Tutorial: How to Ballast HO Track
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- Опубликовано: 11 фев 2012
- Hey guys, sorry about the delay. Here is a quick video of how you can ballast your track and add a touch or realism to your layout. Please don't forget to comment. rate, and subscribe. More videos will be coming soon.
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I really enjoyed the video, largley, in part because he was straight, to the point, no wordiness (unlike many other videos) educational and more.
another way of doing the solution, put a drop of dish washing liquid in that 50/50 water, wood glue, it helps the solution run easier when dripping it onto the ballast.These are great video's guys!
Perfect timing. Starting to ballast today!!
Very good help. I'm 64yrs old and making my last layout, enjoy the way did that. THANKS
for Pete.
First time I've heard of diluting Elmer's glue, nice tip and a lot cheaper than buying Woodland Scenic glue.
Nice video. A trick I learned a long time ago to protect the track was to buy a piece of small tubeing and slit it. Place down over the track and then you can spray the glue on with a spray bottle and not worry about the track getting fouled. Be sure to use warm water and then rinse or you'll be buying allot of spray bottles
That’s a good idea using tubing and put a slit in it or use plastic straws that you use for my soda drinks same concept though works great
That's the best ballasting video I've seen yet I think now I can handle it!!
Very helpful. Will try this out in a day or two.
Thanks for the detail. I have seen other videos that people have done and they had glue on the tracks because of being messy.
be careful when ballasting switches any scenery supplies near the control rods, points, heels, or frogs will cause the switch to fail. never place ballast near these spots when ballasting switches you will weld them shut.
Thanks for posting this video. It will come in very handy when I start building my layout.
That was pretty cool........i found it very informative......i think this is a really critical point in anybodys model railroad layout........good job, great vid.......more.....
Ive just done very similar,but i found the woodland scenics fine ballast to fine for my OO layout, so i moved to medium grade.Good video bud.
I love the music it’s so good! Lol and btw great Video it helped a lot!
Great how to video. Thank you!
Another great job with good useful information - your video and audio quality are very good, appreciate your interest and effort!!!
Great tips! Thanks for sharing!
Love that music
I prefer to use a foam brush. The beveled edge helps shape the ballast to the contours of the track.
Very straight forward thanks very much,
hi everyone ,if anyone else is searching for ho model train sets try Corbandy HO Scale Crusher (just google it ) ? Ive heard some extraordinary things about it and my neighbor got amazing results with it.
Very helpful ☺
This is great!
Very nice video.......Best wishes for a happy, healthy and safe 2016!
[thank, you for you're great helpful video]👍
Thank you it's very help full for me and my son on the layout we want to biild
@HODiver You would spray the area you want to glue down with %70 isopropyl alcohol then apply the glue. Do not mix the alcohol into the glue mixture when you are making it. The isopropyl alcohol will allow the glue to spread easier. I will see if i have an extra switch lying around. Hope this helped.
oh cool, thanks
Very well done. What did you use for the dirt surrounding the tracks?
I tap the rail with a small wood brush to level the ballast to remove the lumps and dips and even it out plus it removes ballast from the tops of the ties providing there isn't too much. It makes everything look even and natual.
Good idea.
One of the better Ballest how to videos, use wet water rather than achicol, tap track with wooden stick before gluing will get all excess Ballest of of rails and off the top of ties.
Great work and looks great, but where are the fire fighting equipment? water and foam point and fire extinguishers on the fuel platforms would really finish this great area well.
so thats how u do it ok that help's alot
Nice looking layout, Is that sand ground cover from woodland scenics?
Nice video shot!A tip...use instead dish liqiud togehter with wood glue mixed with water.
Nick, where are you? Have you moved out of model railroading? I have enjoyed watching your vids and the layout progress!! Thanks for sharing these!!
I've seen video of spraying glue/water mix or scenic cement on the track then just clean tops of rails I've been extra cautious getting anything on the rails but I'm seeing it doesn't harm as long as you wipe them down?
Good tips, I'm working on a small layout due to size of room; what is the smallest radius of an ho scale
I subbed to your channel
Dude I use medium ballast it looks great. But I agree coarso ballast is more for like o or g scale track, but is good for roads.
PLEASE do a vid on how to ballast switches I love the no cork roadbed and want to do it on my layout would u recommend it for a full 4x8 layout?
@njtcoastline Yes, but when i used coarse on my old layout, it was unrealistically large.
Whatever brand ballast you're using looks good to my eye because it is a mixture of light and dark. I personally prefer that look then all light grey color...What brand is it? Thanks.
