Static can look the most realistic than anything. You can build an aplicator for under $5.00!!! It works just as well as the other homemade or store bought ones. Check out this website.
http://www.009.cd2.com/flyswat.htm
I wouldn’t use the strainer, more of a screen with walls on the side I feel that it works better. You may also want to have larger holes in the screen.
Peace
[tup]
Great lead. I may try it.
Only problem is I have never seen an electric fly swatter.
Thanks
Lee
I have seen the fly swatters at Harbor Freight Tools.
Or you can build a really good for under $20 - This one is even better than that expensive Noch one:
http://www.ztrains.com/pages/tech/grassinator/grassinator.html
Jim
I made one last night and it works great. I did find one of the electric flyswaters at Harbour freight and the best thing was it was only 2.99 on sale untill march 25th. It was very easy to make. Thanks for the great alternative.
I just got an Email from Electronic goldmine. They are sold out of the 12 VDC Negative ION generators. They still have the 120VAC units but I fear that they are too powerfull. (7.5kV)
Yep, works great. I spent $5 for the whole thing. Then I discovered that you ought not use a flammable adhesive–say, an aerosol–around this tool.
I put out the fire fairly quickly.
What’s the word I’m looking for…oh, yes. Oops! [:)]
I built one of these a while back, and it works great. Best of all, I spent less than $5 for the whole thing. Electric flyswatter $2.99 at Harbor Freight (these are normally $7.99, but they frequently go on sale for $2.99), and then a trip next door to the dollar store for a strainer. Total cost: $3.99 + tax.
Oh, and a good adhesive to use is non-aerosol hair spray. A lot less flammable (sorry, MR! [:)]).
Bruce,
The 120v input one available from Electronic Goldmine is only half as powerful as the 12v one! The 12v on had an output of 15,000v, the 120v one has an output of 7,500v. Anyone who wants to build a ‘Grassinator’; please be careful with your 120vac wiring!
Jim
I too built a static grass applicator using a Harbor Freight electronic fly swatter. The fly swatter was $2.99, a six pack of aligator clips was $1 at HF, and the tea strainer was another $1 at a dollar store. Because I could not find a tea strainer with a plastic frame, I had to use some sheet styrene to make one. Add in some wire and heat shrink tubing and the total cost was about $7. I am quite pleased with how well it works using Woodland Scenics static grass! Note that you will get different results depending on the adhesive substance used. I got decent results using diluted white glue but fabulous results using acrylic house paint. The white glue wicked up the static fibers making for a less fluffy but still acceptable look. However, the acrylic paint gripped only the very end of each fiber with the result being very soft and flexible grass standing straight up. The paint I had was dark green and similar to the color of static grass I used, so the result looks like a very thick and healthy Summer lawn. I would imagine that a dark brown paint would give a realistic Spring or Fall look of thinner green grass growing out of dirt. I will have to experiment more.
The 12VDC Negative Ion generator at Electronic Goldmine is intermittently out of stock. Keep checking back. I used the plans from Z trains to build my grassinator. I have used WS grass and Silflor over real dirt. Diluted white glue worked well for me. I am going for the tall grass look in the California Central Valley and Foothills. I found the Silfor products looked best for this purpose. Static grass comes in several lengths 2mm, 4mm and 6/6.5mm. The WS is 2mm. Silflor has a variety of lengths. There are several other companies making static grass whose products I have not tested yet. Check out the Scenic Express catalog for more details.
While the Silflor looks great, it is Petty expensive. I am hoping some other companies jump in with some lower priced alternatives. The WS is much cheaper, but in my eye doesn’t it have the correct color and isn’t tall enough.
Here’s a look at the Silflor:
Here are some tips that I learned while using the Grassinator:
Decide where you are going to grass and carefully mask off other areas that you don’t want grass particles. I found the particles migrate quite a distance from the application area. You can vacuum up the particles but it is better to not have to do this step. Think Barbershop floor after a long day…The other reason for the masking is that the grassinator sets up quite a strong field and particles of glue covered grass will stray and stick to other objects. They can be a real pain to remove
I decided to give the fly swatter applicator a shot. It works fairly decent for the money. I recorded the project as three part series for my youtube channel. You can check it out here: http://tiny.cc/tUKb5 Happy Grassing! E http://www.youtube.com/thebige61
Thanks for the great Video! I put one together this afternoon in about 15 minutes, using things I had at home, so it was free [:D]. It works lika a charm! Nice to be able to spend that money I saved on something more “railroad-like”.Once again: THANKS!
I’ve tried for several days to go to the site you have listed, keeps telling me I can’t get there. Even typed the address in, still no go. Could someone please tell me how to get there or what to do to build one of these things. Thank you,
I was looking into the flyswatter too. What are you guys using for static grass? Our LHS does not carry the static grass products. Can you use cut up yarn for the grasses?
Thanks
Mike Dcikinson
Apparently the original flyswatter conversion site is gone. However, I’ve made the original article available here if anyone is interested …
http://dandhmodelrailroad.yuku.com/topic/383/master/1/
Mark.
OK, this was one of those cool projects where everything just fell into place. I read the how-to site this afternoon about 4 pm, realized I had almost all the parts on hand (including the tea strainer), hit the local variety store on the way home to pick up a flyswatter, and by 7:30 I had the whole thing built! However, when I used it to apply grass, the results were less than impressive. Specifically, the fibers just didn’t seem to stand on end the way I expected.
A couple possible problems: I touched the alligator clip to the screen a couple times to see that it worked before loading the strainer with grass - did I discharge most of the battery power (I noticed that when I touched the clip to the screen after using it, there wasn’t nearly as much of a spark as before)? I used some Woodland Scenics grass that I had on hand - does Noch work better? I dd not build the “high power” version - do I need to go back into the case, bypass the resistor and clip the capacitor and try again?
Thanks in advance for any hints from others who have used this tool.
Tom
I have tried this link several times, but it says it is an error!!! Is there another link… I can’t find any reference to making one out of one of those “electric fly swatters”.
Bob/IronGoat
See my post above !!! [X-)]
Mark.