How much ballast is needed?

ModelRailroadForums.com is a free Model Railroad Discussion Forum and photo gallery. We cover all scales and sizes of model railroads. Online since 2002, it's one of the oldest and largest model railroad forums on the web. Whether you're a master model railroader or just getting started, you'll find something of interest here.


A

aviserated

Member
Or how much area will one 32oz. bottle of Woodland Scenics Fine ballast cover. Will one bottle be enough ballast to cover a 12 foot by 4 inch area?
 
From the looks of the trackwork, and not much of a ledge. I would say you should have enough with a 32oz bottle. May need a little more, depending on how well you groom the ballast.

A tip for ya, to get the ballast to stick to the slop of the roadbed, use some white (Elmers) glue. Spread it with your finger. On that beveled edge of the cork.
 


Motley said:
From the looks of the trackwork, and not much of a ledge. I would say you should have enough with a 32oz bottle. May need a little more, depending on how well you groom the ballast.

A tip for ya, to get the ballast to stick to the slop of the roadbed, use some white (Elmers) glue. Spread it with your finger. On that beveled edge of the cork.
Click to expand...

An even easier method is to thin the elmer's white glue with water. Get it to the consistency of milk and put it into a spray bottle. Simply lay the ballast, then spray on the glue mixture. It will dry clear and won't leave any residue due to it being thinned. Plus, the water helps the glue soak into the ballast.
 
Eric, I was talking about trying to get the ballast to stick on the beveled edges.

But yes just use white glue watered down, like Eric said for the rest.
 
It will be Murphy's Law that no matter how much a bottle is SUPPOSED to cover that you will need exactly 2-3 teaspoon fulls of a whole nother bottle to finish properly.
 
Say aviserated,
Another good trick when using a spray bottle to apply the thinned white clue solution or even using a squeeze bottle with a small hole in it is to add four or five drops of liquid dish soap to at as a wetting agent so it evenly disperses itself between the ballast or even actual dirt you may put down here and there.

With my Foothill Station Model RR Supply business I have the complete line of Woodland Scenics products available if I can be of any help?
 


You must log in or register to reply here.




Affiliate Disclosure: We may receive a commision from some of the links and ads shown on this website (Learn More Here)

Back
Top