I planted an area on the club layout with 3 of the 4" toppers.I ripped the toppers apart and then pieced them together like a puzzle. I glued them down with tacky glue. I then went back with some WS fine turf in a lighter green and brown and shook that on and used a brush to get it down between the grass blades. Finally I used more WS turf to build up the edges so they looked like a natural transition.
It's not perfect yet, but so far I like the results. I'll post a picture when I'm at the club friday as the glue will have dried.
I liked that the seams looked like spots where the grass was naturally thin, though that takes some skill to not make it look too much like a pattern.
I also experimented with some medium ground foam mixed in, but I didn't like it. I'm hoping it vacuums off. If not, eh, it was just an expriment and still better than what was there.
Plus, as far as I'm concerned, it's always better to use found products that I can buy at a regular store rather than specialty products. It's part of the hobby to do that.
Also, I don't see this as a replacement for fake fur grass. It's a different type of grass being modeled. I think both are very critical to correct look.
Well, I drove down to Tualatin Michael's on Saturday and sure enough, they had them. I bought 5 4" toppers as I thought that was a better deal than 3 6" toppers. I played around with one during our open house at the club. I already like it I agree witht he blending in of the ground foam. I plan to try that. The base is just a bit to "large scale" to look right without it. .
I just bought one six inch pot toppper to see what's what. I could see using this in areas that I want some tall scrubby grass. I cut the backing off of it to lay it flat, then I'll break it up to plant it. The reason to try this is the fact that it costs $3. Use a coupon and you're in business. Would I buy a ton of it, no, but it fits in with trying to vary the products I use. It's also available locally instead having to order online like almost every other scenery product I use.
There seems to be quite a bit of variance with the toppers. Like I said before, I bought two 6" and two 4" toppers. The 6" ones seem a bit lumpier, lighter, and less filled in than the 4" ones, which are darker, flat, and very full. They all look great to me, though!
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slamminMy local Micheals stocks pot toppers, but they weren't as lush as the photos in this thread. I bought a 6" one and will give it a try, but I'm not impressed by the looks.
My local Micheals stocks pot toppers, but they weren't as lush as the photos in this thread. I bought a 6" one and will give it a try, but I'm not impressed by the looks.
Mine didn't look like the ones in all the articles. Guess I will stick with:
Harold
Not sure why you would want to use the pottoppers when Heki and Noch offer grass mats in a variety of colors??
Mark
If someone doesn't want to mess with an electric or battery powered static grass applicator (as a reason to use Pot Toppers as opposed to static grass) why not just use a Noch "puffer" http://www.sceneryexpress.com/prodinfo.asp?number=NH08100 ?
I've used one in places on my layout and the results are more than acceptable.
There is a very good selection of static grasses now available in a variety of lengths and colors.
When I first discovered Pot toppers I made a trip to one of my local Micheal's crafts and proceeded to clean them out. It was worth the looks I got form the cranky old women who worked there. I just looked at one who gave me a look and said Hey! I've got a lot of plants ok.......lol
One little trick I use when applying pot toppers is the same basic thing you do with fake fur grass is sprinkle in some earth colored ground foam and brush it through. On fake fur I use a child's hair brush and on pot toppers either a stiff bristled paint brush or a tooth brush will do. It helps work the ground foam down into the nap of the pot topper allowing some of the earth to show through which gives it a more out of the ground look. I've also ever so lightly sprayed the top of it with a mist of yellow paint to give it some what of a burnt appearance. Well that didn't come out as well as I wold have liked so I tore it ot and redid it with out the yellow but I still think it may be a nice effect with a little more practice
CTValleyRRYou always have to be careful about clerks in Big Box stores who tell you that a product is discontinued, not available, or even not carried. That's often Employee-speak for "I don't know what you're talking about, and am either too embarrassed by my lack of knowledge or too lazy to go find out." Probably motivated by the subconscious impulse that they should probably not run you off, because you should spend your money in their store. In their defense, though, it's often the case that you are looking for something in the "crafts" section that is actually stocked in the "floral" section, and the employee just doesn't know any better.
You always have to be careful about clerks in Big Box stores who tell you that a product is discontinued, not available, or even not carried.
That's often Employee-speak for "I don't know what you're talking about, and am either too embarrassed by my lack of knowledge or too lazy to go find out." Probably motivated by the subconscious impulse that they should probably not run you off, because you should spend your money in their store. In their defense, though, it's often the case that you are looking for something in the "crafts" section that is actually stocked in the "floral" section, and the employee just doesn't know any better.
I have to take offense with this, having spent the last few years in large scale retail. One of hte things I used to do was determine if certain items were mean to be for clearance and to reorder other items. I'd look in the system and it would list something as discontinued and unavailable in the distribution center. So I'd mark it as 75% off and into the bin it went. A week later, 24 of them would show up in a box. Where did they come from, I have no idea. But a week ago, I was holding the last one anywhere. Or so thought the system and therefore me, because I had no other information to go on.
