Here in Sweden, we have used fake fur for (at least) 40 years as grass for our layouts.
1- Glue it with acrylic sealant. As it wont seep through and make it rigid.
2- Use a beige fur and color it with artists oil-paints as acrylics make it stiff (really painful to touch!). Use a toothbrush to "comb" the paint into the fur and to make the fur point in the direction you want.
3- Use a scissor to trim it.
There you have some tips that works.
Swedish Custom painter and model maker. My Website:
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Hi it was in the November 2009 issue on page47. I tried it and it works pretty well, the toughest part was finding the fake fur.
Check this article:
http://www.pacificcoastairlinerr.com/fur_grass/
Look up Joe Fugate's Scenery thread on this forum for another article on fake fur grass techniques.
You might also consider making a static grass applicator and using Silflor and other static grass products
http://www.ztrains.com/pages/tech/grassinator/grassinator.html
Here is a shot of the results obtained with the static grass gun and Silflor Static grass:
Good luck in your quest for realistic grass.
Guy
see stuff at: the Willoughby Line Site
I remember reading that article as well. I can't recall which issue, and I'm at work right now so can't look it up. But, I believe it went along with the author telling how he came up with his town of "Eurika", and that is on the front cover. If that helps. It says in the article IIRC, you glue the fur side down of course, then you cut away the backing with a straight razor blade, as close to the backing as you can. Then he said to "tease" the remaining fur with a cat brush to smooth, and give that wavy grass effect.
Good luck.
I have a Kalambach Scenery Techniques book with that faux fur application described. "Scenery Tips and Techniques - Model railroad handbook #26". Also has articles on using felt and bath towel for a similiar effect. Sorry cant help with a current article in MR.
Hello everyone! I am modeling (currently) a 2' X 8' shelf layout of a scrap steel yard that is serviced by rail. Later I plan to add on a steel mill and all that jazz so that it would appear that the steel mill and the yard were owned by the same company. The yard would receive "raw" scrap metal from outside sources whether its by truck or rail and then using heavy equipment to cut down the scraps to suitable sizes so the mill can process them.
My question for those of you out there is that I had read an article (I believe it was this year) about how someone used faux fur to simulate grass. My question is does anyone remember what article this was in? Cause I am afraid I may have to order a back issue.
Another thing is that I want to use the same faux fur technique on some hills in my layout and I am afraid that with this technique the grass is going to pointing towards the front of the layout instead of pointing straight up like I want it to. I would like to know if there is any way I could possibly anchor the grass so that it goes the way I want it to? Or should I just cut it short enough where the top of the grass will not weigh down the rest of the grass and in turn cause it to bend over.
Thanks for your help.