Dropping ballast

These posts are all a bit out of order, but you'll be pleased to know that by now, The Command Post section of the top level has been ballasted.

And a tidy job I made of it, although the ballast used may have been coarser than the stuff used down the bottom level for unknown reasons. Not sure if I'm out of the finer stuff or not. At least it's the same colour.

Wet

I spent perhaps 90 minutes laying the ballast out and maneuvering each stone with a brush, managing to ping only a few grains down the hill (thanks to a portable piece of cardboard used as a dam) and those were all retrieved with the tip of a moistened finger and mustered back into place.

It would have been good to install the catenary masts first, but I don't have any more tiny brass H section, so may have to order that from overseas, unless I cheapen out and go with square section rod which probably easier to find. Brass is so much better than plastic because you can bend it to the vertical more precisely, and it's very hard to avoid the poles while cleaning the track, so having something solid to bump into is good. And if they ever get a really hard knock from a passing hammer, they should bend back to attention.

In their absence,  little card squares mark where the masts will go, such that ballast could be kept off them.

Then a gentle drop-by-drop of isopropyl alcohol from a pipette to wet-water the area, followed by the same with PVA and all was done.

...and dry the next morn.

Tidy.

As they say on Gavin and Stacey.