Any commercial products or techniques out there that people would recommend to model a reasonably realistic corn field?Thanks in advance!
I haven't used them, so won't personally recommend them, but I have seen, on the Fall layout tours around here, several with very convincing-looking cornfields.
Here's a LINK to one source.
I'm guessing that it you're planning on at least a few scale acres of corn, you may wish to look for a second job, too.
Wayne
Try Bluford Shops. They are my source.
Terry
Terry in NW Wisconsin
Queenbogey715 is my Youtube channel
A susggestion to relieve the often found losses in agriculture, have a corner of your cornfield at the edge of your layout, suggest the rest, it's a lot cheaper.
Good luck,
Richard
Another option is using a Christmas wreath with "plastic" pine needles. Cut them to length then hit them w a heat gun. Read an article on that then tried it, works pretty well. And would be the most inexpensive option.
Steve
I was able to model a fairly large cornfield (almost 40" long) by making it a low-relief background model. I first painted the backdrop to look like a cornfield fading into the distant horizon with trees beyond. Though this took a bit of patience and time, it was simpler than you might think. Starting at the base of the backdrop, I first painted individual corn stalks using a very small brush and many more-or-less vertical strokes and different shades of drab green. As I moved higher up the backdrop toward the horizon line, I made my brushstrokes less and less distinct. With the backdrop painted, I next used three of the Busch cornfield kits (purchased on sale) to create three long rows of corn stalks. I placed one row atop a 1/4" thick strip of cardboard and directly against the backdrop. A second row was placed atop a 1/8" thick strip of cardboard and directly in front of the previous row. Finally, a third corn stalk row was placed directly on the layout deck in front of the second row. A little Celluclay was used to blend the corn stalk base strips into the surrounding scenery and the result is a realistic looking 3D crop that fades away into the painted backdrop.
To further disguise the low relief nature of my corn field, I peeled one surface off of a piece of corrugated cardboard and used it to make crop rows in front of the corn field. One side of this scene has new crops growing while the other half is being plowed by the farmer. The scene is even further disguised by adding a "wind break" of trees around the front and sides of the plowed fields using Super Trees. Layout visitors always comment on how realistic this scene appears.
Hornblower
I bought some Xmas garland sticks at the craft store. They can be ordered on line to. The sticks come in two widths. Get the smallest width. They are green and light brown so they resemble corn. 10 or 12 in a package. I'm doing n scale so I cut the sticks into half inch lengths, make a small hole in the foam and push them in. The are about 6 scale ft high. I also trim the half inch sticks with scissors so they are not so wide. This takes some time but look great. I will try and post a picture when the field is done. Ready madè corn fields are really expensive. The garland packages can be bought on sale for a couple bucks a package. Each package makes a lot of corn.
hornblower Layout visitors always comment on how realistic this scene appears.
I can see why. That is very impressive scenery building.
I have a cornfield kit stashed away somewhere. The corn stalks are all metal castings and look very good. It is actually a piece marketed as wargaming terrain that I bought at a convention.
I don't know if it will make it onto the next layout.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
hornblower...Layout visitors always comment on how realistic this scene appears.
That's certainly not surprising...if it hadn't been for the Kadee coupler in your second photo, I would have mistaken it for the real thing.
Very nicely done!