Beverly's and Chris's Slab Door Layout

John,

Last spring I bought a big container of Woodland Scenics extra fine ballast. I recently did a test of this ballast. The biggest problem using it was static electricity makes brushing it evenly somewhat difficult. The finer the particle size, the bigger the static problem becomes, at least that's what I surmise. What's your take on the static problem with the product you suggest?





On a completely different note, it's finally spring in the Great White North Well, mostly it's been spring. On May 6th, we had a snowstorm with about 4" of snow. Here's what it looked like from our kitchen door...



May 30 also brought overnight snow. It mostly melted upon contact with the ground and there was no point in taking photos.



The skies here have been totally wonderful lately and I took time to create a few more timelapse cloud videos. For those who are interested....

Timelapse Clouds, May 18, 2010

Timelapse Clouds, June 4, 2010

Timelapse Clouds, June 5, 2010

Timelapse Clouds, June 6, 2010, at about 5:00 p.m.

Timelapse Clouds, June 6, 2010, at about 8:30 p.m

Bev, my ballast works better. Its smaller the Woodland Scening and its less uniform in size. I also less likely to float when you are applying the scenic glue. My biggest problem is that my layout is mostly covered with Woodland Scenic ballast. I know its going to be a pain to take it out.

John,

I haven't had any problem with floating ballast when adding the glue. I follow the WS instructions by adding drops of alcohol to the ballast prior to gluing and the glue soaks in immediately and without any problems.

I'mm still wondering about how easy it is to actually ballast the track with your particular ballast in terms of static.

FWIW, here's our micro-layout that has WS extra fine (or fine, or whatever it's called)...




Forget that I didn't weather the track. It was a rookie mistake. But I'd like opinions on whether or not the ballast looks "okay". It doesn't have to look "spectaular". "Okay" is fine with me

Bev, if you like the look its all the matter. You do such a great scenery its going to make everything look good. Also, Arizona Rocks are not the esiest to find.

Bev, I have used both. I too am in the same situation as John, I have so much of the WS ballast already down.

The WS ballast is made out of crushed walnut shells I believe, which makes it subject to Static electricity. The Arizona ballast is made from actual crushed rock. I have not experienced static problem with the Arizona.

You may try grounding yourself before you begin to ballast. It possibly could be the transfer of static from yourself to the layout. Just a thought.

John,

I'm not thrilled with the look of the WS ballast, but I can live with it. Let's put it that way. I can change the stark grey colour by giving it a few washes of paint.



Ed,

I don't think WS ballast could be crushed coconut shell. Coconut shells are fibrous and are quite a bit lighter than how the WS ballast acts and feels. At least that's how it seems to me. I've worked with sand in a different application in much the same way as the ballast and have had similar static problems.

Question du Jour: How do I ground myself??

Interesting about the ballast. I use WS ballast for all my track laying and have never had these static electricity issues. I live in a benign climate and lightning and thunderstorms are very few and far between. Maybe this is why I don't have static issues. That said, I don't believe WS ballast is any more than crushed rock or plaster of some sort. Hard to comprehend the amount of coconuts needed for WS ballast inventories. Cheers, Jim CCRR:)

Bev, Ed said walnut and not coconut. I dont know what is it, but it doesnt feel like a real rock. On the look, its too uniform and overscale. Robert calls it rats turd.
I try to use washes, but it cant mask its uniform size.

ED, why dont you post the picture of you Arizona Rock ballast. Maybe that will help Bev with her decision. Also let her know what is the minimum order amount.

Duh! Yes, Ed did say walnut I can see how they could get the itty bitty sizes of WS ballast from walnut, but not the larger sizes. Walnut shells aren't thick enough to do the larger ballast sizes.

When in doubt, test the material Between my thumb and forefinger, I easily managed to crush the ballast into finer particles. Dust similar to clay dust was left on my fingers. Too much pressure while crushing the ballast results in dust only, so be careful when crushing it. From this little test, I'm going to surmise that WS Ballast is made from a crushed dried clay type of material.

Left, Woodland Scenics Fine Ballast. Right, crushed WS Fine Ballast. Middle, dust residue on my finger.



Hope that helps shed some light on the subject

He said, she said, I said coconut. My bad. But I did say plaster type material. Jim CCRR:blink:

Jim,

Whatever it's made of, it can be altered to have non-uniform sizes
Here's a quick video of the method I used to crush it...

Crushing Woodland Scenics Fine Ballast.

Wow, what big fingers your have, Bev. With Arizona Rocks, you dont have to anything. Its already the right size, but its good to know you can make your own with WS ballast.

Dude! I have the hands of a Giant

Crushing the WS ballast with my fingers only works until my fingers get sore - which is pretty quick. Now I'm using two flat stones to crush it. Too bad it takes so long, but I'm pretty happy with the results. Good thing we had this discussion. My problem solving skills are always up to finding solutions to things

Hi Beverly,

Here is the ballast that John was referring to.

Bev, do you have any updates, or you hurt your fingers crushing the gravel.

Hi John,

First of all, let me congratulate John (the other John) on his great work with ZCS! The site looks fantastic, dude! Many thanks to everyone who has contributed their time and effort behind the scenes with John to keep ZCS a wonderful place to visit and contribute to Z

As for me, I crushed all the gravel on hand (no pun intended, but yes fingers were very sore afterward ) and moved forward with my other hobby on a rather grand scale. Our Z scale work will be on hold again, though I know not when we'll get back to it.



For those who are interested, my other hobby is creating videos of my collection of the UK, Japanese and N. American Sylvanian Families/Calico Critters range of toys. While I do make videos for my personal YouTube Channel , my primary task these days is producing viedos for an online store located in Australia that sells these toys. I receive free toys (a collector's dream!) in exchange for making short videos for the store.

In late August, I received 75 boxes of toys, photographed in our basement room where I produce the videos in a very large display cabinet...




In September, we built a bridge to go with the Old Oak Hollow Tree House, photographed here with the Seadog Family...




In mid-September, I stumbled onto a huge 50% off sale at Michaels where I bought loads of materials to create trees for the videos. Here's a photo of me sculpting tree trunks out of the CelluClay/drywall mud mix I use for Z...




And here's what the trunks looked like after they dried and were colour washed a couple of times...





The following are scenes from some of the videos produced for my Australian friend...












These photos are of various buildings set up and ready to create videos...







My Australian friend's YouTube Channel where the videos I make for him are uploaded.

There is a chance that Chris and I will go to Australia to create a similar permanent Sylvanian Families display in a storefront that is in the very early stages of planning. Money and time on both sides of the Pacific are considerations that will determine if we will actually go. It would be a once in a lifetime opportunity to do such a grand project and to live in Australia for a few months during construction. Even though the chances of going are slim, due to global economic problems, I do sometimes let myself drift away into the dream of walking the beautiful Jervis Bay beaches



Once I get back to Z, I'll continue posting updates of our progress. Thank you, John, for asking about it

Bev, I wish you luck on your dream vacation. Your other hobby looks great,and I can appreciate the artistic work that went into it.