Since yesterday there is another tutorial on how to ballast, Its mine and I used the trackbed from kork and the schotterkleber from conrad, it worked out pretty good. If you want to you can check out my video for the complete tutorial!
Do you put down cork?
Hi, you say you're using black and white ballast. Can you tell me please, how is the proportion between these two colors in this particular case ?.
Thanks in advance, and greetings from Chile.
What are switch stands are you using?
Could you do a wiring tutorial?
@mercenary454 thank you for your the comment.
Doesn't the glue leave a shinny sheen on the wood ties?
I model ho scale and use playbox sand that I get @ our local building supply store.
does the glue dry clear?
About how long does it take for the glue to dry?
need help weathering inside of assembled round house! wish I were 1/87 scale to fit inside!!!!
More layout updates? Great layout
The grass shades are from Woodland Scenics, but the dirt is real dirt I just sifted. Thanks for the comment.
Is glueing down the ballast necessary?
How do you do a Bachman easy track my's is black
Do I need to glue the ballast?
Is that glue just PVA?
I have to agree with you that fine ballast dose look better our club uses a mix of medium and course and it looks like clumps!
What about turnouts ?
Don't know much about model railroad- should I connect the power before or after I ballast?
Alex Vance you should add the power connection before you ballast
Looking good, I'm just about to start my layout after a 50 year break, I have a question that you may be able to help me with, I am constructing my base probably 3/4 ply onto that I'm using thick foam insulation, my question is how do you set or position point motors so they sre not showing, bearing in mind if I position them below the baseboard there will be about 3inches between the baseboard & the point switch, or do I cut a recess in the foam and attach the point motor directly to the underside of the track, but I can see if I have a point failure in the future I can't get at the motor without dismantling my track. Regards Malcolm
I don't know about you, but I'm in the same position as you and am feeling overwhelmed by all the new and wonderful products available to the hobby!
Can you use the scenic cement from Woodland scenics?
That is very costly. The glue/water is just as good and costs much (a lot) less.
actualy black and white ballast does exist in the real world. sometimes railroads would use ash from the ashpans of steam locomotives for ballast. This creates a black looking ballast in most cases.
I wonder this use the 70 percents ALCOHOL and water mix OR just only 70 percent alcohol without water mix on the ballasting tracks?
Hey, if anyone else wants to uncover ho train parts try Corbandy HO Scale Crusher (just google it )? I've heard some awesome things about it and my brother in law got great results with it.
So you did sprayed isopropyl at once on the ballast?No mixed with water...instead just go ahead?
Wet water is less money and just as good.
you should say what hobby shop you got it from :P
do atlas code 83 track just snap together (not the ez track)
@ModelRailroadTV O
why white gllue>?
So uh.... What would happen if you tried to lay the ballast BEFORE the tracks??
I was wondering the same thing..
+Edward Pan
That would not work. HO track must be fastened to the roadbed before ballasting.
People have tried doing the ballasting first. They end up with uneven track that comes loose at the first bump.
The physics of real railroads do not scale.
Matt Redman rlitybff
Doesn't spraying the alcohol displace the ballast?
Just be sure the spray is very fine and I spray it above the track and let it fall on the track like rain. I had trouble displacing the ballast before a friend told me about letting the wet water (or alcohol) rain down on the track.
Ray Schofield home
Why do you glue ballast? Can't you just put it by the track and spread it out? I'm new to this hobby so I don't know
Elwood Reed you wouldn't want the ballest to get stuck in the model motors and make your train useless. That's why it's glued
SneakySteve 333 Okay thank you for your reply.
I glue dilutes with water.
why white glue
You don't paint your track first?
I always paint my track first.
I don't think I ever used white.....
Spraying the glue on would be a lot faster.
BaldPipeSmoker Then the glue would spray everywhere and then you would have to clean it all off the rails so you engines don't hesitate.
Black and white ballast has never exist in real rail.You shall use grey medium as modern ballast.Oldere ballast can you use instead with brown medium.Buff fine (beige) can been use as sand like under year 1900 older time.
I'm sorry and I don't mean to be confrontational but I am a long-standing locomotive engineer in real life. I have to completely disagree with your opinion on ballast size for HO scale. Fine shouldn't even be considered, it is way, way too tiny. Medium is slightly small and coarse is definitely too large on average. The best option is medium perhaps with a slight amount of coarse integrated into the mix. I see this video was posted nearly 10 years ago and maybe hobby ballast has changed during that period but I can guarantee you that there are indeed chunks ranging from 4" to 6" on the railways of today which in scale, for HO coarse runs from 4.4" to 7.2".