wet water/ ballast method problem


H

h44

Member
after about an hour shaping the ballast and getting the loose ballast off the ties I went ahead sprayed the alcohol, then dribbled the wet water. looked good went up tonight everything is dried but did not look so well. the section I was working on was a paraell curved stretch and I decided to do both tracks at the same time the mixture on the outer track ran under the inner track bunched up the ballast and dried that way, so I spent some time fixing up the problem area and I noticed the mixture left the ties shiny, so whats the best way to dull the ties without screwing up the ballast?
thanks
mark
 
You can either paint them with a light/diluted acrylic craft paint of a suitable colour (actually, two or more shades of black, grey, and brown would be best since ties are almost never uniform out on the main), or get some matte medium Mod Podge and paint the ties.

In future, please only use your sprayer for large expanses of terrain you need to pre-wet, and then spray with glue to fix ground foam and flocking to the surface. Use a squeeze bottle with the tip held low close to the ballast, and a tip that can be mostly closed. Otherwise, you are simply polluting your air around you and wasting dollars. Apply the substances where they'll do the good you intend!!
 
I had the same problems with the glue water mixture washing the ballast away the first time I did it. What I do now is use a paint brush to put pure white glue along the edges of the embankment then scatter the ballast over it and leave it to set, this gives a base of ballast on the sloped areas that wont be washed off. The next day I brush the ballast up add more and finish forming the embankment before spraying it with wet water. Its important to give it several light sprays so it soaks in without running off. Then its time for the white-glue water mix, again several light sprinklings over a couple minutes will soak in without runoff.
 
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