After many false starts, I've finally reached a point where I'm ready to apply static grass on a so-called "negative space" area. It's supposed to depict a plot of undeveloped industrial real estate with large amounts of wild grass and shrubbery. I was planning on putting down fibers of different lengths to make it look more natural, and believed I actually could do that after seeing some excellent videos by Kathy Millatt and others. Then I stumbled on an overlooked detail: All these grass experts seemed to be in the UK, and using an aerosol-based product called "layering cement" made by War World Scenics, who AFAIK is the sole source of this miracle product.
At first, this stuff wasn't even available in North America. Then WWS released a version in 'press-and-squirt' bottles that could be shipped safely across the ocean. It has drawn a few negative reviews from people who tried it, including (1) the droplets that come out are too large and cause the pre-existing grass to clump; and (2) the push-down squirt device gets clogged - even AFTER following their directions and spraying clean water thru it. Bottom line is, I need to know if this will be worth the $20+ expense and 2-week shipping time before spending that money and bringing my scenery project to a halt...for the umpteenth time.
I already put down a base layer of 2mm grass on Saturday, then this morning, I sprayed on a mist of "wet" tap water and carefully applyed a more-diluted mixture of Elmers white glue with a pipette. At first it looked like it would work - the glue mixture flowed smoothly onto the pre-wetted surface beneath the 2mm grass - but gradually many of the fibers began to lie flat. [I suppose the original layer of cement got softened and lost its grip?]
So now I'm faced with the choice of only using a single length of grass fibers -or- buying the WWS layering stuff and waiting for 2+ weeks before resuming this project. Hopefully some of you modelers here in North America have found a way to make this work?
TIA...
-Ken in Maryland (B&O modeler, former CSX modeler)
I cannot offer comment on your exact situation.
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However, I can verify that some miracles are only available in Europe. One of these is "Daco Strong" decal setting solution. This stuff truly is leaps and bounds better than Solvaset.
I paid $20.00 shipping and waited two weeks for it to arrive, and it was worth every penney and every second.
I would say bite the bullet and get the good stuff.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
I use dilute white glue to put down static grass. It works very well.
I pre-mix my static grass before application, both length and color. This gives me a one-step application which ends up as I want it. I never mix my individual grass containers. I only mix it directly in the screen basket of the Gras-Tech applicator.
I model in HO scale. I typically don't like the 2mm grass from Woodland Scenics. I use several different colors of Scenic Express grass in both 4 and 6 mm lengths.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I throw in all the different lengths at the same time, that gives great random colour and layering. I just put glue down first and nothing after.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Kevin/Brent/MrB: Thank you all for your responses!
If I can get results that look 80% as good as what's in Brent's prairie photo, I'll be a happy camper.
First I'll remove the 2mm stuff I currently have down, then try the method of "hot-swapping" loads of different grass lengths in the applicator during a single spread of adhesive. The only reason I didn't try that yet is because all the UK-based Youtube experts were saying to apply each length in a separate layer.
Kevin, I'll follow your approach if the single-pass method doesn't give me the results I'm hoping for. I took the entire Thanksgiving week off from work to get make headway on this; I'd like to spend that time trying [and possibly failing?] with my current materials, instead of letting the remaining 2 vacation days go to waste!
I use a combination of mult-lengths at one time but I also do some layering. For the most part, I’m using Marklin of Sweden’s technique. IMO, the best static grass video on the net.
https://youtu.be/9doHdoBpcZ0
It’s called Ultimate Static Grass
Have you thhought of teddy bear fur? Following the techniques out of Europe. Seams
to produce amazing results.
Marklin of Sweden, i second his technique. Add in some of the light paint techniques and scrubbrush techniques and a good result is possible. A bunch of his videos have static grass techniques worth looking at
A pessimist sees a dark tunnel
An optimist sees the light at the end of the tunnel
A realist sees a frieght train
An engineer sees three idiots standing on the tracks stairing blankly in space
Marklin of sweden was here on this forum. That is how i found his page
Ken,
Layering static grass is pretty tricky to pull off. The glue that you are talking about might be of help. There was an article about layering static grass in MR years ago that many of us read and were not able to duplicate the results. I would suggest that you apply glue to small areas and then add the taller grass – not worrying about what the short grass does – in the end it will look good.
In general I use lots of methods for static grass – I will put different lengths in the same application, I use several colors in various mixes to avoid the “carpet look”. I also will use the beard trimmer tool on an electric razor to trim the grass to different heights. If you haven’t already, check out Martin Welberg (associated with scenic express). He has a layering technique that seems to work well.
My advice is to make sure if you use multiple applications over the same area is that you let the previous application dry overnight before you apply the next layer. Get a scrap of plywood and practice a bit to get the hang of it.
Your mileage may vary,
Guy
see stuff at: the Willoughby Line Site
Guy - fantastic work! I haven't yet learned do clumps like the ones around your siding, but hopefully someday...
* * *
Here's what I wound up doing: I decided to experiment with applying diluted white glue to one small area, then planting all the different lengths/colors one after another using the funnel attachment on my applicator. I put them down the following order: (1) Silflor 4mm Autumn Yellow; (2) a blend of Silflor 6mm Autumn Yellow and Late Summer Green; (3) patches of Silflor 6mm Late Summer Green; and finally (4) random 'shots' of Noch 12mm Medium Green. Here are some cellphone snapshots of the result.
Top-down 'helicopter' view (yellow grass is hard to see because the white glue hasn't fully dried yet):
Trackside view:
I'm hoping I can get better photos with my DSLR camera after the white glue finishes curing.
It took me a few hours to prepare the tools and materials. This included putting the grasses in containers that would make it easy to quickly swap-out the different lengths and colors, and drilling tiny holes to temporarily stick some steel rod pieces at various points for connecting the applicator's grounding alligator clip [I needed both hands to use the funnel attachment].
After laying down the white glue, I spent ~30 minutes doing this small test area. It's more time-consuming than simply shaking the applicator over a large area, but it gives me much better control of exactly where the static fibers fall. Downside: the additional time spent leaning over is hard on my back!
Thank you everybody for your insights!
Looking good! From your description it sounds like you have a good method going. Wait for it to dry and then vacuum the heck out of it to see what it looks like.
Post a pic of the finished grass.