Hi Tony, Great progress. Ballasting is an intensive job ! We all seem to use different techniques. I make my own ballast with fine sifted grey quartz sand mixed with river sand and some coal dust. So no need to color wash afterwards. I 'rust' & weather the track before ballasting and ones the diluted PVA applied the job is done. But in the end the result is the same... with our individual signature. I'm in the middle of ballasting too and it will take the rest of this Sunday to finish. Anyway, nice to see you 'at work' - it's is always inspiring and encouraging. Thanks for sharing your excellent work and nice video-ing! Greetings.
Hi Filip. you are right when you say ballasting is an intensive job. i would be interesting to compare notes. but as you say the results are the same anyway. happy ballasting thanks again all the best and stay safe.............Tony
Good job with the ballasting Tony, it is good to see you are using electrofrog points they are far more reliable and realistic than insulfrog points. When I filled in the baseboard holes I used rolled up balls of kitchen roll pushed in to the holes just below the surface of the baseboard, I found that I could ballast the track straight away and the pva mix soaks into the kitchen roll and holds it nicely in place. Some weed growth in the disused siding would look good. Take care Tony Michael
Hi Michael, great tip using the kitchen roll to plug the holes, the disused yes i have some great ideas for that to. i always have used electrofrog points as they look more realistic, with out those plastic parts in the frogs. thank you for commenting keep safe regards Tony.
Hi tony It coming on well my friend Some great tips there to with old track. And how to ballast. I through time team was turning up when was bushing the ballast of the tracks. Keep safe arp
Always good to see how someone else does ballasting... We all have our own techniques which work for us. Though admittedly I will try your colour washes... That's something I haven't come across before.
you could try it on a test piece first. they need to be watery and have pva wood glue inthem to protect the ballast you have already put down, have a go, thank you as always take care Tony
Cheer's Clint. the ballasting took longer than i thought it would. its not as easy as it looks trying to get it right, but yes its done now and its time to do the interesting stuff. many thanks for commenting...cheer's Tony
Thank You Fred. Nice to see you back. that little trip to Tony North Eastern rubbed of you my friend. hope to see some vids from you soon. take care and be safe....Tony
Cheer's Paul. well i did try and put it off for as long as i could. its one of those jobs i don't like doing. as you never know how its going to turn out its getting the balance when applying the ballast. i am not trying to put you off ballasting but take your time and only apply enough to just to fill below the sleeper edge's. many thanks for commenting and stay safe all the best Tony
Thanks Tony, I will definitely be ballasting as this gives the most realistic appearance, I will complete several trail peace’s 😋. You and your family safe as well, cheers Paul.
Hi Tony great video mate nice work on the track I have just finished refurbish my model of the BR sealink carferry Galloway princess for my model of stranraer harbour station pairt of my layout of wcml stay safe mate clive
Hi Clive, very envious you have room for a full harbour. just about 1000 yards from south shields is the ferry to north shields. would have loved to have captured that. but i think i have enough to do with just the station. all the best. take care Tony
@@TONYNORTHEASTERN hi Tony no I dont have a full model of stranraer harbour station the model of the is 3foot long by 6 inches wide and stranraer harbour station 12foot long by 19 inches wide I can got a 7 coach intercity boat trains in to platform 1 & 2 with run rounds at the seaward end of the pier the Galloway princess sits on the shelf at the harbour station the station has 4 tracks in it if you look up photos of stranraer harbour station in the 1980s or photos of the Galloway princess on Google the will see what I mean mate if you send me your email address I will send you photos of my layout with stranraer harbour & Heysham harbour on it mate clive
Great stuff Tony and thanks for posting. Now I can start my ballasting. When I first saw the jar of ballast you were using I immediately thought "oh no that's not going to be enough, I guess we won't be completing the ballasting today!" LOL
Its amazing how far a large tub of ballast can go. i used just over half a tub for that area. it took most of last sunday, and a hour a night. plus a 3 to 4 hours Saturday for cleaning up. it does take time. all the best have a great day.many thanks for commenting ....Tony
Just subscribed Tony & being a sand dancer I’m gonna make my way through these vids of South Shields layout with interest mate. First impressions all looking good mate 👍
