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Adding static to grass

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  • Member since
    February 2019
  • 33 posts
Adding static to grass
Posted by Afdahl Flats on Saturday, August 22, 2020 6:21 PM

A while ago I scrimped and instead of buying an electric static grass appliator I bought what woodland scenics calls the static grass starter set, which basically is just a plastic bottle with a screen on it to dispense the grass. I paint clear Elmer's glue on the table and spread the grass on top of it. Is there a way I could make the grass stand up without buying an applicator and starting from scratch?  Thanks

  • Member since
    January 2009
  • From: Bakersfield, CA 93308
  • 6,526 posts
Posted by RR_Mel on Saturday, August 22, 2020 6:58 PM

I made one for under $20 that works great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZO1jrUL_PLU&t=765s



Mel



 
My Model Railroad  
http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/
 
Bakersfield, California
 
I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
 

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • From: 4610 Metre's North of the Fortyninth on the left coast of Canada
  • 9,352 posts
Posted by BATMAN on Saturday, August 22, 2020 7:16 PM

 I made two static grass applicators out of $4.00 electric fly swatters and they work great. Takes 10 minutes.

The improved version.

 

DSC 0002

Brent

"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."

  • Member since
    July 2007
  • From: Yorkton, Sk, Cnd
  • 441 posts
Posted by wvg_ca on Saturday, August 22, 2020 8:11 PM

you need a way to apply [momentarily] the static charge to get the grass fibres to 'stand up',  .... an applicator [whether home made or bought] is the easiest way ..

  • Member since
    April 2004
  • From: Ontario Canada
  • 3,574 posts
Posted by Mark R. on Saturday, August 22, 2020 8:12 PM

Rub a ballon on your hair for a couple minutes, then hold it near the grass. Whistling

Mark.

¡ uʍop ǝpısdn sı ǝɹnʇɐuƃıs ʎɯ 'dlǝɥ

  • Member since
    December 2004
  • From: Bedford, MA, USA
  • 21,481 posts
Posted by MisterBeasley on Saturday, August 22, 2020 8:30 PM

Mark R.

Rub a ballon on your hair for a couple minutes, then hold it near the grass. Whistling

Mark.

 

Nah.  Just have a cat do your static grass, after rubbing it on a towel.

Seriously, look at a Gras-Tech static grass applicator.  Mine was about $25 a few years ago, is still on its original set of batteries and gives me great results.  The high-priced applicators are not necessary.

It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse. 

  • Member since
    January 2004
  • From: Canada, eh?
  • 13,375 posts
Posted by doctorwayne on Saturday, August 22, 2020 9:18 PM

Afdahl Flats
...Is there a way I could make the grass stand up without buying an applicator and starting from scratch? Thanks

I'm not sure that you'd be interested, especially if you don't wish to start from scratch, but here's a LINK to a thread on making your own static grass applicator.

Wayne

  • Member since
    February 2019
  • 33 posts
Posted by Afdahl Flats on Sunday, August 23, 2020 7:15 AM

Well then, I guess i'll be doing some work with a scraper and a vaccum... Thank you for the suggestions, I was leary of the price/quality of the $20 applicators which is why I stayed away from them. At least I'm only half done with the grass!  Thanks

  • Member since
    January 2009
  • From: Bakersfield, CA 93308
  • 6,526 posts
Posted by RR_Mel on Sunday, August 23, 2020 8:45 AM

This is the static grass applicator I built from the Luke Towan YouTube video, I haven’t seen any manufactured grass applicators but this one works very good for under $20.





Mel


 
My Model Railroad  
http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/
 
Bakersfield, California
 
I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
 

  • Member since
    August 2020
  • 22 posts
Posted by whitroth on Friday, August 28, 2020 4:15 PM

I was just looking around for one, and saw one for $20, an ABS blah, blah. Then I looked at reviews. There were a number of good reviews on it... until I saw one that said "some of the grass stood up". Then I saw the 1-star review, and the reviewer said "it's only 2.5KW, you need a lot more for it to work properly. It *looks* like you can get a better one, but now we're up to around $65+.

 

Think I'll look into building one, after buying the negative ion generator for $21.

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