Ballast King GONE???

The owner passed away and the company is out of business.

Dennis, had you considered making something similar, this unit worked very well.

@HustleMuscle400 posted:

Good Evening All!

I know I'm probably way behind on the times with this one, but can you no longer get the Ballast King o scale ballast spreader?

I bought mine when I built the layout and sold afterward.  eBay is probably the best place.  I almost kept mine for rental.  Oh well, $5.00 and tomorrow’s newspaper, I’d be a millionaire.  Good luck.  They work well.

We've lost so many fellow model railroaders, both modelers and manufacturers alike, in recent times.  Would you please join me in a moment of silence to remember the men and women who not only contributed so much to this wonderful hobby we enjoy (both active and armchair!) but went above and beyond the call of duty to insure that it remains The Greatest Hobby in the World!

Thank you,

Joe

I would like to offer my opinion. On previous layouts, I used 50 pound bags of his rubber ballast and finally finished off the last one I had on the upper level of my layout.
I had a spreader. While the “ballast spreader” is a nice convenience, I could never regulate an even flow. I spent more time trying to spread it out then if I did it manually.
On my new layout, I laid down 1000 feet of Dennis’ ballast with a flexible plastic cup and a stiff paint brush. Very simple to do and no need for a machine.

Donald

....... with a flexible plastic cup and a stiff paint brush. Very simple to do and no need for a machine.

Exactly. There's no point to over-complicating this.

Donald, that’s a great idea. Thanks a lot. I Dennis’ Better Ballast too. I plan to use it as well.

At one point I was going to buy the Ballast King but I just couldn’t justify the $200 price tag. I am sure the plastic cup idea will work almost or just as good as the Ballast King.

@Hudson J1e posted:

Donald, that’s a great idea. Thanks a lot. I Dennis’ Better Ballast too. I plan to use it as well.

At one point I was going to buy the Ballast King but I just couldn’t justify the $200 price tag. I am sure the plastic cup idea will work almost or just as good as the Ballast King.

Yep. Using Dennis' ballast will work out well. The real crushed stone is simple to apply with the cup and then smooth out with a brush. I have (2) cheap paint brushes I use. One is the same width as the distance between the outside rails and the other one is wider that I use to groom the slope on the outside. I lay all my track on top of cork so I use the bevel of the cork to maintain a natural appearance to the ballast. The ballast is usually flush with the top of ties. I do not ballast in and around switch points and honestly, no one even notices.

I secure the ballast with a 50 / 50 mix of Elmers white Glue All (not school glue) and water from my dehumidifer. I also add a few drops of liquid dish soap to help break down the surface tension between the glue and stone. It helps things flow a little better. Before glue, I spray (soak) the ballast first with the same water and dish soap ratio (just no glue at this stage).

Maybe I am (OK I am) a little weird at times, but I find this method of applying ballast calming and a little therapeutic. A few feet at a time!

Donald

I picked up a Ballast King at an estate sale for a price I won't disclose. I use it with Dennis Brennan's ballast and I can do a lot of ballast in a short time. I roll the spreader about three feet at a time, put a block of wood across the track and tap it lightly with a small hammer, sprinkle a little ballast to make it look less uniform, and move on to the next three feet. I would not consider spending $200 bucks for it. If you have some friends or a club to spread the financial commitment out to maybe $50 each, then probably worth it. Also, depends on how much you need to do as well!

@Rich883 posted:

Dennis, had you considered making something similar, this unit worked very well.

No, a plastic cup works fine. The ballast spreader works but was not worth the cost and its really not necessary. 

I agree with several of the posters above. There is absolutely no need for an expensive "tool" to spread ballast. A small cup to pour the ballast and a 1/2" paint brush to spread it work just fine.

Digital Subscribers can watch THIS VIDEO where I demonstrate how to easily ballast track.

I just recently made my own ballast spreader.  Using some leftover 3/16" Lauan plywood, some small brads, and some wood glue, the cost was nothing.

Trying it out, one fill of the hopper box did almost 4' of track lickety-split.  Then come back with some brushes and sweep off the ties and smooth things up.  I did 16 lineal feet of track in just an hour or two one afternoon.  Will be doing more here in the very near future.  Worked great as far as I was concerned.

We have a Ballast King and also plastic cups. Either works okay; for us the cup took longer. We have a lot of track and the time savings was worthwhile.

Go to the closet and get the crevice tool attachment for your vacuum cleaner.

Fill it with ballast while keeping a finger over the narrow opening; then place the narrow end between the rails; pull it along the tops of the ties; and, repeat.  It works unbelievably well, and does just as well on the outsides of the rails to create a nice shoulder.

There will be virtually zero clean up.

Jim Barrett, RIP, told me 30+ years ago the device worked great.

Of course you can simply use a cup and brush, I just found it to be much slower than the ballast king.  If you have a smaller layout, perhaps the time savings isn’t worth it.

I ended up buying a few Proses ballast spreaders off of Amazon. They work great and I had to buy a couple cause the kids love helping me with the layout and spreading ballast keeps them busy for hours!