What is the best grass substance for model scenery?
Thanks
I use the Woodland Scenics ground foam.There is other stuff available but it isn’t stocked in any of the local shops.
In also use real dirt gathered from various sources as my scenerybase.All of this is applied to an earth coloured paint while the paint is still wet.Once the paint is dry I use white glue and water from there up.
I have heard of a thing called static grass, is this anygood?
Noah
There’s several ways to model grass. Which one is best for you depends on what sort of grass you’re modeling.
Ground foam is the general standby to model green things on the ground. It replaced green sawdust which was in use up to Woodland Scenic’s entry into the hobby around 1980. To me, it doesn’t look very realistic, because very few plants look like little round balls.
Static grass is pieces of polyester monofilament thread cut into various lengths. It looks like grass, but is time consuming to apply realistically.
Fake fur is the best way to represent large fields of tall grass. It’s hard to find good greens though, and painting fake fur usually doesn’t work well. I use this method a LOT on my layout, but I have to look long and hard to find grassy greens.
Silfor is a German scenery product that works well when creating small, weedy patches of grasses. It’s easy to apply, but is expensive.
Many modelers use twine to represent tall grass, but it almost always looks horrible. Grass doesn’t grow in small patches, and isn’t all the same height. Most modelers also use much too little twine.
You could always buy a light colored fake fur, then get some synthetic green dye (Dye madejust for synthetic materials, not normal Fabric dyes) and dye the Fur to the right shade of green. this would also give you some variation and wouuld almost look real.
Hmm…Thanks for the idea, wasn’t even thinking of Fur. I’ve seen Static grass used in some layouts, usually in small sploches, like along the track, or trufs in front of buildings, but never to cover a large area. Hmm…the fur with sporatic Static grass would be a little more realistic, instead of looking like a Mowed lawn, it can look more like a field of grass that’s been maintained occasionally.
Jay
Woodland scenics fine ground foam, almost powdery in form, is fine for lawn areas, for taller stuff, Silfor is great, but it can get really expensive.
Coarser versions of ground foam work well for bushes and undergrowth.
Silflor is the way to go. Check out some of its use here:
http://www.lbforum.com/picture.htm
Noah,
Static grass is great because it looks “taller” than the ground foams produced by Woodland Scenics etal. To apply it, I put a tablespoon or two in an empty Palmolive liquid dish detergent bottle that has been thoroughly cleaned and dried. Place glue (I use diluted Elmer’s Glue 50/50 water and glue) where you want to apply the static grass and then turn your Palmolive bottle upside down and squeeze it gently with multiple little “puffs”. It will “blow” the static grass and much of it will stand straight up, resulting in a great tall grass look. I should tell you that I usually apply the ground foam grass first and then apply the longer static grass over it once the first layer has dried because the static grass will not sufficintly cover the ground all by itself.
Hope this helps.
Mondo
Actually, I’m doing something similar with my fake fur grass. The best green fur I was able to find was during Haloween, but the green was laced with black lines like a turtle shell. So I’m ending up with variable sized patches of tall grass with seams between them. To hide the seams, I’m adding all sorts of other scenic materials to give the fields a more random pattern. I’m also on the lookout for a cheap, used set of hair clippers, so I can trim the fake fur to more random lengths.
I think all the woodland scenic stuff is good…for grass it depends on how high the grass is growing…I find that the poly fiber looks good for high grass in ditch areas and then the turf, in course, medium, and fine is good too…I like to blend then all together (colors and sizes) for the best effect…I use woodland scenic foilage for the trees…I use cryete myrtle tree blooms for the tree trunk & branch structure and hot glue the foilage onto the branches…it makes really good looking oak trees
Well it ain’t sawdust! [;)]