Hi Tony, very pleased to see you use 'fine ballast'. So many layouts to me are ruined by the oversize stuff they rate as being OO scale and looks like huge rocks. Have you come across 'Jarvis fine ballast chips' its what we use at our model club and I have used with great effect on my own layout.I used a tea spoon to apply and tapped the track with it to settle the chips into place. Great layout, fantastic modelling skills. All the best Peter
thank you Peter. i can say i have never come across Jarvis fine ballast chips. i don't find that when i visit exhibitions and see lager size ballast which i am my opinion can like you say ruin a a great layout. thank you for commenting. all the bast Tony
It is a bitty job. and the results can be achieved with some great results. buts yes its a job that requires a lot of patience and very time consuming. but there are other ways of ballasting. thank you for commenting best wishes Tony
TONY NORTH EASTERN ,,,,, Hey Tony. It looks really good and prototypical, I’m just a little nervous because I’m very happy with my layout and I’m afraid I’ll mess it up. If I decide to try it I’ll need to practice on some mock-up track first to be sure I’ll be successful. Thanks and Be safe
For the glueing have you tried using isopropyl mixed with PVA/white glue and a spray bottle? it can be applied fast and soaks in quickly. If you are concerned about the isopropyl water and washing up liquid works too but dries much slower. (The isopropyl/washing up liquid reduces surface tension and makes it spread much faster and the thinness and spray bottle means you can do a large area faster)
Another excellent tutorial and thanks for the points and tips you added. Would adding a drop of washing up liquid in your initial water spray stop the ballast clumping together? Great results too. Stephen
How long did it take you to get the colour for the rust on the rails etc.? I found that to be a nightmare and it took me a period of time that may have been a couple of months to get it to where I was happy. At first I was far too orange and it looked like Mick Hucknell had brushed his hair over the track.
hi Ben. with all paints its trial and error. dark brown and then add red. as long as you are happy with the colour. good old Mick Hucknell, that is too orange....lol.stay safe Tony
Hi Tony great to see your method. That wash works great and the idea of ghost sleepers in the ballast is fantastic. One tip...when using a piece of old track to get the sleeper indentations, perhaps you ought to have cut the web off first as sleepers don't have that web in real life. Just a suggestion.
Thank you for commenting. as yes the web. i see what you mean. but it would have been a lot harder to do. but now the ballast has gone of maybe i can still remove the web in prints. good suggestion. many thanks Tony
Good morning Richard. that is true. i have always done this. couple of reasons. i love the sound of the sound of the trains on a hard surface as it sounds more earthly. If you look at old photos of the railways is most places the trackwork is not raised. and i do think the trackwork does look better for it. more realistic. but that is only my opinion. i hope this answers your question. many thanks for commenting great question.. cheer's for now Tony.
Thanks for your reply. I’ve been researching the pros and cons, installation techniques and I was wondering whether it really was necessary. Lots saying it reduces the drumming sound but if you’re running sound on DCC it seems a bit counter productive… Anyway do you prefer to use fine ballast generally with OO gauge? I’m getting back into this at age 56 and things have progressed since I was 10! I’ve just bought a hornby A3 Lemberg and I’m looking forward to designing a new layout! Love your videos - a wealth of good information and experience! Thanks
Hello Richard, the fina the ballast the better. as it looks so real up close. DCC is the only way to go. and good luck with your new adventure, because lets face it, that's what model railways are all about. its been a pleasure toing and froing with the comments. cheer's for now Tony.
Good job done there Tony. Ballasting is something I have had a long good think about and I have decided to leave all my tracks as they are - unballasted. But that is my decision I'm afraid and doesn't look too bad with having the foam underlay underneath. Most of my layout is based on the tramway, which will be covered with cobble or tarmac road surfaces. Cheers for now..............................Geoff
Good question. i have a ole jam jar. fill it just over half way with PVA and the rest is water. its not 100 percent accurate but i rather have the solution just that little bit stronger. as it still drys clear. cheer's Tony
Hi Colin, im afraid i no longer live shields. i now live down south near Portsmouth. i grew up in shields lived there for most of my life. i do go up to see friends and family. i do miss shields...thanks again for commenting ........Tony
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
I kept a couple of Calpol syringes from my son's medicine. They work a treat for gluing ballast!!! Plus they smell lovely ha ha.
