Has anyone had experience with these products from the UK?; https://modelrailwayengineer.com/best-ballast-spreader/ https://proses.com/prestashop/balla...oo-ballast-glue-applicator-8680979260937.html The both seem to have some merit, I have hundreds of feet of N scale Peco track to ballast and I'm looking for input here. The spread with a spoon (or similar) seems kinda messy and slow with cleanup afterwards. The price seems worth it depending on the feedback I get here.
Not sure which ballast spreader I have used in the past, but I do remember I only tried it once. It was messier than just doing it manually, didn't hold enough ballast to do more than a foot (if that), and was constantly having problems...jamming up, spilling, climbing up, and not sliding. I use a foam paint brush instead. Roughly spread some ballast along the rail (I put a piece of card stock shaped like a V taped to the container of ballast) then sweep it into place with the paint brush. For the sides, I have a brush cut to the profile I want. Once I get going, I could do yards in the time I could do inches with the spreader.
I just discovered that this is also sold under the Bachman name. I believe it's made in Istanbul according to Poses web site. This appears to be a similar item (16m into the video);
Years ago I tried a similar product and found that with the required touch up after spreading the ballast I was better off doing it manually. Notice in their photo how much ballast is over the ties ? That would all have to be cleaned up before you added glue solution, especially with code 55 track.
That video mirrors my experience...too much ballast in the center track and too little on the sides (keeping in mind that he has taken additional time to cut the cork sub-roadbed at the edges of the ties). Next step would be sweeping the ballast in the center to get it uniformed and touching up the sides so that they have enough...which is what I do, but I skip using the ballast hopper in the first place. Put some ballast down using V shaped card stock, spread with a foam paint brush, wet with wetting solution, add diluted glue, keep money that I would have spent on ballast hopper in my pocket, done!
