Mark, That might have been a pain, but the results look fantastic! I did something similar for my New Year's Layout Project Party over at nScale.net, only it was on Bachmann EZ-Track, not Unitrack. I wish mine had turned out looking this good. The only suggestion I have from my experience (and I learned it by reading a post by somebody else) is to lay a bead of full-strength white glue along the sloping sides of the roadbed, then spread it evenly with a brush or something. The glue will (mostly) hold the ballast on the roadbed whilst you proceed with the water/glue mix and all that.
Yep, I'd say the results look great. I've never had the desire to give this a try but who knows maybe someday.
That’s my feelings exactly. I don’t think I would have used Unitrack if I were going to ballast it. But it does look good.
It's probably overkill, but it is possible to remove the rails from Unitrack segments so that they can be separately painted. Wrap the end of the rail in a piece of fabric so you don't mar it, and tug on it gently with a pair of needlenose pliers. It soon gives way and slides right out. After you've painted the roadbed and rail, it's easy to reinsert the rail just by pressing it back into the "spikes." This is a lot less work than it sounds. Concerning why not just go ahead and lay flex track if one is going to all this trouble, the advantage of Unitrack is the reasonably stable roadbed it gives you. Not all of us are master carpenters, so using Unitrack is a good way for novices and the carpentry-challenged to achieve reliable operation. --Bryan
Well I finished applying ballast to the last bit of mainline on my layout. Only 3 short stub tracks left!! For this bit I applied the ballast in two stages, first a sub-pass of large ballast along the base of the track, then a fill pass of the fine stuff for between the rails/ties. I just LOVE how it turned out See the album for more photos of my latest scenery progress.
Looking really good! I like how the ballast between the rails looks like it's been getting years of oil dripping on it. I really need to start working on my layout again...
You most certainly do!! And here is the track plan you asked for. Had I known then what I know now about layout design, I would make a few changes.
Yes, life gets in the way of fun! lol Once I get a track plan finalized, the rest should be cake. Well, okay, maybe not cake but a lot quicker than it's been up to now! lol
Oh Man that’s really great looking! :thumbs_up: Well, as much as wish I could avoid it, I’m going to have to do something. Do you think I can do anything with this? I have three different colored tracks and too many turnouts.:tb-wacky:
Of course you can with some time and effort.. Here is some of the ballasting of Unitrack on the JJJ&E. There are 32 turnouts just in the Switching Yard
Actually, Vashnar and I have the same basic idea for a layout. Small city on one side, Feather River on the other. I have the small city idea pretty much down. It's the seemingly easy River side that is giving me fits. lol
Ballasting Unitrack turnouts? Bob (and others), can you describe more fully how you ballasted the turnouts? I'm planning to ballast my Unitrak, but I'm quite wary of the turnouts - it wouldn't be difficult to ruin them (for example, getting glue in the mechanism). --Bryan
Absolutely! The colors of the roadbed dont really matter. Its the difference between the wood tie and concrete ties that needs to be watched out for. My technique of spraying the track with brown primer will only work for the wood ties. For the concrete tie track and the switches, you'll have to paint the rail by hand. Ah yes, thats right, great plan. Actually, once I finish the last few square feet of scenery on this layout, I'm going to build another, very similar to Brian's plan as well, but probably closer to Caleb Austin's and HemiAdda2d's
Wow Bob that’s incredible. I had to run and check out my turnouts to see exactly how much clearance there was before I could even respond. I seem to remember something about ballasting turnouts, but I can't remember the details. Did you actually ballast the turnouts or paint them? It appears to be a lot of ballast in the photo and it looks so real. I would think it would inhibit the movement. Do you have any close-ups of the turnouts?
I simply put no ballast between the rails and very carefully creep it up next to the switch lever opening. After paint, its even hard to tell in these pictures. When I paint the rails, I only paint the outsides of the stock rail and the insides of the point rails within that length. Actually, I'm going to paint them now, so I'll get another picture up soon.
