Buff Medium Ballast Shaker

Light ballast in the buff shade

Buff belongs to lines where the spreading was done from a nearby limestone or sandstone quarry. Stone of such a color looks drier and dustier than gray granite and gives a scene a southern touch without your reaching for a single paint in a spray can.

• A light buff shade, which in photographs reads as dry dusty stone
• A medium grain suited to the vast majority of home layouts
• A shaker with a volume of 945 cm³ and a dispensing sieve
• It mixes easily with darker shades into a blend of your own
• Suitable for the surfaces of yards, parking lots and loading ramps too

Where light stone finds a use

Besides track ballast it suits the parking lot by a station building, the yard of a builders' supply and the piles between a silo and a ramp. It looks rewarding on the slope under a line, where the grain has gradually slid down, and also on the shoulder of a dirt road, where a very thin layer is enough.

While working, bear in mind that light material is more sensitive to shadow than dark material. Once it is dry, bring out the difference between a spot under a bridge and an open plain with a thin scatter of a darker shade or with light transparent toning, not with an opaque paint. The grain has to stay visible.

Fixing takes place after the area has been wetted: first the surface is damped with a dropper, and only then is glue thinned with water added. The thinning matters, as thick glue sticks light grains into a continuous crust and the material then looks painted.

If you want a shade of your own, mix the dry material in a dish by the spoonful and note down the ratio. The difference between two batches is visible on a finished surface, and mixing the same tone again from memory succeeds only rarely.