Hi, my first post so please be nice!
I’m building a shelf type layout around the walls so the background is a little steep. How do you get lichen or heavier ground foam to stay in place long enough for the glue, and what kind of glue, to dry?
thanks.
Use CA glue. That’s an abbreviation for Cyanoacrylate, also known as super glue. I use a 2-part set, the glue and the “fixer.” With the glue alone, you’ve got a minute or two before it sets. Once you put the fixer on, it’s a matter of seconds before it’s rock solid.
BE CAREFUL! You can glue your fingers together, or your eyelids shut. Don’t freak, though. It takes a professional klutz to do that, but such people exist. I assume you would not be in this hobby if you are in that category.
Are you putting your scenery on the wall?
This isn’t usually a good idea.
If you can you would be better off putting a thin/light weight screen along the back of the layout and putting the scenery on this.
This way you can lift the scenic screen off, lay it flat and do whatever you want on it.
If the layout ever moves or you need to decorate the room the scenery can travel
Have fun
Actually, I’m very klutzy, thank you very much and I have glued my fingers together and to other objects plenty of times over the years![:D]
For steep surfaces, I often use “Tacky” glue. It’s a white glue (water-based) and can usually be found in craft stores or the crafters section of Walmart .
It is, as the name states, tacky. Paint it on with a cheap bristle brush, (you can thin it a bit to help it flow, but you want it faily thick). Do a 4 or 5 by 8 or 10" section at a time, (anymore and it stops being tacky). Press the foam or leichen in place and then do another section and so on. Let it all dry for a couple of hours and then come back and drip on some thinned Tacky or even just some thinned regular white glue to fully secure the hillside.
A hot glue gun also works. Only problem is all the stringy gunk that goes with it.
Do it flat on a large piece of styrene, cardboard, etc, then glue all of it at once. Then cover the cracks. This works especially well for rock castings which are heavy and hard to prop or hold in place. I use construction adhesive in tubes ($1.50 each).
Ok, here is what I’m up against. I have a sheet of 2" styrofoam about 15’ high cut to a ridge top shape. Then I draped plaster soaked towels almost veritcal to the roadbed. I glued and “blew” green grass to the hardshell. It works great, spray glue, shake grass onto cardstock, blow onto the hardshell. Kinda like a human airbrush! But how do you get heaver stuff to stick? Thanks for the idea for using CA glue. I build and fly rc aircraft so I have glued my fingers together more than once! But I’m talking about 64 feet of hill side to stick stuff too! I was thinking along the lines of Elmers glue in a pie plate and dipping litchen and sticking to the hardscape. Working my way uphill?!?!? What do you all think?
Thanks, jay
For the heavier stuff, like Hydrocal rocks etc, I think you will need the glue gun. I did a similar layout to yours but not 64 feet. Be real careful with the glue gun. Some dripped onto my work bench, actually a lot dripped, and i rested my palm square on it when it was still hot. The pain was so bad that I ran to the sink screaming. I iced it immediately for at least 15 minutes but the blister was about 2 inches long and a half centimeter tall. I still use the glue gun but man did I learn my lesson. Don’t learn my way, please.
CA with spray accelerator is fast but not easy. I use the Woodland Scenics Low Temp glue gun. It works MUCH better than a regular glue gun. Worth the price for me. I also use a lot of Tacky glue. I seldon put anything on a totally vertical serface. On the steep walls I will make many small indentations in the rock, and glue the greenery there. That is how nature does it anyway.
Jay;
Fine, except use Aileene’s Tacky Glue as modelmaker51 suggested for the medium wieght stuff. For the heavy stuff, a hot glue gun for tacking and 2 part epoxy for long term.
Ceramic tile adhesive works great for heavy castings. Plaster to wood, plaster to plaster, plaster to foam and foam to foam, holds tiles on the shower wall for 25-30 years should do for layout use.
Bob K.
What you use depends on what you want to adhere. If it’s large like rocks use adhesive glue and prop something agains the rock until it sets (block of wood, a can, most anything). If it’s scenery such as foliage clusters, use pins until the glue sets then remove. One of my favorite tools is an icepick. I place the point against the object and the heel at the ground level (must be at an angle). I don’t do the reverse because the heel may be to heavy (most of my use is for trees that I want to keep aligned as they dry in place).
Hope this gives you a few ideas.
Ron K.