally drip on the glue.
Large clumps to simulate bushes I apply full strength white glue to the bottom of the piece. After the glue is dry I dribble on the 50/50 mix and a little alcohol to bind all the ground foam together which keeps it from slowly falling apart if it gets bumped.
 
I was just going to ask that question, but for track ballast. I had a problem with this mixture 'tarnishing' the track on my 1st layout 15 years ago. As soon as the mixture was dry, the NS rail tarnished. I don't know if it was the isopropyl alcohol or the glue.

Questions;
1. Wouldn't thinning the white glue make it spread/soak in better?
2. How about the "wet water" percentage? 50/50 alcohol & water, or something else?
3. Wouldn't 90 or 99% IA be more cost effective instead of the diluted common 70%?

(Love the smell of IA ;))
 
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Bruce 50/50 thinned white glue penetrates ballast easier than full strength. 70% alky works just fine to break the surface tension of the ballast. The evaporation rate is a tiny bit slower than the full strength alky so in my experiences at least it stays wet a little longer. Another adhesive that can be used for ballasting is artists acrylic matte medium which is also diluted 50/50 with water but you still need either a little detergent in the mix or alky to make it penetrate. Common white glue is cheaper and works just as well; not to mention you can buy it anywhere.

Not sure what exactly tarnished looked like. Might have been a thin layer of dried white glue if you used a sprayer of some sort to apply it? That is a common method but you need to wipe down the rails while they are still wet.
 
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Might have been a thin layer of dried white glue if you used a sprayer of some sort to apply it? That is a common method but you need to wipe down the rails while they are still wet.
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If I remember correctly, I used a eye dropper for the diluted glue and a spray for the wetting agent. (it was 15 years ago, kinda cloudy on the specifics)

Not to go to far OT, but since I have a lot of trackage to ballast, I really don't want to you a eye dropper for gluing down the ballast, if a sprayer was used , would it be able to supply enough diluted glue?
 
I use one of the small 3 or 4 ounce Elmers bottles to drip it on. You can control the size of the drops by how far you open the orange cap. If there is a fast short cut to ballasting I'm sure all here would like to know about it. Has to be the most tediuos and boring part of the hobby.
 
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