i have used saw dust before hand which i dyed
Bump
WOW! I forgot all about this one. Still doing it. Still working great.
Aggro seams to be on a mission today.[:D][tup]
Loathar, sounds like a great method. I’m here in Nashville, and think I’ll try this when i get a little farther along on my layout. But after buying woodland scenics all this time, it does always seem a little over priced. Since I model in N scale, I’m definitely going to try the florists blocks.
Florist foam turns out super fine. You have to be careful when coloring it because it is already a light green. Your final product will be a bit darker because of the base color. I’ve been looking, but I can’t find it in a white or uncolored form.
PS-I’m in Lawrenceburg. What’s a good HO shop up your way?
Dan, your method is the one I use when I want to make my own ground foam or I want something that I can’t find through WS.
I’ve made my own foam quite a bit lately I’m actually on my 3rd blender ( second hand store 4.99 a shot ) . If you reblend it again after its dried out it blends down fine enough for making trees.[:D]
The stuff that works good for fine to medium foam is that packing stuff in the silverish bags. The stuff they pack like furniture and microwaves in. It’s kind of like that Great Foam insulation stuff. I used to get boxes of it from where I worked.
Look for a food processor from a yard sale or flea market. They work much better than a blender. I run the foam through the top carrot shreading type blade first. Then I use the 2 arm bottom blade to mix in the color. I lay the foam out on newspaper to dry overnight and then re-grind it. I then sift it through strainers to get the size I want.
Has anyone tried to dye the florists foam prior to grinding? It seems that would be easier than trying to dye after.