Hi Ben, any syringes would work. weather they are smelly are not....great tip....lol....cheer's Tony
@@TONYNORTHEASTERN the Calpol ones are pink as well which is a double bonus!
Hi Tony, Great progress. Ballasting is an intensive job ! We all seem to use different techniques. I make my own ballast with fine sifted grey quartz sand mixed with river sand and some coal dust. So no need to color wash afterwards. I 'rust' & weather the track before ballasting and ones the diluted PVA applied the job is done. But in the end the result is the same... with our individual signature. I'm in the middle of ballasting too and it will take the rest of this Sunday to finish. Anyway, nice to see you 'at work' - it's is always inspiring and encouraging. Thanks for sharing your excellent work and nice video-ing! Greetings.
Hi Filip. you are right when you say ballasting is an intensive job. i would be interesting to compare notes. but as you say the results are the same anyway. happy ballasting thanks again all the best and stay safe.............Tony
Looks the part now the ballasting is done. Most enjoyable and educational video, keep up the great work.
Cheers Ross
Thank you Ross. its a soothing job to do. if you can switch off and listen to The Jam......cheer's Tony
Good job with the ballasting Tony, it is good to see you are using electrofrog points they are far more reliable and realistic than insulfrog points.
When I filled in the baseboard holes I used rolled up balls of kitchen roll pushed in to the holes just below the surface of the baseboard, I found that I could ballast the track straight away and the pva mix soaks into the kitchen roll and holds it nicely in place.
Some weed growth in the disused siding would look good.
Take care Tony
Michael
Hi Michael, great tip using the kitchen roll to plug the holes, the disused yes i have some great ideas for that to. i always have used electrofrog points as they look more realistic, with out those plastic parts in the frogs. thank you for commenting keep safe regards Tony.
Wow. Enjoying the progress here.
me too...............cheer's Tony
Hi tony
It coming on well my friend
Some great tips there to with old track.
And how to ballast.
I through time team was turning up when was bushing the ballast of the tracks.
Keep safe arp
cheer's buddy. take care Tony
great clip - thanks for your upload
Your Welcome cheer's Tony
Always good to see how someone else does ballasting... We all have our own techniques which work for us. Though admittedly I will try your colour washes... That's something I haven't come across before.
you could try it on a test piece first. they need to be watery and have pva wood glue inthem to protect the ballast you have already put down, have a go, thank you as always take care Tony
Great ballast work! It is looking really great this area. It’s coming along lovely. Clint
Cheer's Clint. the ballasting took longer than i thought it would. its not as easy as it looks trying to get it right, but yes its done now and its time to do the interesting stuff. many thanks for commenting...cheer's Tony
Station area looking good Budd ...... 😎👌📸..... fred
Thank You Fred. Nice to see you back. that little trip to Tony North Eastern rubbed of you my friend. hope to see some vids from you soon. take care and be safe....Tony
Nice work. Thanks for sharing.
Your welcome Larry...........cheer's Tony
Beautifully laid track. When spreading ballast I tap a metal spoon on the rail, it settles the ballast between the sleepers really well.
good idea, cheer's Tony
Hi Tony, South Sheilds looks amazing even though theres still lots to do. Keep up the great work. Susannah
Thank you Susannah, hope you are keeping safe. best wishes tony
Looking good Tony, certainly some handy tips in the vid for those of us who are to start the ballast process 🤔
Cheer's Paul. well i did try and put it off for as long as i could. its one of those jobs i don't like doing. as you never know how its going to turn out its getting the balance when applying the ballast. i am not trying to put you off ballasting but take your time and only apply enough to just to fill below the sleeper edge's. many thanks for commenting and stay safe all the best Tony
Thanks Tony, I will definitely be ballasting as this gives the most realistic appearance, I will complete several trail peace’s 😋.
