G`day Folks, I found this method the other day whilst in search of a better way. I am always curious about trying different things to give an easier, better result with just about anything. This method with foam rubber, is well within the capabilities of anybody. You can get a really good result with the foam rubber and it takes just a fraction of the time it would with a brush. The ballast shoulder requires a bit more care but you`ve saved time in between the tracks anyway, so it doesn`t matter....,you`re in front. I have also used those foam rubber brushes from the hardware to good effect, especially for the ballast shoulder, however the foam block is better down the middle of the track. My Grandson Samuel was in charge of the camera for this episode and I think he`s done a pretty fair job. It`s a pity he lives in Queensland, otherwise he would be a permanent member of the gormoVision cinema team. Thanks for your help Sam.. A Simple Ballast Spreader http://www.clickGormo
It doesn't get much easier than that Gormo and it's something that we could all pick up if we kept our eyes open. Nice cheap option giving great results. The cinematics have improved drastically. welcome aboard Sam. Nice to meet you young Sir. Cheers Toto
Simple and effective. Now, if you were to run a bead of PVA each side of the sleepers, apply the ballast and let set overnight, you could use the sponge technique the following day and the bead of ballast would form a shoulder... Cheers, Gary.
Two good tips I tried masking tape to create a nice straight shoulder on the last bit of ballasting I did. Worked fine on the straights, but when I got to the curves ..................................... Ed
Thanks Toto, Gary & Ed, Toto I agree .....the cinematics have improved considerably. I have a talented and artistic young assistant in Sam and hopefully he will find his niche in life, that suits his talents. Unfortunately he lives 940 Kms away from us and we don`t see him all that often, but he is with us for a few days, so that`s a bonus.... Gary we`ll have to talk more about your idea, but if I understand you correctly, that seems like a really good idea.. Ed the curves are always going to be an issue for the shoulder. Gary`s idea sounds good to me and is worthy of some experimenting. I think whatever methods we use, they will never be perfect, so what I`m saying with this latest idea is simply that it can reduce some of the time and labor. Even with much more time spent getting the shoulders right, the overall time for the job can be reduced with the sponge. The surface area of the sponge seems to be the answer, in that it drags the excess ballast across the top of the sleepers until it finds a gap for the ballast to drop into. Ballast that is down in between the sleepers cannot be lifted up because the trailing sponge keeps it in place. The brush method sweeps the excess across the tops of the sleepers, but quite often dislodges some in the process requiring us to go back over the same area again and again. Anyway.....it`s a low cost option and I would suggest a dense type of sponge rather than some of the open types quite often used for car washing. The open types would allow ballast to become embedded in them. Give it a go folks.....nothing to lose... http://www.clickGormo
