gluing down scenery--clump foliage as shrubs

[Zandoz]

Since I've not actually built a layout yet, this is another one of those "for what it's worth" pointers. Once upon a time I had a project glued with Elmers on wood litterally fall apart when exposed to high humidity....and gravity.

[Anonymous]

2021 was right on.

Two points to add -

1> Take your time with ballast! Small sections at a time will get you better results. Once you wet the ballast and apply glue do not touch the ballast until it is dry, even if you made a mistake. Once dry, you can fix the mistake, otherwise your ballast will get all messed up. Brush ballast into place before wetting and gluing. My gluing solution is roughly 1 part elmers white glue to 3-4 parts water applied heavy (should ooze out of the edges of the ballast onto the plywood or foam board)

2> The only place I use elmer's wood glue after building the benchwork is for gluing cork to the foam board. Using wood glue for scenery is not a good idea. Yes it will hold, but dried wood glue is not clear. It dries yellow and can be seen. Elmer's white glue dries clear and hold just as well. You can stock up on white glue during back-to-school sales. Doing scenery requires a lot of glue, and every penny saved means that much more for another "train" item!

[selector]

You might want to search out hminky on this forum. He had a thread just yesterday or the day before, so back a page or two. He is a master with your issue.

[2021]

Glue down that clump foliage with Elmer's White Glue straight out of the container. Works great and holds forever. As far as ballasting: Lay down the ballast; spray with alchohol/water to releave surface tension; drip on the white glue/water mixture. This is the standard method used by most modelers and is referred to in many modeling books.
Ron K.

[skerber]

Hello,

I was wondering, what is the cheapest, but most effective way to glue down large quanities of clump foliage? I have in mind Elmer's glue--actually I have in mind some Elmer's Wood glue left over from when I glued down the foam board.

Also, when applying the alchol/water mixture to the ballast, should I leave out the glue until after I applied the alchol/water mixture, or can I mix all three together and glue down the ballast in one shot?

Thanks for the advice! I want to make sure I do things right so I will not have to redo it for a while.

Steve