The only ballast I can get locally is Woodland Scenics and even then there has been no stock for months for anything I want. I prefer real stone ballast but it's very expensive to get to Canada with exchange and shipping. I found this stuff and I like the looks of it but can't decide if it's too much out of scale or somewhat believable? I'm not a proto modeler, more of a representational one. Opinions?
Too big and not rough enough. Looks like river pebbles in miniature - too rounded. Is that aquarium gravel? I'm trying to remember something I saw a some years ago at a hardware store (Reno Depot or Home Depot) when I was looking for alternatives to WS ballast as I built my layout (I did find some eventually, at good prices at an LHS). I'm thinking coarse sand or something in that vein.
Model Railroad Hobbist magazine recommends a fine play sand dyed with Rit liquid dye. For yards you can use a silica sand, it's even finer. Plut the sand in a plastic bag and add a couple drops of dye (whatever color you want) and then squish it around until it's evenly coated and then empty it out to dry. If you need it lighter or darker use a few more or less drops of dye. If you want something more consistent you can buy sieves of different sizes and sift it to get a consistent size.
I agree they're a little too big and too rounded to be convincing ballast. But they have that real-rock je ne sais quoi to them, and would be great for a gravelly beach, stream bed or other scenic application. So at the very least not a wasted expense.
