Applying ground foam to vertical surfaces

[bsurf]

I have  used foam shallow relief hills glued to my blue painted backdrop. They are rounded off at the top but a fair proportion of the area is vertical. I am having a bad time trying to attach ground foam using the traditional method of blowing it on to white glue using paper folded into a vee shape. I have tried throwing the foam on by hand but this is a bit hopeless as well. Since I have a reasonable area to cover, some of it a bit of a stretch to reach across the layout, I am getting a little frustrated and fed-up.

So, does anyone have a brilliant idea how to make this job a lot easier and more succesfull, so that building this layout turns back to a fun hobby again! ( I think that 'scenicking' is one of the least enjoyable aspects for me as I strive to emulate some of the excellent results I see in the hobby press and on line).

Cheers, Bill

[cowman]

Hummmmmmm!  You seem to  have used most of the steep hill applications and apparently they haven't done the job. Never have happened to hear of gluing a foam sheet to the backdrop for a hill.  Have seen painted backdrop hills.  My foam hills roll over the top just in front of the backdrop and are covered with puffball trees. 

What did you glue your foam to the backdrop with?  If you could get the foam off the backdrop or lay the backdrop flat, you could then put it on a flat surface until it dried. 

Another possibility would be to mix the glue and ground foam and then paint it on.

Maybe a better idea would be to make ground goop or use Sculptamold to coat the foam and give it texture, then just paint your colors onto the textured surface.

Good luck,

Richard

[mlehman]

In cases like this, I use my hand, cupping it, but shallowly. I form a thin layer of the foam on it, then press it onto the surface, which has glue already on it.

My hand is pretty large, but the size of the foam I'm talking about is only about 3x3". You don't want to make the glued surface much larger than that, either, because it's on a surface that is approaching vertical in some cases. Otherwise the glue would run.

It's a little tricky at first and a little messy even once you have the hang of it, but it works.

[mbinsewi]

Maybe try something "sticky-er" like tacky glue, or spray adhesive, or glue the foam to something like cardboard, than glue the board to the surface.

Mike

[woodman]

Bill, what I did  was get myself a couple of those old plastic squirt bottles that are used for ketchup and mustard, you can them about any where now a days. Try the dollar stores. I fill them with various ground covers and cut the nozzles at the top larger, just like cutting open a tub of caulk. I then squeeze the ground cover out of the bottle right on my vertical surfaces. I use them on almost all my surfaces now.

[doctorwayne]

woodman

Bill, what I did  was get myself a couple of those old plastic squirt bottles that are used for ketchup and mustard, you can them about any where now a days. Try the dollar stores. I fill them with various ground covers and cut the nozzles at the top larger, just like cutting open a tub of caulk. I then squeeze the ground cover out of the bottle right on my vertical surfaces. I use them on almost all my surfaces now.

Great solution, and one to keep in mind.

For the one area I've done with low-relief background hills, I simply cut the profile out of a scrap of Masonite, then painted the rough side dark green and applied ground foam as if I were doing ground cover.  I worked on newspaper spread on the layout room's floor.

The next day, when the glue had dried, I slipped the sheet of Masonite into the slight gap left between the plaster landforms and the wall forming the backdrop.  Since it extends around a coved corner of the room, it was easy to curve to follow that of the wall:

Wayne

[bsurf]

Hi all. Quite a few good suggestions thanks. I do like the sauce/squeeze type bottle idea. I think I might just try that and maybe with a 'stickier' type glue to catch the ground foam.

Also, I have just been watching a video of Joe Fugate applying his 'Zip texturing' medium to a near vertical surface using the paper and blow technique. which seemed to work very well. Since my application is a background scene, zip texture 'grass' may be quite acceptable. This stuff may actually work well using the 'puff bottle' method as well.

Thanks all. I think the fun is coming back. Yes!

Cheers, Bill.

[dknelson]

For certain applications don't ignore the possibilities of the Woodland Scenics sheets of plastic (vinyl?) that have the grass of various shades flocked and attached to it.  The theory may remind you of the old LikeLike grass mats of trainset fame, but the WS sheets do look nice and you can match the colors and textures nicely with other WS products.  As I recall they advise using a special heatgun to makle the sheets snuggle down on an under-base.   This has to be done with caution. 

Dave Nelson

[aflyer]

Wayne,

Those are great photo's of your layout. I think your scenery and landscaping is awesome. It makes me look forward to getting to that stage on my layout. 

But I do have a long way to to get there.

Thank you for posting the inspiration.

Aflyer

[Medina1128]

I have some vertical cliffs on my layout and I've found what works best for me is to dilute white glue with water (70:30 glue:water). It's slightly thinner than straight white glue. I brush on the glue, then apply the ground foam base color using the index card method you mentioned. I let that dry completely, then apply the next color after brushing on another coat of glue. Then, I dribble on diluted white glue after a light soaking with rubbing alcohol applied with a medicine dropper.

[gandydancer19]

This is one of those steps in building a layout that got done before it should have.  The better way to have done it would be to put the ground foam and shrubs on the foam hill before attaching it to the layout.  You would get beter results if you can remove it somehow, then apply the ground foam.

Mine was done using dyed sawdust and small foliage clusters.  Right now, it is held to the wall using pins.

[doctorwayne]

aflyer

....Thank you for posting the inspiration.

Aflyer

Thank you for your kind words, Aflyer.  The areas shown still need a lot of work, too.

Wayne

[bsurf]

gandydancer19

This is one of those steps in building a layout that got done before it should have.  The better way to have done it would be to put the ground foam and shrubs on the foam hill before attaching it to the layout.  You would get beter results if you can remove it somehow, then apply the ground foam.

Mine was done using dyed sawdust and small foliage clusters.  Right now, it is held to the wall using pins.

.

Yes, hindsite is a wonderfull thing. It would have been easier to apply ground foam before attaching to the backdrop. However, the foam board was attached to the backdrop in bits and pieces as it is made up of many leftovers all glued together onto the backdrop with caulking compound and smoothed off and filled with plaster etc before painting with earth tone acrylic paint. There is a staging yard up against this 'hill' and there will be another lower hill in front of the staging yard to partially hide it. The front hill is not there yet, but before it gets installed, guess what is going to happen. Yes, it will be fully scenicked with paint and ground foam before it is fixed in place. I do learn by my mistakes.

Cheers, Bill

[HaroldA]

Great photos and doing it ahead of time is one of those woulda coulda shoulda moments we all have.

When I have done it, I first paint the area with dilute white glue, put some foam on an index card, and then blow it onto the wet glue with a straw.  I will put another card below the surface to catch what doesn't stick and recycle it.  Will try the plastic bottle method.