Has anyone had any success making their own ground foam? I dont have alot of access to hobby stores, and Im not a huge fan of ordering that kind of thing off the net, and I have plenty of time to make my own. Thanks in advance, Josh.
Hey Josh, check this post by selector.
http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=44129
Scott
thanks for the link. I thought I read something about that. I was thinking of trying rit Dyes for coloring too, and I jsut happen to have an old puke green blender from the 70’s laying around
Hope you have more success with it than I have in the past. I just made sloppy, goopy messes. Looked more like bad mudslides than scenery!
Don’t be shy about ordering on-line. There are really good sites with good prices and good customer support. It is hard to tell what to order because you really want to see stuff like that in person to be sure it will meet your needs. Stay with Woodland Scenics to begin with. Even if you get something that doesn’t fit your immediate needs, you will find a use for it later!
Of course, if you have a supply of foam and dye, go for it! At the least, it will be a learning experience for you. Just make sure that puke green blender from the '70’s isn’t a “collector’s” item! LOL
Darrell, quiet…for now
I have no bones about ordering stuff online… I do that with alot of things, but when it comes to scenery products, I like to poke it and “Kick the tires” before I buy. I’ll give the blender stuff a shot… couldnt hurt.
I dont see why in a nerdy college town we dont have a hobby store. sighs If someone opened one they would make a fortune here.
I too, have ordered things from online, and have had NO bad experiences.
I don’t know about your college town, but I can tell you about the one I live in. Our town is the host for a major state university, with an enrollment over 10,000. The university has been here for well over 30 years. In all that time, two types of stores have never been successful: a bookstore and a hobby shop.
There have been many attempts made for both types. They last anywhere from weeks to a year or two, then close. Why? I can’t figure it out. I would think that a university would surely support a bookstore! (Yes, there is one on campus, but most of the students live off-campus) Several hobby stores have opened over the years, the most successful ones were those dedicated to a particular segment of a hobby, like RC cars & trucks or auto race tracks (remember when those were so popular?). But even the most successful ones eventually closed down.
There is one bookstore in town now. I don’t know how it lasted. It originally started out as a Christian bookstore, which limited the items it carried and the clientele is served. Over time, it has developed into a pretty good store, but it isn’t a Waldenbooks or Borders.
There is talk of a Borders coming into the new shopping mall being built (Right across the street from me!!). It will be interesting to see what happens.
A friend of mine opened a hobby shop (mostly trains! Hooray!) several towns away. When his first location became cramped, I worked hard at trying to find a place in my town that he could move to. There were several good locations, but the cost of rent was THREE times what he was able to afford.
I see a lot of references in the forums on supporting your LHS. It occurred to me just today that I have bought LOTS of stuff at my friend’s store, but
I tried making ground foam several years ago with a wire wheel and a couple of bowls of Rit dye. It can get kind of messy with the wire wheel, but makes a lot of ground foam in a short time. Just keep your fingers away. I used leather gloves.
As far as hobby shops in college towns, I believe that one thing most college students lack is space to store any kind of collections, be they books or hobby items.
try this link for a how to clinic on making your own ground foam with an old blender
http://www.2guyzandsumtrains.com/Content/pa=showpage/pid=10.html
bill
Dave Fray has some pretty good advice on making ground foam,using a blender. Theres a few trouble you’ll have to overcome but they’re not insurmountable. As far as color I used both dye and acrylic paint. The dye colored ok I guess but left the foam a little light and airy fo my taste. The acrylic paint I used was a Wal-mart product that comesw in1 oz. bottles. I found the best results by thinning the paint abouut ten% with water. The paint seems to give the foam a little more body or weight and makes it easier to control. It also gives you more chooices of color. Just soak the ground foam in the paint for a few seconds then wring it out and set it on paper to dry. You cacn get quite a bit of foam colored with one bottle of paint.
I saw a demo at a train show once for making green, ground foam using a blender. The fellow doing it said to use OIL base paints, in the blender, with the foam (after it is ground up), and the paint would color the foam and not color the water. I saw him do it and then poured the water and foam into a strainer, and the water was not green but it wasn’t clear either. He used the water for the next batch for the next demostration. The green color that he used was “Chromium Oxide”. The rest of the procedure was basically as described above in the other posts, about chopping it and drying it.
Sam
Honey, where’s the blender???[:D]
Thanks Bill, this link is FANTASTIC, I have saved it in my favorites and plan to use the many tips described.
[;)][;)][;)][;)][;)][;)][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:)][:)][:)]
I didn’t just get “Honey, where’s the blender?” You can imagine the reaction when the foam rubber seemed to really dull the blades. I don’t know if anyone else has had that problem. Sounds rare, with all those clinics going on, but I’d recommend having a seperate blender for the railroad stuff. P.S. It does make nice ground cover.
I have only ever blended WS coarse ground cover/bushes to get a nicer foam for deciduous trees. I used a Quisinart coffee grinder with the twin blades. Did not notice a drop in its coffe-grinding capabilities, but the coffee did look a little green. [:D] Do you think my wife was impressed?
I’m going to have to try the oil base paint tip as i am having a problem with the acrylic being way too light. That or maybe letting the foam dry out and then reblending it with the color. I picked up an old waring blender for 3 bucks at a yard sale. if it breaks no big deal i’ll find another yard sale. For our club that is rather underfunded to put it politly we try to find every way of cutting costs. Beats the three or four buck a bag price.
Jesse
Try a darker colour?