what do you guys think of static grass? I 'm new to the hobby and would like your
opinion on things. also, what do you think of spraying Testers dullcote on the static
grass to tone down the shinyness of it?[:p]
It’s OK, when it stands up. Wouldn’t coat it. I only use a little mixed in with other foliage.
Scenic Express sells a static gun for covering large areas with static grass (looks like a hair dryer with a hopper). Never tried it.
www.ScenicExpress.com
cool. thanks for the info!
I’ve read how it’s done in one of my scenery books, but I haven’t used it.
To apply static grass properly, you have to use the gun which cost as much as a good HO scale locomotive. That’s what put me off. But the price has come down a bit.
Then the trick is to keep the gun close enough to keep the grass standing upright when it falls and the glue has to be tacky enough to hold the standing fiber but not wet. Otherwise the fibers fall over.
I get enough static from my wife. If she walks past the layout, the grass stands up all by itself…
LOL
I just received the latest Model Railroader yesterday. It features a whole article and some ads on static grass.
I too saw that article. Some guys built their own static gun. Does anybody know how? I think you can use one of those tennis raquet-shaped bug zappers to get the high voltage charge. Any ideas?
thanks guys. I just tride the static grass on a bit of my layout and it works great! the grass
gun makes it look better but you dont NEED it, I thought of getting the gun but neerly died
looking at the price, I dont really have a steady income.(I 'm only 13.) I spread some glue
down and sprinkled on the grass and the fibers stood up! it may not look as nice it did in the Model Railroader but it looks cool anyway!
oader articule but it
Larry
I don’t know if you read my post in another thread about static grass applicators, but I came across an article about static grass tools, www.ztrains.com. The author said he got better results when the bottle was half full.
Another forum member, underworld, suggest to charge up the grass buy shaking the bottle and rub the bottle with a latex balloon.
The glue is important too. When the fibers land pointing up, the glue should be tacky enough to grab the flocking and thick enough to keep it upright.
[(-D]
But I got you beat. My grass stands on end when she hollers downstairs to get me up to where she is. Even me own hair stands on end…[:0]
thanks for the static info gsetter. I 'll try to get some pics of my grass efforts but I 'm not that
good tech stuff.
oh and sorry for all the spelling mistakes, I suck at typeing!
Here are some pics of my static grass. Sorry they’re so blurry, the camera wouldn’t focus right.
There was an article way back in the September 1980 MR that talked about how to build your own static grass applicator using a Wimshurst Machine. You can buy one today online for $150:
http://www.sciencefirst.com/vw_prdct_mdl.asp?prdct_mdl_cd=10069
A friend of mine, Ron Collins, built the static applicator from the 1980’s article and used it on my HO Siskiyou Line to apply dozens of square feet of static grass in the Rice Hill area on my layout. You can see the results in this photo:
(click to enlarge)
(By the way, this is the same area that’s on the cover of the new MR Realistic Layouts issue, coming this May … click here for more.)
The results were fantastic, but the machine always struck me as a sort of Rube Goldberg contraption, being bulky, awkward to use while whirring away and spitting blue sparks around! Ron, who was a real scenery connoisseur, has since moved away and I miss him.
But his static grass was fantastic, and I’m sold on the method. I consider the Noch applicator ($116 from Scenic Express) to be a bargain, compared to Ron’s contraption.
I’ve also tried a plastic bottle application approach (like an empty dish soap bottle), and I’ve found it disappointing. You get grass going every which direction and it’s not consistantly standing up like you get when you use real static electricity. [swg]
There is one technique that I have used successfully with static grass. All you have to do is to use a vacuum cleaner with a an old sock over the nozzle to get the fibers to stand up very nicely.
What are the efects on existing electronics?![:0]
Don’t touch them or otherwise provide a grounding path (like touching both rails while statically charged) through them while you are using a static machine and they should be fine. The static charge used to apply the grass should dissipate on its own shortly after the grass is applied. The smoke in the electronics escapes only when the static is discharged through the components. For some strange reason, electronic components don’t work very well after you let the smoke out…
All you electronics gurus are free to correct this information should my understanding be incorrect.
I really like the end result and the look of the static grass, to me, it’s one of the best ways to make grass I’ve seen on the market. Problem for me is the price, $116 is a little too high for my budget. but, if it ever comes down in price or I win the lottery I’ll be picking up one of these.
Noah
In high school science we used to rub a glass rod on cat fur to achieve static electricity. Just make sure either the cat doesn’t mind or is through with it before trying this method.
I’m the author of the recent article on static grass in MR. Joe Fugate seems to have got the technique right and it looks great. I know we all get tempted to be creative or cut corners by doing it our way, but this is one time it may pay to follow the recipe. Someone said it’s hard to control the length of grass, it isn’t. A letter in MR said use hair spray instead of matt medium, bad advice. Matt medium imparts a healthy robustness that resists damage, especially crushing.
I supplied some notes to MR about an updated applicator but it was convenient for them to link my story with the Noch Grass Master, which I have never used, although I’m sure it works fine.
Another comment in MR recently was that the applicator only works with some kinds of fibre: wrong. I have never seen a fibre it would not work with. Woodland Scenics field grass (claimed to be natural product) works fine.
The applicator I use is an exact copy of the original 1980 design, but instead of a Wimshurst machine I use the static generator from an old photocopier. Various versions I have used put out from 8000 to 14000 volts. I am not an electronics expert so I left the connecting-up to someone who is. One expert advised me to include a 100,000 ohm resistor in series in the output cable to limit the current to a safe level. That sounds good to me.</