In the past, I have used spray adhesive to apply leaf material to my polyfiber trees and that has yielded excellent results. The problem is I go through these spray cans fairly quickly and am in the process of foresting a rather large hill. I could easily see going through 5 or more cans to do the entire hill and that gets expensive. Today I tried dipping the fiber balls in dilluted white glue and the results have been OK but I an not real confident the leaf material will stay glued in the long run. I certainly don’t want to have to go back an redo this area.
I am asking for suggestions for various adhesives others have used for this and what kind of results they get. If I could be confident the white glue will hold, I’d feel better about continuing with it.
Try cheap hairspray. I get a can every once in awhile at the dollar store (like V05) and that last me a while. Try to get the unscented if you can, and have some good ventilation.
Hi: Are you inquiring about back ground “puff ball” tree tops? If so, have you considered Dave Frary’s method? He pulls a chunk of poly fiber and pulls it apart in all directions and forms a golf ball-tangerine size ball. Then, he soaks the poly in WS scenic cement, the liquid. Then, he squeezes the excess out. He puts a quantity of WS med foam, your choice of colors, into a plastic bag. Then, he dumps the wet poly into the bag and “shoe shines” the bag. Then, remove the tree tops and place on waxed paper till dry. Then use full strength Elmer’s white glue to attach them to the layout. I’ve made approx. 1900 of these for my layout. The colors and ratio I used are: 3 parts WS med green, 2 parts dark green, and 1 part light green. Here’s an example.
Auqua Net unscented super hold in the purple can. Usually costs around $2 a can and you can do a couple hundred balls from a can. Try to use black polyfiber (Tony K’s method), pull apart about a golf ball sized piece, spray, sprinkle on fine ground foam and spray again. I can usually do about 100 balls an hour. I only glue (hot glue) the bottom row and just sit the others on the side of the hill. Makes adjustments later very easy.
Yes, this is the type of tree I have in mind. Right now I have done a few trees with diluted white glue. I’ve never tried WS Scenic Cement. Is there much difference between that and diluted white glue? My concern is whether this type of glue will hold in the long run. I know that white glue does not make a strong bond with plastic and that’s why I wonder whether it is the best choice for bonding with the poly fiber. I’m assuming if Dave Frary recommends this practice, it has probably withstood the test of time.
I have done several tree colored hills now with poly fiber background trees using 3M spray adhesive. I’ve been pleased with the results but the spray adhesive gets expensive for the large amount of trees I will be needing which is why I am looking for a lower cost alternative. My own choice for foliage is light green and burnt grass. I’ve done a few hill sides using medium green as well but to my eye, the color looks a little artificial. I like the subtle shade variations between the light green and burnt grass. His an example of a recent effort.</
Just got a can of White Rain Maximum Hold which I’m guessing will give the same result. I’d love to use black poly fiber but didn’t even know it came in anything but white. Can you recommend a source for this? It would save me the trouble of coloring it.
Hi jecorbett: I don’t know if there is a difference, I stuck to Dave’s materials. I have used spray adhesive, but not on the layout, too hard to control, in my opinion. WS poly fiber is a green color. BTW, the trees and rocks look great!
I use the cheap white poly fibre, pull it apart into balls about half the diameter of a golf ball (I’m working in N scale) then shoot them with flat black spray paint. I roll them in the ground foam while the paint is wet. I add subsequent applications using the cheap hairspray.
White glue is fine as mentioned. There is really no need to use the expesive scenic cement for “Puff Ball” Actually this is a great place to use Matte Medium diuted as Dave Frary suggests for his scenic cement. For applying the various colors and highlighting w/ grasses or ground foams the “uncented” hair spray works best.
Also take a tip from Joe Fugate, you can add lighter coloring even hint of yellow, spray paint dusted or yellow grasses on the canopy tops to help w/ simulating sunlight accross the canopy.
Hopefully this can be seen in the different angles of the pics.
For my money, polyfiber is one of those places where the homemade solution is the way to go. Undyed white polyfiber can be purchased in craft stores for about $3 for a 36 oz bag. Add a couple of cans of green, brown, or black spraypaint, and you’re on your way, very cheaply.
As someone mentioned above – spray paint is an excellent adhesive. Sprinkle on your first coat of ground foam while the paint is wet. It’s not going anywhere. As for the holding power of dilute matte medium, it’s fine (6 years in mine hasn’t had any issues). It also has the advantage of being non-toxic, with little odor to worry about. Can’t say the same for hairspray.
