Opinions Sought

[Hound Dog]

I am in the midst of ballasting the area around my diesel depot on my Montgreenan layout and used my usual browny / red ballast mix for the tracks in keeping with the rest of the layout to date ( still to be weathered)...……….I wanted however to try to introduce something other than flat concrete for other non-track areas adjacent to the depot buildings and the oil tank bund.

I found in the back of a cupboard a bag of grey granite type ballast that I bought ages ago and have laid this down in the relevant areas...…..it is not yet fixed and so can be hoovered up if necessary, but I cannot make up my mind if it is a suitable contrast or looks daft...…….on a test piece it dries slightly darker using "Ballast bond", and for sure I would be introducing random greenery as one would expect in such locations.

I am away on business for a couple of days and will be pondering this, but would welcome the thoughts of forum members, as I sure as hell don't want to glue it down and regret it, but similarly too much brown/ red ballast or flat concrete would probably be uninspiring.

Appreciate any feed back - thanks Richard

PS - I know everything look too straight and neat, but I usually find it easier to start out like that and then introduce non-conformance thereafter, and yes some buildings are still to get their brick sheet coatings - LOL

[Walkingthedog]

I put sand down for my shed area and painted it according to the area to which it was applied. Don’t think they usually have ballast where people are walking and working. Too dangerous.

[bulleidboy]

With diesels having sat there for sometime, the ground and surrounding area would be oil soaked and black. Hattons do a kit called "Oil Spill" - I think it's £9.99 - it would be fairly easy to produce your own. BB

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDdonTYmKsA

[Walkingthedog]

It is easy, it’s called black paint.

[bulleidboy]

It would be well trodden down, so it would need something very fine mixed with the paint, probably N gauge ballast or Woodland Scenics Fine Cinders (its like course powder) and as you say painted black.

[Steve M]

I would go for a different surface finish. What you have done looks good but the texture of ballast gives the wrong effect.

As I see it there are two choices, the first would be a concrete base - my preference is to use DAS clay rolled out thin like pastry then laid into the area to be covered. It can be pushed right up to the rails and smoothed with a small artists palette knife. I give the baseboard a coat of slightly diluted PVA first. You can add the typical joint lines in concrete with a straight edge. Add a coat of grey paint when it’s dry ready for weathering.

Second option, if you want a ‘rougher’ look, is to mix dry plaster powder (not plaster of Paris, ordinary wall plaster) with a fine playpit sand. Brush into place like ballast and smooth while still dry with that artists knife again. Fix it with dilute OPVA in the same way as ballast. I tend to add colour while it’s all still wet using various Woodland Scenics liquid colours and brush it relatively smooth. If you go this route it helps to spray the colours with water as it helps them flow into each other.

20191110_162354 by Steve Mumford, on Flickr

This is a DAS base surrounded by plaster/sand on my N layout.

[Steve M]

This is the oil spill stuff from a Hatton’s that BB mentioned in my station area (OO).

20191215_140242 by Steve Mumford, on Flickr

[Hound Dog]

Thanks everybody for all the feedback to my post of last night...……..The bad news is my flight to Amsterdam was severely delayed this morning, so I ended up cancelling my whole trip to Stockholm as I would have missed the connection and the meeting I was planning to attend this afternoon......The good news was I was able to sneak out to the garage at lunchtime and hoover up the granite ballast that seemed to get a unanimous thumbs down.

Earlier this evening I had a rummage around my bags of scatter and ballast etc and managed to produce an interesting combination from very fine Tarmac granules and an earth scatter ( 5 to 1 ratio), and I have laid this down ( not glued yet)………..it is very fine and flat ( at least it will be after I roll it properly) and gives a nice dirty hard-standing type surface, which I think will readily accept weathering with black and oily washes, as the earth scatter has a slight "cloth" type feel to it.

Attached is a couple of photos of the area around the shed ( I haven't done the oil tank bund area yet)……….would welcome any thoughts - also how best to stick this down as I don't want it to "ball-up", so a fine mist rather than normal ballast droplet technique or better still put adhesive down first and lay this on top ???

Appreciate any words of wisdom - thanks Richard

[Walkingthedog]

I still think it is a bit lumpy. I think fine sand is better or even plaster as suggested by another learned member. Just think about the size of OO feet and whether they can walk on it.


Edit: just realised you are referring to the grey stuff around the shed. Looks good. PVA is my choice for sticking stuff down. I tend to paint it on neat then sprinkle the stuff on top.

[Steve M]

That's far more effective Richard.
I would prime the board with PVA first then add your concoction. Mist it with water + a drop of washing up liquid then add the dilute PVA. You may still need to smooth it out with a brush or piece of plastic and.