Klear cut?

A few years back, I had a go at making balsa and tissue freeflight aeroplanes.. I came across johnson's 'Klear', used instead of 'dope'.. marvellous.. no nasty smells, neat and cheap..
More recently I read about it's use as a fixing agent for model railway ballast, so I thought I'd give it a go on Winkford, seeing as I still had nearly a bottle full.

The results are mixed.
It's really easy to apply, dripping in, no need to pre-wet the ballast and it wicks away very well.

BUT.. 24 hours later, there are lots of areas not fixed at all, and those that are, are a bit flaky.
My guess is that this will work, but some experimentation is required.. maybe I need to seal the board first?

So.. tidy up and then it's the traditional PVA mix :-(

(Although I'm applying a 'traditional' ballast, the plan is to weather it all down and get it pretty flat and weedy by the end. Tempted to try Chris Nevard's clay method).