Due to an issue with a method of securing a building I tried I knocked the dock off of the Champion Packing Co. model.  I decided that it would be easier to ballast it into place before reattaching the building.  I used the template to make sure that the dock was positioned properly before using a bit of caulking to secure the dock into place.

I first dry-brushed the ties to weather them a little.  I then set the building in place (I didn’t glue it to the dock as I have a bit more work to do on the building, such as lighting) and spread the ballast with a brush.  I found that a soft brush had the best results for me, though a foam brush did help with the rough in.

Following tips from multiple sources I soaked the ballast by the ties with rubbing alcohol before using the landscape cement.  I found that, as promised, it helped to “suck” the glue into the spaces between the ties and help with the spreading of the glue.  I found out the hard way that you need to make sure that the shape is exactly as you want it before applying either the alcohol or glue, although it was fairly easy to repair those spots with a light sprinkle of more ballast and more glue.

Waiting for the glue to dry before starting to add bushes was annoying (overnight – had to wait).