You and your family safe as well, cheers Paul.
Hi Tony great video mate nice work on the track I have just finished refurbish my model of the BR sealink carferry Galloway princess for my model of stranraer harbour station pairt of my layout of wcml stay safe mate clive
Hi Clive, very envious you have room for a full harbour. just about 1000 yards from south shields is the ferry to north shields. would have loved to have captured that. but i think i have enough to do with just the station. all the best. take care Tony
@@TONYNORTHEASTERN hi Tony no I dont have a full model of stranraer harbour station the model of the is 3foot long by 6 inches wide and stranraer harbour station 12foot long by 19 inches wide I can got a 7 coach intercity boat trains in to platform 1 & 2 with run rounds at the seaward end of the pier the Galloway princess sits on the shelf at the harbour station the station has 4 tracks in it if you look up photos of stranraer harbour station in the 1980s or photos of the Galloway princess on Google the will see what I mean mate if you send me your email address I will send you photos of my layout with stranraer harbour & Heysham harbour on it mate clive
Thanks for the tips for ballast
Cheer's Ollie, thank you for popping in. all the best Tony
:)
Great job again tony.
Its looking really great now.
Thank you Holybrooke junction. keep safe regards Tony
Always enjoyable Tony, I’m learning a lot from you as I get nearer starting my n gauge layout
Hi John. thank you for commenting. you can get loads more detail in N scale. envious............cheer's Tony
Great timing as Ballasting is a job I have got to do soon. Yours has come out very nice...……..Cheers Kev
Cheer's Kevin. that's good timing. have fun. all the best Tony
Great stuff Tony and thanks for posting. Now I can start my ballasting.
When I first saw the jar of ballast you were using I immediately thought "oh no that's not going to be enough, I guess we won't be completing the ballasting today!" LOL
Its amazing how far a large tub of ballast can go. i used just over half a tub for that area. it took most of last sunday, and a hour a night. plus a 3 to 4 hours Saturday for cleaning up. it does take time. all the best have a great day.many thanks for commenting ....Tony
Just subscribed Tony & being a sand dancer I’m gonna make my way through these vids of South Shields layout with interest mate. First impressions all looking good mate 👍
cheer's mate. keep safe regards Tony
Hi Tony,
very pleased to see you use 'fine ballast'. So many layouts to me are ruined by the oversize stuff they rate as being OO scale and looks like huge rocks. Have you come across 'Jarvis fine ballast chips' its what we use at our model club and I have used with great effect on my own layout.I used a tea spoon to apply and tapped the track with it to settle the chips into place. Great layout, fantastic modelling skills.
All the best Peter
thank you Peter. i can say i have never come across Jarvis fine ballast chips. i don't find that when i visit exhibitions and see lager size ballast which i am my opinion can like you say ruin a a great layout. thank you for commenting. all the bast Tony
great work tony
ballast looks great now.
Thank you Paul. very much appreciate your comment. many thanks Tony
After watching many videos on this subject I’m not sure if I’ll be doing it. Interesting video 👍
It is a bitty job. and the results can be achieved with some great results. buts yes its a job that requires a lot of patience and very time consuming. but there are other ways of ballasting. thank you for commenting best wishes Tony
TONY NORTH EASTERN ,,,,, Hey Tony. It looks really good and prototypical, I’m just a little nervous because I’m very happy with my layout and I’m afraid I’ll mess it up. If I decide to try it I’ll need to practice on some mock-up track first to be sure I’ll be successful. Thanks and Be safe
One of our favoured jobs on a railway ... ???? This will help many who have this challenge facing them ...
Hi Dave, lets hope so. as its not a easy task. but once done, then its play time lol. take care best wishes Tony
For the glueing have you tried using isopropyl mixed with PVA/white glue and a spray bottle? it can be applied fast and soaks in quickly. If you are concerned about the isopropyl water and washing up liquid works too but dries much slower. (The isopropyl/washing up liquid reduces surface tension and makes it spread much faster and the thinness and spray bottle means you can do a large area faster)
Never thought of that method Alex. i might have to give it a go next time. all the best tony
❤❤❤❤❤❤
Cheer's. many thanks. Tony.
