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turf

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  • Member since
    April 2003
  • 305,205 posts
turf
Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, August 12, 2004 12:34 AM
I have an ho layout and I am about to apply the blended turf I have, does anyone know how to apply the turf.?
  • Member since
    April 2003
  • 305,205 posts
Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, August 12, 2004 12:44 AM
i like to paint the scenery with a base color, green, brown, etc, depends on the region youre modeling, and then sprinkle the truf onto the wet paint. after its dry go over it with a vacum so you dont waste any. any spots that arent completly filled wont be noticable because of the paint. i have used this technique on all of my layouts and modules. it works great.[:D]
  • Member since
    August 2003
  • From: Midtown Sacramento
  • 3,340 posts
Posted by Jetrock on Thursday, August 12, 2004 3:35 AM
If you've already painted your base, you can secure the turf using the following method:

Sprinkle the foam onto the surface and scoot it out of areas you don't want it with a paintbrush.

Spray a little bit of "wet water" (water with a drop of detergent added) to dampen the surface.

Using an eyedropper, add drops of diluted white glue or Woodland Scenics scenic glue to the turf. Because the turf is pre-wetted, it will soak easily into the turf and when it dries it will be pretty stable. Blow or vacuum off the excess turf that didn't get glued--repeat on any bare spots.

The above method also works for ballast or other gravel cover, as well as turf and other foliage.
  • Member since
    November 2003
  • 148 posts
Posted by tutaenui on Thursday, August 12, 2004 5:33 AM
I paint the plasterbase grass colour first with a latex paint and let dry. Then I paint a thick coat of PVA glue (White glue) and ladle out the blended turf thickly using a big spoon or shaker. Then I leave to dry overnight. Next day I brush of the excess turf and repeat the process over any thin spots, let dry and again brush of excess. This forms my base coat, I then take more turf of various colours, including blended and sprinkle at various densities to form texture, then I spray with wet water and then spray with diluted pva gue. I do not brush after this as I think what little loose turf remaining adds to the ground texture.
  • Member since
    October 2002
  • From: Columbus, OH
  • 492 posts
Posted by dano99a on Thursday, August 12, 2004 10:32 AM
I paint the base with acrlic paint, let that dry then spread a thin layer of elmer's glue then sprinkle it on (kinda nice cuz when the glue is wet you can see what and where your missing turf) once that dries (glue dries clear) overnight then I'll spray scenic cement over the whole thing to seal it on.

I use an old herb shaker to spread the turf.

DANO
C&O lives on!!!  
Visit my railfan community site: http://www.crtraincrew.com

  • Member since
    January 2004
  • From: Crosby, Texas
  • 3,660 posts
Posted by cwclark on Thursday, August 12, 2004 11:49 AM
to make it really look good you will need more than just turf..i have found that different blends of the woodland scenic's materials work well...not only do you want turf, but use a variety of the woodland scenic materials...the first step from the posts above works good..paint the scene with earth tones, then wet the area, add dilute glue, and sprinkle the turf on, if there are ridges or hills on your layout, a technique called "whisping" works well...take a piece of card stock, fold it in half, get the area ready (paint it, wet it, glue it, ect... ) load the cardstock with turf, and then gently blow into the cardstock aiming the other end of the cardstock at the area you are trying to get the turf to adhere to...after it dries and the bare areas re-turfed...add some undiluted glue in various spots and put different shades of woodland scenic foliage into the glue...it will look like small bushes growing when you are done...another good product is polyfiber...it makes great looking tall grass in ditches and along roadsides...it also is just glued into place...trees are nice too..i make good looking oak trees by hot glueing woodland scenic's foliage to the bare blooms of (real life) crepte myrtle trees...the branch structure of the crepte myrtle tree bloom is very complex and they make great looking scale oak trees once the leaves and blooms are stripped from the bloom branch and the foliage is added...after the hot glue work is done, awl out a hole in the layout and glue them in place... (sage brush also makes a good cheap scale tree branch material)...also to enhance the scenery, small pieces of old broken plaster make good looking rocks to add to the layout...all you have to do is stain them with earth tone paints (a 50% / 50% mixture of paint and water) ...dip the broken plaster pieces into a jar containing the dilute paint, take them out, let it dry, then glue them randomly in place...the larger plaster rocks go in first then blended down to smaller rocks works well at the bottom of hillsides and in ravines and ditches Chuck[:D]

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