My layout is fast approaching the part of scenery installation where trees, bushes, grass, etc. will begin to "suddenly appear" on the barren landscape. So my question is - how durable is static grass?
Will it be:
permanently marred with the slightest touch, or
be able to withstand gentle non-contact vacuum cleaning, or
be as bulletproof as commercial ground foam secured with an overcoat of spray glue?
Jim
Jim,
Depending on the quality of the application - some where between bullet points two and three.... I have vacuumed mine many times and it stays put. I have a large amount of static grass on the layout - some has been in place since 2007ish - no problems
Guy
see stuff at: the Willoughby Line Site
Mine has been fine since I started using it years ago. It's even survived a move from Massachusetts to Delaware. It still looks good, both the shorter, more in control areas and the longer more wild areas.
I put my static grass down with thinned white glue, applied with a pipette, not sprayed. I use a Gras-Tech applicator and generally use Silflor grass. I like to use a variety of colors and lengths to give more of a natural look than a manicured lawn look. This generally means 4 and 6 mm grass for my HO layout. I don’t like the very short 2 mm grass at all. It ends up looking more fuzzy than grassy.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Mine has stood up well.
I tend not to use the vacuum on what I would consider the more fragile areas of the layout. I will use canned air from the appropriate distance to blow the dust off while holding the vacuum over the area.
I also use Swiffers and just pat the sensitive grassy and dirt areas with them. I will also cut off a bit off a Swiffer and wrap it around a skewer and gently clean engines and rolling stock. It does a much better job than a Q-Tip.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."