One last thought on this: I used kitty litter with some Gargraves track and it looked OK. Where I used code 147 the Kitty Litter was out of scale and I ended up using Woodland Scenics coarse HO ballast. Prior to that I had used Parakeet grit with code 148 and both were fine. Kitty litter has a nasty habit. It tends to absorb moisture and expand. Then it splits open with visible cracks after it has dried out some. It's therefore hard to keep it in place. I also used it for hopper loads and painted it flat black. It needed several paint touchups over time to hide the cracks. I have pretty much stopped using it. It would make a pretty good coarse gravel if you don't have to glue it in place. Most ballast cement is water soluble and that's the problem. Chuck Smith, http://www.trainweb.org/chucksmith On matters of style swim with the current. On matters of substance stand like a rock. Thos. Jefferson (may be paraphrased) ----- Original Message ----- From: meldridge2000 To: [email protected] Sent: Saturday, January 06, 2007 1:39 PM Subject: {S-Scale List} Re: Cork Ballast.....
--- In [email protected], "mhrreast" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hi Ed, I doubt that the weight of the ballast will have any large > effect on the total module weight. Beg to differ. I built a 2x4 foot module (smaller than what Ed has planned) with three straight tracks and two switches. This was all on top of cork roadbed with a profile, so it is about the least ballast you could have with any mainline track (two of the straight tracks). I used crushed rock ballast. Subjectively, I would guess the ballast doubled the weight of the module. I was shocked when I lifted it after ballasting. -Michael Eldridge -San Jose, CA [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
