AB&CRRone, your comments is right on and you have good suggestions. You are so right - having ballast or glue 'leak' into the innards of a Kato Unitrack turnout is not good. What is even worse, is that if it did happen, due to the interlocking nature of the Unijoiners, it would have also caused me to have to rip out not only the turnout in question to repair it, but also I'd have to rip out *most* of the adjoining already-ballasted track, just so that I could reach the turnout: Here's a closer view of my ballasted turnout, and also showing where I used PollyScale acrylic 'Earth' paint for the areas that I wouldn't / couldn't ballast with my Ariz Rock & Mineral 'mauve' Santa Fe Peavine line ballast: If you compare the above with a photo without the 'circles', the eye really doesn't see the painted areas : So to all in general, regardless of what Kato Unitrack ballasting method you use, it's a really good idea to do it in such a way that no ballast/glue leakage into the mechanism occurs! Execute your method of choice accordingly, and feel free to post back here if any questions that from our experience we can try to give some info on.
Looks like you've had lots of good advice. I can't add much to the discussion except to say ballast profiles are not only different on different roads, but different on the same road. As has been pointed out in the replies. I use different profiles and materials in close proximity on my layout. Scenes change, why not what the track looks like in that area? Use your imagination, don't be afraid to experiment, its your empire so boldly go where no man has gone before then share with the group. Most of all, have fun, Doc
As I have been re-reading these posts about ballasting Unitrack, I see that PowersteamGuy, said that he used Color Canyon "Very fine natural rock ballast". But when I go to Color Canyon web site all I see is grades. So my question is "Very Fine" the same as their "Grade as 00"?
Thanks. Before I start doing anything for real, I wanted to play around with it for a bit to get the hang of this ballasting thing.
Unitrack ballast Inspired by John Sing and others, I've finally ballasted part of my Unitrack mainline. I used Woodland Scenic's gray blend, which matches the Unitrack fairly well and is cheaper than Kato's ballast. I chose not to ballast between the rails to avoid potential cleanup and performance problems, but I may elect to do it in the future. I'm hoping that a thinned wash of black acrylic paint may help it blend even better. I also painted the outside of the rails and unijoiner tie sections with acrylic dark burnt umber, although I may switch to Floquil grimy black going forward. Ballasting method used: First, use full-strength white glue to paste ballast to the sides of the roadbed. Next, pour and shape the ballast. Heavily mist with alcohol to prevent the ballast from washing away. Saturate ballast with 50/50 water and white glue or matte medium mixture. Bird's eye view: Closer view with Mopac C36-7:
LOOKS GREAT!!!! Very difficult to tell what brand of track that even is. It has a nice flow to it too. Can you post more pics of your layout?
Tim Mc, Congrats and it looks great. Glad I could be of some help. Like Coasterp says, we'd love to see more pics of your layout and ballasting.
Thanks! Unfortunately that's the only section that's finished, but I'm working on another 3 foot section this weekend. I'll try to get some pix posted with the progress.
Tim, excellent work but you tend to expect that from MoPac modellers lol by the way where have you been I haven't seen you post in a while?
Tim that looks great. Good ideas for my new layout. I'm in the inital phase now of getting the track where i want it to be but ballasting is coming soon. Steve
Thanks everyone. Here's a comparison of ballasted and plain Unitrack. I still need to brush away a few loose "rocks". For those contemplating ballast on their Unitrack, I found it useful to use one section for testing various colors and to test technique. When I saw the Woodland Scenic gray blend, I figured it was a close match without the Kato black specs that make the Unitrack ballast seem unprototypical. Paul, I've been working on some other projects around the house but was able to sneak in some modeling time. I drop in on Trainboard often to see what's going on, but I try not to post unless it's something useful, which isn't often (lol). I plan to take a few vacation days next month and really knock out the track ballasting and basic scenery. I also have to admit that I was sidetracked lately by painting three O-scale GP15s in Mopac (I made custom decals for inkjet if you ever need them). Don't worry though, N-scale is still the dominant scale around here! I just couldn't resist those Atlas GP15s in O.
Look fine Tim, Your main line is really taking shape. What are you going to do with the sidings and spurs? Like John Sing I use Sculptamold frequently to build up the surrounding terrain especially up to trackside which defines and visually separates the main line from a spur or siding. Keep up the good work and keep those pictures coming,