Another excellent tutorial and thanks for the points and tips you added. Would adding a drop of washing up liquid in your initial water spray stop the ballast clumping together? Great results too. Stephen
Thank you for commenting Stephen, good idea with the washing up liquid cheer's Tony
thanks again! looking great ! Its a job I have to do soon esp if I'm not going out...Great tips again and where did you get the ballast hopper from?
Thank you for commenting. its was an accident just could not get my words out. total cock up of words....thanks again all the best Tony
How long did it take you to get the colour for the rust on the rails etc.? I found that to be a nightmare and it took me a period of time that may have been a couple of months to get it to where I was happy. At first I was far too orange and it looked like Mick Hucknell had brushed his hair over the track.
hi Ben. with all paints its trial and error. dark brown and then add red. as long as you are happy with the colour. good old Mick Hucknell, that is too orange....lol.stay safe Tony
Hi Tony great to see your method. That wash works great and the idea of ghost sleepers in the ballast is fantastic.
One tip...when using a piece of old track to get the sleeper indentations, perhaps you ought to have cut the web off first as sleepers don't have that web in real life. Just a suggestion.
Thank you for commenting. as yes the web. i see what you mean. but it would have been a lot harder to do. but now the ballast has gone of maybe i can still remove the web in prints. good suggestion. many thanks Tony
So you put track directly on the base board and don’t use any cork underlay?
Good morning Richard. that is true. i have always done this. couple of reasons.
i love the sound of the sound of the trains on a hard surface as it sounds more earthly.
If you look at old photos of the railways is most places the trackwork is not raised. and i do think the trackwork does look better for it. more realistic. but that is only my opinion.
i hope this answers your question. many thanks for commenting great question.. cheer's for now Tony.
Thanks for your reply. I’ve been researching the pros and cons, installation techniques and I was wondering whether it really was necessary. Lots saying it reduces the drumming sound but if you’re running sound on DCC it seems a bit counter productive… Anyway do you prefer to use fine ballast generally with OO gauge? I’m getting back into this at age 56 and things have progressed since I was 10! I’ve just bought a hornby A3 Lemberg and I’m looking forward to designing a new layout! Love your videos - a wealth of good information and experience! Thanks
Hello Richard, the fina the ballast the better. as it looks so real up close.
DCC is the only way to go. and good luck with your new adventure, because lets face it, that's what model railways are all about. its been a pleasure toing and froing with the comments. cheer's for now Tony.
Hey there Tony! Nice video!!helpful! can you please send me a link or tell me where did you buy the signal? or that kind of signal? Thank you.Adrian
Hi Adrian, this is where i got the signals from. hope this helps all the best Tony
www.dcpexpress.com
Good job done there Tony. Ballasting is something I have had a long good think about and I have decided to leave all my tracks as they are - unballasted. But that is my decision I'm afraid and doesn't look too bad with having the foam underlay underneath. Most of my layout is based on the tramway, which will be covered with cobble or tarmac road surfaces.
Cheers for now..............................Geoff
Hi Geoff. if you are happy with what you have then there's no need to change anything. all the best Tony. Keep Safe
how do you measure out yor ratio p.v.a to water
Good question. i have a ole jam jar. fill it just over half way with PVA and the rest is water. its not 100 percent accurate but i rather have the solution just that little bit stronger. as it still drys clear. cheer's Tony
Thank you
Hello Tony, do you live in Shields?
Hi Colin, im afraid i no longer live shields. i now live down south near Portsmouth. i grew up in shields lived there for most of my life. i do go up to see friends and family. i do miss shields...thanks again for commenting ........Tony
Why not just put blutack over the holes?
good idea. might do that next time...........cheer's Tony
Should this video not be No 198 not 188? ;-)
Hmmm dam oops thank you for spotting tony's blooper all the best Tony
This is the perfect antidote to a bad mood I've been in, cheers! What set-track system do you use?
Hi Joshua, the track system is code 75. thanks again for commenting. cheer's Tony
Scape the surface of are rusting paint tin
Sounds like a great idea...............cheer's tony