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charles Sharpe		#1 Posted : 12 December 2007 20:40:45(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 21/09/2006(UTC) Posts: 1,432 Location: NORFOLK UK		Hello All I have some K track sidings next to my round house and I would to know what sort of track ballast looks good.
		CHARLES SHARPE
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DaleSchultz		#2 Posted : 12 December 2007 21:01:33(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 10/02/2006(UTC) Posts: 3,997		The stuff made by Merkur/Noch is good
		Dale Intellibox + own software, K-Track My current layout: https://cabin-layout.mixmox.com Arrival and Departure signs: https://remotesign.mixmox.com
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rschaffr		#3 Posted : 12 December 2007 21:13:00(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 03/01/2003(UTC) Posts: 5,193 Location: Southern New Jersey, USA		I use Woodlands "Gray Mix"
		-Ron Digital, Epoch IV-V(K-track/CS3/6021Connect/60216051), Epoch III(C-track/6021/6036/6051) http://www.sem-co.com/~rschaffr/trains/trains.html
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David Dewar		#4 Posted : 12 December 2007 21:24:55(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 01/02/2004(UTC) Posts: 7,464 Location: Scotland		Just to spread things about I use Busch. David
		Take care I like Marklin and will defend the worlds greatest model rail manufacturer.
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hmsfix		#5 Posted : 12 December 2007 23:04:10(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 06/02/2005(UTC) Posts: 1,383 Location: Darmstadt,		Hi, Depends on your taste, and on the prevailing colors of the environment of your tracks. I mainly use an ocher-brown ballast with a grain size of 1-2 mm, as usually recommended for H0 (from Vollmer, but you can use anything). This is mixed with a finer (i.e. 0.5 mm) black ballast (on the coal yard), or with fine yellow/gray sand as used for aquariums. The mixing ratio of the ballasts varies rather strongly. Regards Hans Martin P.S. Usually it is recommended to use a more or less constant grain size to achieve a realistic look of the ballast. IMHO, a mixture of ballasts with different grain sizes, each species with another color, gives good results, too. And it helps to disguise the pukos a little.
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PierreGILLARD		#6 Posted : 13 December 2007 01:10:36(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 09/11/2004(UTC) Posts: 2,346 Location: Longueuil, Quebec		For less used sidings, you may also add some grass to the ballast as I did for the tracks next to my roundhouse. Pierre. Click on the picture !
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perz		#7 Posted : 13 December 2007 01:24:52(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 12/01/2002(UTC) Posts: 2,578 Location: Sweden		I haven't used K track on a layout, but I have made some experiments. My conclusion is that "H0" ballast is usually to coarse. When I tried "N scale" ballast it looked much better. Of course the grain size vs recommended scale can be different between different brands, but 1-2 mm as proposed in a previous post is too coarse to be to-scale if you want to model normal ballast. I think 0.4 - 0.8 mm would be more accurate. But real life also has a lot of variation so there is no absolute truth.
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intruder		#8 Posted : 13 December 2007 01:39:17(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 16/08/2006(UTC) Posts: 5,382 Location: Akershus, Norway		Nice web-site and roundhouse, Pierre! Thanks again for the inspiration.
		Best regards Svein, Norway grumpy old sod
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hxmiesa		#9 Posted : 13 December 2007 11:31:50(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 15/12/2005(UTC) Posts: 3,597 Location: Spain		I use Friskies Aquarium decoration sand. After painting it with brown, gray and black acryllic washes it looks pretty good. -and it is dirt cheap.
		Best regards Henrik Hoexbroe ("The Dane In Spain") http://hoexbroe.tripod.com
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al_pignolo		#10 Posted : 13 December 2007 11:37:20(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 30/09/2005(UTC) Posts: 904 Location: bologna, BO		I use grey ballast (produced by "linea secondaria", a small italian company). Whatever colour, size, brand you choose my tip is to wheater it!!! Pietro
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RDRBerry		#11 Posted : 02 January 2008 18:45:52(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 13/02/2004(UTC) Posts: 382 Location: Bradford, West Yorkshire		[URL=http://img242.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc7664aa6.jpg][IMG]http://img242.imageshack.us/img2
		Ralph HO digital ,Intellibox and 6021
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RDRBerry		#12 Posted : 02 January 2008 18:55:53(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 13/02/2004(UTC) Posts: 382 Location: Bradford, West Yorkshire		Sorry posted before text. Finer N gauge ballast seems to work best. The above is Erbert pukos on peco points [older locos cannot go through these] and then peco stud strip on peco track. I needed the curved points at this spot. The challenge next is to try and find a way to ballast the K points without ruining the mechanism..... e
		Ralph HO digital ,Intellibox and 6021
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rschaffr		#13 Posted : 02 January 2008 20:25:12(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 03/01/2003(UTC) Posts: 5,193 Location: Southern New Jersey, USA		I never ballast turnouts. I print a gray stone pattern on paper and cut it out for under the turnouts.
