I painted the surface with white glue and used a salt shaker to plant the fine grass on the train station’s lawn which I want to look smooth and manicured. It looked great but I knew half of the grass would come up when I eventually have to vacume the dust off the lawn. So, I sprayed Aqua Net aerosol hair spray from about two feet above it. Bad idea. It still blew the grass around and caused it to form small clumps.
What should I be doing to "fix’’ the grass in place one I get it in place and looking good?
I use a static grass applicator to apply static flock and have no problems with it remaining in place once the glue has dried. I find that very little vacuums up later.
There is an article in the March Model Railroad Hobbyist, (FREE online) that will show you how to build your own static grass applicator.
After I have the grass on, I wet it down with Isopropyl Alcohol using a eye dropper. Then I use 50% Elmer’s Glue, 50% water and a drop of dish soap. Use the eye dropper again and let dry. Elmer’s glue will soak into the grass and drys clear.
The method that Ken uses is the method most of us use and the least expensive. I hope to purchase a grass applicator such as noch someday, but for $200 plus material, its a little pricey.
There were plans here last year for making your own static grass applicator from a Harbor Freight $1.99 Electronic Fly Swatter and cheap Dollar Store seive. Less than $5 in total parts. I built one and it works just as well as the $200+ Noch applicator. A forum search might be in order. Or use Google and search for “static grass applicator” or similar phrase. I think the site with the details is in Denmark.
I also built a static grass applicator using a Harbor Freight electronic fly swatter. Keep in mind that static grass installations using a static applicator require the base to be “wet” with whatever product you are going to use to hold the grass in place. A grounding pin is inserted into one edge of the wet glue and the ground clip of the applicator is attached to this pin. You then shake static applicator basket full of static grass product over the wet glue while holding the basket as close to the wet glue as possible without touching it. When you are satified with the thickness of your nicely standing grass, stop and let the glue dry overnight. Vacuum up any excess and your done. I don’t add any glue after vacuuming.
I experimented a little with different “glues” and found that the traditional diluted white glue/scenic cement concoctions tend to creep up the grass fibers. The look is still good but the tops of the grass fibers are not as free as they could be and the grass gets a little stiff. I also tried some dark green acrylic paint as the glue and this grass turned out fabulously well. Not only did the green base paint make the grass look more lush, but it did not creep up the fibers. Thus, the tops of the fibers remained free of each other and soft to the touch, If you run your fingertips over the grass in the diluted white glue, the feel is similar to a short bristle brush. If you run your fingertips over the grass in the acrylic paint, the feel is more like velvet. The grass in the paint also looks more like a freshly mowed lawn.