scenic cement

[Brian Berson]

Hi:

My son and I are new to the modelling world. I purchased the Grand Valley
Scenic Layout from Woodland Scenics and we are in the process of setting
it up. So far so good, but we have reached the point of having to deal
with scenic cement in order to cement the ballast to the track bed. The
scenic cement concentrate comes in a plastic bottle and is quite solid. I
understand we are supposed to mix with water in a 3 parts water, 1 part
concentrate mix and use a spray bottle to spray the cement onto the
ballast. My confusion is how we make this solution. I can flake off pieces
of the scenic cement concentrate and drop it into a water solution, but I
am not sure how to measure a 3 parts to 1 part of this strange material.
Also, it does not seem to dissolve into the water, but rather just clumps
up at the bottom of the solution.

I know scenic cement is pretty common in modelling and was hoping someone
with experience with this might be kind enough to point us in the right
direction.

Thanks

Brian B.

[Chuck Kimbrough]

Scenic cement is a liquid not a solid. If you got some that is solid it
is no good and can't be salvaged.

--
Charles Kimbrough
A & E Railroad
http://www.a-err.com

[Brian Berson]

Thanks. I thought that was probably the case. I will get some more. By the
way, any tips on laying down ballast?

Brian B.

In article <3A47DC0D...@a-err.com>, Chuck Kimbrough

[Chuck Kimbrough]

Go to rec.models.railroad and ask. They will direct you to a web site
with good advice.

[Trainman]

Rather than use the "expensive stuff" I have best luck ballasting with a
50/50 mix of plain old "Elmer's glue-all" and water. Put the ballast down
where you want it. Spray it lightly with a windex bottle of water to which
have been added a couple drops of dishwashing liquid, then squeeze on the
glue/water mix out of an old elmer's bottle until the ballast is saturated.
Let it dry overnight, clean the excess glue/ballast off the rails and out of
the flangeways (a quick pass with a "bright boy" over the tops of the rails
and run an x-acto knife along the inside edge of the rail to get any loose
ballast bits) and you're done.

Don

--
don.de...@prodigy.net
http://www.geocities.com/don_dellmann
moderator: WisMode...@eGroups.com

Brian Berson <bri...@diamondsoft.com> wrote in message
news:brianb-2512...@adsl-63-198-219-25.dsl.snfc21.pacbell.net...

[Jeff de La Beaujardiere]

Brian Berson wrote:
> By the way, any tips on laying down ballast?

Brian-

Just saw your message of Dec. 25. Here is a copy
of a message I posted to rec.models.railroad
about ballasting with Scenic Cement.

Hope this helps,
Jeff DLB

==================================================

Message-ID: <396C52...@erols.com>
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2000 07:12:31 -0400
Newsgroups: rec.models.railroad
Subject: Notes on ballasting

I have greatly appreciated the useful suggestions
about ballasting given recently in the group, and
would like to add two of my own which I have tried
as I ballast my rails [HO] for the first time.

I followed this group's advice to:
- Paint the rails first. I masked the moving
parts of turnouts and, working a section at
a time, used a spray can of Light Earth to
paint the rails, ties and roadbed gently
from the viewing direction (ignoring the
unseen back on my shelf layout). I
immediately used blocks of old roadbed
to wipe off the tops of the rails. Besides
giving a realistic shiny top/rusty side
look, the paint hid my blobs of solder
and ends of wire, and gave a more uniform
appearance to the toylike metal rail on
black tie on brown roadbed on painted foam.
- Use a foam rubber block that fits between
the ties to spread the ballast. It
provides better control than a brush. See
the Rensselaer Model Railroad Society photo at
http://www.union.rpi.edu/railroad/images/scenery-bldg/foam-ballast-applicator.jpg
- Use rubbing alcohol instead of water+detergent
to wet the ballast. It works perfectly and
can be dribbled on with an eyedropper instead
of sprayed, which is messy and sometimes pits
the ballast with high-speed streams.
- Flow on a glue+water mixture with an eyedropper
and let dry 24 hours.

My two additions were:
- Add a drop of water-based black paint to
the glue+water. I found that my glue
[Woodland Scenics Cement; next time I'll
mix my own] left a whitish residue in
places. Blackening it just a touch got
rid of that.
- Just after the glue is on and the ballast
looks just right, I sprinkled on a bit
of vegetation [Woodland Scenics dark green
"weeds"] using an empty spice jar with
shaker top. It yielded a slightly
overgrown look to the industrial spur.

After doing this first section, I have gone
from dreading the thought of painting and
ballasting to being a complete convert.

Cheers,
Jeff DLB