What to use as rocks on a railroad build in 1:72?

For ballast rock, try kitty litter which could be the right size.  If not try some HO railroad ballast as HO is 1/87 scale which could be close. Or some S scale which is 1/64 if you can find it.

Go to your nearest model train shop and pick up some road bed gravel or even a piece of track with the bedding attached. 

1/72 scale is not a railroad scale the closest is  1/76 which is  "OO" scale found in the UK. Closest in the U.S. is "HO" which is 1/87 scale.  But for "gravel " (or Ballast to the RR guys) you will be able to fudge the scale that much.

OR

If you want to save some $$. Use regular  clay cat litter - not the clumping kind, but the old fashioned clay stuff. I see small bags in the $1 store all the time. Glue it to a foam piece as a base for the track bed. Spray on some various color washes to break up the bland uniform cat litter color and  ya got it .

Post some pictures of your work, when you can, sounds real interesting.

Just be sure to hide it from the cat if you have one ;)

Thanks all for the tips. We have two cats so the kitty litter idea will be tried first. Will hide it from them

DUSTER

Go to your nearest model train shop and pick up some road bed gravel or even a piece of track with the bedding attached. 

1/72 scale is not a railroad scale the closest is  1/76 which is  "OO" scale found in the UK. Closest in the U.S. is "HO" which is 1/87 scale.  But for "gravel " (or Ballast to the RR guys) you will be able to fudge the scale that much.

The train guy at my LHS corrected me on this once, so I thought I'd pass it on.  Train scales actually refer to the gauge of the track, not the scale of the actual model train.  The scale of the trains varies from manufacturer to manufacturer, (although it's usually still roughly close to scale with the track gauge.)

Ghostrider114

DUSTER

Go to your nearest model train shop and pick up some road bed gravel or even a piece of track with the bedding attached. 

1/72 scale is not a railroad scale the closest is  1/76 which is  "OO" scale found in the UK. Closest in the U.S. is "HO" which is 1/87 scale.  But for "gravel " (or Ballast to the RR guys) you will be able to fudge the scale that much.

The train guy at my LHS corrected me on this once, so I thought I'd pass it on.  Train scales actually refer to the gauge of the track, not the scale of the actual model train.  The scale of the trains varies from manufacturer to manufacturer, (although it's usually still roughly close to scale with the track gauge.)

Thanks for the clarification.

This is why I build Air Plane kits.....where the scales are "always constant "(+ or -  a few )       

DUSTER

Ghostrider114

DUSTER

Go to your nearest model train shop and pick up some road bed gravel or even a piece of track with the bedding attached. 

1/72 scale is not a railroad scale the closest is  1/76 which is  "OO" scale found in the UK. Closest in the U.S. is "HO" which is 1/87 scale.  But for "gravel " (or Ballast to the RR guys) you will be able to fudge the scale that much.

The train guy at my LHS corrected me on this once, so I thought I'd pass it on.  Train scales actually refer to the gauge of the track, not the scale of the actual model train.  The scale of the trains varies from manufacturer to manufacturer, (although it's usually still roughly close to scale with the track gauge.)

Thanks for the clarification.

This is why I build Air Plane kits.....where the scales are "always constant "(+ or -  a few )       

and to add to the confusion, i have heard that dml 1/35 railcars have a track with of 1/35 BUT trumpeter is 1/35 with a 1/32 track width so it fits on US G scale. ballast comes in different RR scales as well as medium or fine within those scales so anything close works fine. also look in other ares. as mentioned kitty litter works. for 1/35 sand i use reptile terrarium sand from a pet store. 

For 1/72 I like aquarium gravel. It's really cheap.

Yeah, don't use anything attractive to critters.

Hmm, railroad gauge is measured from inside-to-inside of the rails.  In the US it's a nifty logical number like 4'-7 1/2" (0.o).  The UK is similar, but, some of the other European countries are not.  IIRC the Soviets, in particular, had a dissimilar gauge than the Germans, and this was for strategic reasons, so that rail cars from one side would have to stop at the border and have the contents trans-shipped.

G scale is not uniquely American, IIRC, as it's "Garden" scale, approximately 1:28 on a narrow gauge (either 1 meter or 3 foot gauge) track.

I gauge (either "I" as in Inca, or I as in Roman numeral 1) is described as being from 1/36 to 1/32 scale

Which is important a rail wheels are around 24-30" (60-75cm) in diameter.  So the 1:28 G gauge wheels would not be in scale for 1/35.  The rail profiles are going to be not quite right, too.

This is why some On3 (O gauge using HO gauge track as 3' gauge) modelers will hand lay O gauge track at HO width so as to not have problems with the wheel rims being deeper than the track height.

The rail guys think these things out, as having your rolling stock derail in a curve and wipe out the scenery makes for a bad day.

that made my head hurt. it's as bad as my ship club with their 3/16 scale and other odd ways to measure stuff.

All due apologies Wayne, not my intention at all.

"Our" side of things is used to having things be at _a_ scale.

The RC folks kind of bridge between "strict" scale adherence and operational needs.

The railroad people have two basic camps--those who mainly want to build, and those who mainly want to run.

CapnMac82

All due apologies Wayne, not my intention at all.

no apologies necessary. i forgot the smiley face after my head hurt statement. we have similar camps with artistic vs absolute realism.

Woodland Scenic's Ballast on My HO scale layout. It would be fine for 1/72, have used it on Military Dioramas:

Take Care! 

Frank