Natural Track Ballast Porphyry TT/N/Z 500 g

Fine track ballast of porphyry for TT, N and Z gauges, 500 g

Scatter ballast of crushed porphyry in a finer grain, which the manufacturer intends for TT, N and Z gauges. The shade is warmer, shifted toward brown. The box weighs half a kilogram.

Why grain size matters

The grain of ballast is one of the few things where an error of scale shows immediately. Stone that looks right in H0 gauge reads as boulders in the smaller gauges, and the bed falls apart into individual pieces instead of a continuous surface. A finer grade solves that: in the small gauges it keeps the impression of a smooth bed while still retaining the irregular shape of real stone.

How to lay the ballast

• Brush it out with a soft brush into a regular profile
• Dampen the area and flood it with thinned glue
• In the small gauges work in shorter sections, as a fine grain shifts easily
• Watch the turnouts and the moving parts
• Remove loose grains with a soft brush once it has dried

Who it is for

For layout builders in the smaller gauges and for modelers of small dioramas, where coarser stone would look out of proportion. The manufacturer is a German company specializing in scenery accessories, and production takes place in Germany. Safety note: a loose natural material does not belong in the hands of children under three because of the risk of inhalation. A half-kilogram box covers a longer stretch of track in the small gauges than in H0 gauge, because the bed has a smaller cross section.