Hello, I'm new here and new to railroading. I'm building an n- scale Kato Unitrak layout. I'm just starting out and getting a little ahead of myself. But regarding making the ballast profile on unitrak more acceptable before painting and or ballasting - what do you use to build it into a more gentle angle for more realistic ballasting. Is it plaster, ground goop, or what? Also, any tips on how to do it once the track is well placed and wired would be appreciated (sculpting and or painting). MARV
Marv: As you may know, ballast profiles are an extensive study. Each railroad had similarities and differences depending on their own engineering department. AFAIK, ballasting Unitrack is not unlike ballasting other types of model rr track as far as the total ballast profile goes. But, ballasting Unitrack is different as far as adhering ballast to an already-formed plastic base. Powersteamguy1790 and John Sing are the two most prolific Unitrack ballasters on TrainBoard. They have posted "How to" threads here in the past. I will try to find them and edit this post to give a link to those earlier threads. PSG thread Welcome to TrainBoard! :thumbs_up:
Hi, all, Thx for the recommendation, Flash. Marvin, here's a couple of shots from my web site: Feel free to have a look at the following: http://home.comcast.net/~j.sing/Peavine_Layout_Overview.html#Kato_Unitrack http://community.webshots.com/album/60614024xfYZdo Enjoy!
Unitrack in the switching yard before the final ballasting. The roadbed has been painted a grimy black/dark gray. The rails were weathered a dark gray followed by mineral red. The ties were hand painted a mixture of rail tie brown and mineral red. The spike heads were handpainted a burnt/raw sienna. A view of half the switching yard on the JJJ&E completely ballasted. Stay cool and run steam....
A closeup of the completed Unitrack ballasting using Color Canyon Materials very fine natural rock ballast. The only requirement necessary to complete the ballasting of the Unitrack is to take the time to do it. It does take time, but that what detailing N scale railroading requires. Time and Patience. Stay cool and run steam....
Has anyone ever produced that tie sunken yard look with Unitrack? I was thinking of trying that with one of my sidings. Any suggestions?? Perhaps cut into the foam and lower the track?
Use Flex Track I am using Unirak for almost all of my layout. For yards and spurs I am using flex trak. Reasons: Cost Appearance Creates a slight down hill "hump" yard in the transition. You don't need the "special Kato transition tracks". Just support the rail and you are all set. Works for me.
If I can hijack this thread for just one post... I've heard people say to not ballast your turnouts as it can only lead to trouble (especially in the area of the moving points). However, both Bob's and John's pictures shows an awesome job of doing that. Now I can do the spreading of ballast carefully and evenly like shown in the pictures but how do you lay down the glue (even if an eyedropper was used) so as to not foul the moving part(s)?????
Marvin- Welcome to Trainboard. PSG and John have done the best I have seen on the web or in person. Patience is a requirement. I would also not play around with the turnouts until you are 100% comfortable with the materials being used.
Hi, MK, My procedure with ballasting the turnouts: 1) Don't do the normal ballasting routine 2) Instead, mix small teeny little batches of ballast/glue mixture in a small cup, then 'gently' spoon tiny little 'globs' of it into place with tip of a small screwdriver. Works a lot better, you can control what goes where, and won't get glue going into wrong places of a Unitrack turnout Hope that helps!
John, Thanks for the advice. I'll give that a shot. I'm using Atlas track instead of Unitrack but I'm sure the method will work for both.
I do the turnouts differently than John. I just want to cover the roadbed of the turnouts with very fine ballast just so there isn't any roadbed showing. When I'm satisfied with that, then I use a pipette like medicine dropper and just ooze the glue/water mix (about 60% glue) to barely wet the ballast. When this has dried completely, usually overnight, Then I add a small amount of the ballast on top of the first layer and then finish up with the glue/water mix. I'm constantly aware of the moving parts of the turnout mechanism and try to keep ballast just barely away from the mechanism. For the ballast, I'm using Color Canyon Materials very fine natural rock ballast. I usually leave the turnouts for last. I use the same procedure for the crossovers. The mainlines are easy to do and take less time. When you start to do the ballasting of the Unitrack, it'll take a fair amount of time doing just one section. That improves dramatically as you go along. The yard area on the JJJ&E has a slightly different look than the mainline. It is not as well kept and shows more signs of wear. The photo below shows three different stages of Unitrack weathering and ballasting. The switching yard tracks are completely weathered and ballasted. The turntable area tracks are weathered but not completely blasted between the ties. The Unitrack at the top of photo is part of the new fourth addition and leads to a seven track staging yard 15 feet long. The track is weathered but not ballasted. The holding tracks in the turntable area will take no time to finsh completely, probably this week. It's easy to do if you take your time and have patience. Start with some straight sections first. Stay cool and run steam....
Marv, Interesting idea - wish I had done that. As for a medium, lightweight spackling compound is easy to work with. Just trowel it on using the smallest artist's pallet knife you can find. I used to have one with about a one inch trowel-shaped blade. Any goofs with the spackling compound can be easily scraped away. I was perfectly happy with the Unitrack ballast and color. I only attached a little similar colored ballast along where the Unitrack met the sub-roadbed. But a more gentle angle, with random undulations to represent what gravity and erosion does to ballast would look better. Maybe next time. Ben
Spackling compound sounds good. I noticed that the others didn't address the profile situation directly, even though their posts were terrific and helps with my planning a lot. I guess they are happy with the profile. But it does seem to me that the shoulders of the Unitrak are gone in the photos of the layouts - such as powersteamguy and John Sing. Any other ideas and posts would be great - even though I'm a little ahead of my self. I'm debating whether to paint some of the Unitrak before putting it down since I have a little time on my hands before I can finish benchwork. (At least the turnouts since they will be done by hand in the future anyway it seems - after reading a few posts).
Even balasting over cork road bed the pre cut profile doesn not maintain it's angle. As scenery is built up around the track the balast reduces the angle of the profile. Gravity tends to pull the balast into a realistic shape, and the same holds true with Uni Track.
Marvin: When you apply the final ballasting of the Unitrack, the steep angle of the plastic roadbed is reduced. The Unitrack on the JJJ&E is still higher than the scenery. The original roadbed of the Unitrack is molded at a too steep angle to be realistic if you don't add ballast. The reduced angle after the final ballasting looks so much better. You must also remember, that the final ballasting of the Unitrack does take up space. Stay cool and run steam....
I borrowed a book recently that recommended adding a little oil (like Labelle engine oil to underneath the throwbar and the point rails before ballasting so as to keep the water/glue mixture out.
There are also at least 3 openings where loose ballast can get into the "innards" of Kato turnouts, fouling the mechanisms. Very hard to remove - in some cases disassembly of the turnout is the only solution. Inspect the turnout carefully to locate these openings. Cover the openings with masking tape during the time you are working near the turnout with ballast or other scatter materials. Ben
