Waterproofing.

As I get closer to the point of ballasting the track on the removable section of baseboard on my 00 gauge Last Great Project I need to take account that the two viaducts are made of cardboard. Whilst I did paint the track-bed with some sealant I thought it would be best to take a few more precautions or I could end up with a mass of soggy cardboard when I glue the ballast down with watered down PVA glue.

Step one was to cut some very thin plastic card to size. As usual, WMD HQ Stores had the required item in stock so that was found and cut to size. Unfortunately the sheet was just 4cm too short so I had to glue a small extensions on to the main parts.

As the plastic card was bright white it was painted grey to avoid any bright patches if the ballast did not cover it all.

To try to further reduce the amount of diluted PVA that I would need to use I pre-ballasted the edges and middle of the track-bed.

Putting the two pre-ballasted track beds in place on the viaducts it looked like this.

 I thinking its looking good but whether it will still be that way after all the track is ballasted and glued down with dilute PVA remains a question to be answered!