		-Ron Digital, Epoch IV-V(K-track/CS3/6021Connect/60216051), Epoch III(C-track/6021/6036/6051) http://www.sem-co.com/~rschaffr/trains/trains.html
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ulf999		#14 Posted : 02 January 2008 21:08:18(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 12/05/2005(UTC) Posts: 1,908 Location: Stockholm, Sweden		I haven't done turnouts yet, but WS HO ballast is fairly ok. Here is a pic with Peco Code 83 with Herbert stud stip. (https://www.marklin-users.net/forum/default.aspx?g=posts&t=3742&whichpage=5)
		Ulf, American HO. www.goldenvalleyroute.com/
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RDRBerry		#15 Posted : 02 January 2008 21:09:12(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 13/02/2004(UTC) Posts: 382 Location: Bradford, West Yorkshire		That sounds sensible.I have some styro plast sets which are fine, just the wrong colour... There is some abrasive sheet that looks near..
		Ralph HO digital ,Intellibox and 6021
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RDRBerry		#16 Posted : 02 January 2008 21:33:28(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 13/02/2004(UTC) Posts: 382 Location: Bradford, West Yorkshire		Any good sources for Erbert stud strip...Its loads easier to set up than peco... The points are very clever , need a bit of adjusting, and so far I have a few locos that 'ground' on them, however once set up, and wired with motors I am going to profile the pukos. Erbert is in my opinion a very good set up. Ralph
		Ralph HO digital ,Intellibox and 6021
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rschaffr		#17 Posted : 03 January 2008 04:35:26(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 03/01/2003(UTC) Posts: 5,193 Location: Southern New Jersey, USA		Here is an example of what I meant about the stone paper under the points: [image]http://www.sem-co.com/~rschaffr/trains/images/switch_ballast1.jpg[/image] [image]http://www.sem-co.com/~rschaffr/trains/images/switch_ballast2.jpg[/image] The area around the turnouts are not yet landscaped, so it looks a little bare.
		-Ron Digital, Epoch IV-V(K-track/CS3/6021Connect/60216051), Epoch III(C-track/6021/6036/6051) http://www.sem-co.com/~rschaffr/trains/trains.html
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RDRBerry		#18 Posted : 03 January 2008 23:28:26(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 13/02/2004(UTC) Posts: 382 Location: Bradford, West Yorkshire		I like that idea, Marklin points have too may delicate parts to pva ballast.. I am looking at this as a way to keep the continuity of colour.. Thanks for the tip !
		Ralph HO digital ,Intellibox and 6021
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kbvrod		#19 Posted : 04 January 2008 01:33:30(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 23/08/2006(UTC) Posts: 2,597 Location: Beverly, MA		Hi all, I'd go with the Merkur/Noch,...so easy,...points too! Dr Dirt
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Webmaster		#20 Posted : 04 January 2008 01:54:57(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 25/07/2001(UTC) Posts: 11,165		Great to see you back on track, Kevin!
		Juhan - "Webmaster", at your service... He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes. He who does not ask a question remains a fool forever. [Old Chinese Proverb]
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kbvrod		#21 Posted : 04 January 2008 02:04:55(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 23/08/2006(UTC) Posts: 2,597 Location: Beverly, MA		Quote: [size=1" face="Verdana" id="quote]quote:Originally posted by Webmaster <br />Great to see you back on track, Kevin! Tank you oh great,wise Webmaster!
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DaleSchultz		#22 Posted : 04 January 2008 02:58:05(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 10/02/2006(UTC) Posts: 3,997		yes good to see you here Kevin.... BTW your profile says you are 14 years old. The dirt making the clock go backwards....
		Dale Intellibox + own software, K-Track My current layout: https://cabin-layout.mixmox.com Arrival and Departure signs: https://remotesign.mixmox.com
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kbvrod		#23 Posted : 05 January 2008 00:18:36(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 23/08/2006(UTC) Posts: 2,597 Location: Beverly, MA		Hi Dale,all Quote: [size=1" face="Verdana" id="quote]quote:Originally posted by DaleSchultz <br />yes good to see you here Kevin.... BTW your profile says you are 14 years old. The dirt making the clock go backwards.... Thanks,you make me feel young again,.... "Old dirt never dies,it's just used on a layout." Dr Dirt(in person)
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nfotis		#24 Posted : 05 January 2008 00:39:52(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 13/12/2006(UTC) Posts: 125 Location: ,		Regarding ballast inside turnouts, there is a trick another Greek modeler showed us (I do not remember the exact details, sorry): you cut a piece of transparent plastic sheet and insert it under the turnout, covering the mechanical parts. You fix the plastic piece with track fixing pins (I think, my memory is a bit hazy there) You ballast as usual, and take care to leave not even one grain fouling the blades when moving (a small paintbrush helps here) you remove the transparent sheet *after* you paint the rails. I will try to arrange for a demo our local expert, in order to shoot some photos and show how it was done. Cheers, N.F.
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Macfire		#25 Posted : 06 January 2008 00:03:08(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 04/11/2006(UTC) Posts: 2,652 Location: New Zealand		I'm going to use double-sided foam tape for the track, ballasting made easy. And black builders paper (tar paper) under the working parts of the turnouts.
		Lord Macca New Zealand branch of Clan Donald.
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kurtjr		#26 Posted : 06 January 2008 01:20:36(UTC) Retweet
Joined: 22/01/2007(UTC) Posts: 55		Noch also makes another ballast which is more flexible than the Merkur one, it's called Moessmer Ballast and you can get it in rolls of 5m for a reasonable price. Colors are gray or brown. For the switches you can buy already premade ones as well which fit the k-track motor as well. Kurt
		All SBB's, SNCF and US/CDN model's.
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