As my faux fur as grass fades into irrelevancy and my fifteen minutes are gone:
Visit:
http://www.pacificcoastairlinerr.com/fur_grass/
and as always thank you if you visit
Connecticut Valley Railroad A Branch of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford
"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right." -- Henry Ford
I've got some of the PTs on one corner of the layout. Here's what it looks like so far:
Looks pretty good, I think! But I've still got quite a bit of blending and stuff to do before it really looks good!
And here's the sort of thing I had there before:
Doesn't look much like grass, does it? It's also totally flat, unlike what you'd normally see in a large, open area. I'll still be using the finer ground foam for the controlled and mowed grass, but this pot topper stuff really works well for the less controlled grass!
Well, I went ahead and went over to my local Michael's. After searching every aisle for about 15 minutes, I finally found them! I ended up getting two 6" and two 4" toppers. The 6" ones are a bit lighter and longer, and the smaller ones are darker and finer. Guess we'll see how they look!
Wow, that looks a whole lot better than my ground foam!! Now I'll have to go and see if anyone has any!!
I emailed Michael's (Phone call? Are you kidding me, is it 1985?) and got a lovely response back.
#1 this is absolutely still an active product, it is not now dicontinued.
#2 he indicated to stores that are within 30 miles that show as having it in stock. I plan to swing by the closer of the 2 this weekend.
Once I have some I'm going to take it to my local store and see if there's any way I can get them to stock it.
Well crap, I guess I didnt get the memo, sorry for the redundant post guys. I had the same thing happen to me, I asked where the pot toppers where and no one knew where they were. After one of the Michaels associates looked all over she said she couldnt find anything like that. Well, I kept looking and found them right by the clay pots(who would have guessed?)
on their website there is a national customer service number, call it with the SKU#, and they will check the inventory of your local stores to find them for you.
two years ago, I was told the same thing by local store, that pottoppers didn't exist, called the national line, and ten minutes later local store called to apoligize for not taking the time to look them up, had them waiting at the desk, and gave me a discount, my guess is that somebody got chewed out.
When using, split it in half (dirt side/grass side), turn over, and with a scissors cut away 99% of the polyfill.
even that can be used for smoke atop your chimneys, as the color fades from dark mear the edge to nearly white in the center.
just found a better image of pond area,(pre water) showing both the grass and dirt sides in place.
Hi All: My closest Michaels is about 30 miles away, I couldn't fine any there. Asked about them and the clerks didn't know what I was talking/describing about.
Went on Michaels Website, couldn't find them, Emailed them asking about them and the reply was "it is a discontinued product".
Was in my local Michaels looking for some thing else and one of the clercks ask me if she could help me, pointed me to what I was looking for, also got to talking about Pot Toppers, and she knew what they were, but they didn't have any. She offered to call another Michaels store, (about 50 miles) and talked to the manager there and, the other store had them.
It was another week before I went to the other store, and took a quick look around but couldn't find them, so went to the service desk and inquired about them. Same as the other store, no body knew what they were. So I mentioned that the other store had called to this one and the person they talked to said they had them. About that time an older woman arrived at the conversation, and ask what we couldn't find. Mentioned POT TOPPERS and she took me right to them. I think the reason I didn't find them was they were high up on the hooks, I had to stretch to reach them. I wasn't looking UP.
Bought some 4" and 6" both. Haven't used them yet.
Sam
Last time I went to Micheals, I was told the product will be discontinued.
Jack W.
I went to Michaels website and they did not seem to have them listed either. So it is a regional product. Which is utterly frustrating.
I do however have a SKU for the product which I plan to take to the store to see if they can order it.
Excellent point, CNJ831. I've used it sparingly at a few spots. DJ.
When employed by a clever hobbyist, pieces of pottoppers can prove to be a fairly reasonable representation of dense grass. Unfortunately, unless a lot of additional scenicking work is done to the area immediately surrounding them, or their location happens to correspond to some distinctly isolated terrain feature (as is the case with River Eagles' nicely done eroded riverbank scene), they will usually end up looking like a rather odd-looking raised hillock of very dense growth (because of the thickness of the backing material), surrounded by nothing but open/bare ground. That sort of result is not an overly pleasing, nor realistic, one.
If one wants to employ this product realistically, it becomes necessary to carefully blend the areas surrounding the pottoppers into the rest of the scene by applying a slight build-up of ground surface to meet the edge of the pottopper and then applying static grass, or something similar, over it. As mentioned previously, re-tinting the pottopper's color is also a worthwhile consideration, since in the purchased state the green color is rather intense.
All these considerations (most of which are also pointed out in Cody's MR article) call for a lot more work than some other approaches using similar scenicking materials actually intended to represent patches of grass more realistically may require. For many, that's more work than they are likely to be willing to apply.
CNJ831
I got all excited when I saw the heading, I thought it was about some sort of "cannibus frosting" or something........
tim, there are pottopper grass clumps all over my modules on the club layout.
the dirt side is very useful too!